Turkey moves to let U.S. use airspace

By Richard Boudreaux
Los Angeles Times

ANKARA, Turkey — Under strong U.S. pressure, the government asked parliament yesterday to open Turkey's air space to American missiles and warplanes, but it defied the Bush administration by adding a request to send two brigades of Turkish troops into Iraq's Kurdish-controlled region.

The decision ended months of aggressive lobbying by President Bush and his aides to win Turkish approval, in exchange for billions of dollars in grants, for the deployment of U.S. ground troops bound for Iraq and the use of Turkish air bases for American bombing raids.

"These issues — and the financial aid — are a thing of the past," Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

With war near, the country's recession-worn economy reeled from the loss of the expected aid yesterday. Its leading stock index dropped 6 percent. And Turkey faced a breach with its powerful NATO ally as parliament moved toward a likely vote today on a military incursion that, rather than supporting the U.S.-led invasion, would seek to protect Turkish interests in northern Iraq.

Fearing a "war within a war" between Turkish troops and Iraqi Kurdish militias who support the United States against Saddam Hussein, American officials and Iraqi Kurdish leaders failed again yesterday to persuade the Turks to keep their troops home.

The motion Erdogan sent to parliament would open 11 air corridors across Turkey for U.S. bombers and missiles, Turkish newspapers said. Parliament's assent, which is expected, would enable planes based on two U.S. aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean to fly the most direct route to Baghdad.

The motion would also authorize about 20,000 Turkish troops to cross the country's 206-mile southern border into Iraq. Turkish officials have said the troops are needed to control a potential flood of Iraqi refugees and disarm Turkish Kurd separatists in Iraqi territory.

Iraqi Kurdish leaders say Turkey's real motive is to weaken their autonomous institutions in northern Iraq. Turkish officials fear that autonomy for Kurds in postwar Iraq will revive separatist demands among Kurds in Turkey.