U.S. Is Pessimistic Turks Will Accept Aid Deal on Iraq
nytimes.com
WASHINGTON, Feb. 19 — White House officials sounded pessimistic today that their offer of $26 billion in aid to Turkey would be enough to win the country's approval for the United States to open a northern front against Iraq if war comes.
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In private, though, administration officials were fuming, with one senior official calling the Turkish efforts to hold out for more aid — and perhaps access to oil from the Kirkuk region of Iraq — as "extortion in the name of alliance." Another said that despite a stream of aid from the United States, "the Turks seem to think that we'll keep the bazaar open all night."
"There comes a moment when plans must be made, decisions must be made," the White House spokesman, Ari Fleischer, said today, adding that negotiation "cannot stretch on indefinitely."
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Still, an administration official said other issues were in contention in negotiating with the Turks — namely, the future of the Turkish military presence in northern Iraq and the Turkish desire for some oil concession at Kirkuk in Iraq.
"The Turks want to control the operation at Kirkuk, at a minimum through a pipeline," the official said. "That's in a way a better deal for them than American aid."
But Mr. Bush and his aides have often said Iraq's oil is for the benefit of the Iraqi people, and they realize that any discussion of guaranteeing access to the oil to Turkey — or any other nation — would make it appear that the war is about oil rights, not weapons of mass destruction.
The official said giving Turkey guarantees was impossible "without breaking an awful lot of crockery," including "looking disingenuous to our Kurdish friends" in northern Iraq.
If talks with Turkey fail to turn around, the Pentagon would have to divert ships full of troops and equipment that are approaching Turkey's coast. American officials said they would send those ships to the Persian Gulf if they did not have a Turkish decision Turks by the end of week.
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