Posted on: Saturday, February 22, 2003

EDITORIAL
'Coalition of the willing' doesn't come cheap

In a dispute that we hope the White House finds embarrassing, American and Turkish diplomats are haggling over how many billions of dollars Turkey will require to allow its territory to be used as a launching platform for American troops to establish a northern front in an invasion of Iraq.

It's a matter of some urgency, with thousands of U.S. troops bobbing on ships in the Mediterranean waiting to offload.

Some American officials are stunned that Turkey is balking at $26 billion in grants and loans, but Ankara was holding out for at least $32 billion. Both sides have said their offers were final, and it is unclear whether Turkish leaders are serious about ultimately refusing to participate in the operation against Iraq. Perhaps the fact that about 95 percent of Turks oppose the war with Iraq is not unrelated.

Any deal must be approved by the Turkish parliament, which will be looking primarily for a written guarantee of the U.S. aid pledges because many felt betrayed that promises of assistance after the 1991 Persian Gulf War went unfulfilled.

But many observers think Turkey's real concern is the Kurds, who live in adjoining areas of Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey. Turkey worries that possible post-war autonomy for Iraq's Kurdish population, which some Americans seem to support, might spark the Kurds in Turkey to renew their own bloody rebellion. Turkey reportedly wants to send its own troops into Iraq behind the Americans to occupy strategic areas of northern Iraq.

Still, $26 billion or $32 billion, it's enough money to make one consider the difference between helping to defray the costs of a willing ally — and buying a nation's willingness.