US wants 90,000 troops in Turkey for Iraq war

Ecevit said US officials would like to open a "northern front" for any campaign against Iraq, where the United States has said it wants to topple President Saddam Hussein from power.

The paper said Washington wants use of airfields at Incirlik – already used for US and British patrols of Iraq’s northern no-fly zone – as well as Diyarbakir, Batman, Mus, Konya and Corlu.

Around 2,000 US troops are stationed at Incirlik but the total number of US forces in the country is not known.

According to the daily, Washington also wants use of the ports of Mersin and Iskenderun. It said that Ankara had already refused use of the Black Sea ports of Trabzon and Samsun.

Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Friday Britain’s support for Turkey’s membership in the European Union has nothing to do with the possibility of war with Iraq.

Interviewed on BBC radio at the EU summit in Copenhagen, Straw said that a proposed December 2004 start for accession talks between Ankara and Brussels was "a pretty good deal for Turkey."

"It’s just six months after the date which they thought they were going to get," he said.

But Straw denied that a potential US-led war against Iraq had any bearing on Britain’s support for Turkey – a NATO ally which borders on Iraq – joining the European Union.

"Our support for Turkey’s membership of the European Union pre-dates any possibility of action against Iraq by about 20 years," he said.

"We’ve been very actively supporting Turkey’s application for membership, particularly since we came into Government in May 1997," he added.