Bush to Meet With Turkish Political Head

Justice Party leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan is barred from political office because he was convicted of inciting religious hatred by reciting an Islamic poem at a rally. Still, he plays a pivotal rule in Turkey’s attempts to strengthen its ties to the West and could hold the key to how much support the secular Muslim state would give the United States if war comes.

Preliminary talks this week in Ankara by Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Marc Grossman, an undersecretary of state, produced a promise of at least limited cooperation. U.S. officials say ironclad promises were neither requested nor given.

Wolfowitz sugared the Bush administration’s overtures with word that hundreds of millions of dollars could be spent upgrading Turkish military bases for possible use in a war against Iraq, Turkey’s neighbor. Turkey’s Incirlik air base has served for years as the springboard for surveillance flights over northern Iraq.

On Friday, the State Department supported Turkey’s bid for prompt membership in the European Union after Erdogan said negotiations for Turkey’s entry should begin next year and not in July 2005, as France and Germany proposed Thursday.

“We will notify both the EU presidency and other EU leaders,” said Erdogan, leader of the ruling Justice and Development Party, which was founded by members of an Islamic party but has been trying to distance itself from its Islamic roots. “We will ask that (negotiations) not go beyond 2003.”

The French-German proposal calls for a December 2004 ruling by EU leaders on whether Turkey meets membership criteria. If Turkey passes muster, entry negotiations could start in July 2005, the two countries suggested.

The United States always has supported Turkey’s quest for negotiations to begin early, the State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.

“We feel strongly that Turkey should be offered an early confirmed date to begin accession negotiations, and we’re in contact with various other governments about that point of view,” he said.

Boucher noted Turkey had made a number of changes as it maneuvered for membership in the 15-nation European group and proposed others. At a minimum, the U.S. official said, Turkey should be given a date for the beginning of negotiations.

On Thursday, the State Department alerted Americans to a possible terrorist threat in Turkey.

The department said it had received unconfirmed and fragmentary information that suggested unknown terrorists might be planning to conduct a terrorist incident in southeastern Turkey.

Boucher provided no further details Friday.

For geographical reasons, Turkey’s help would be vital in striking targets in northern Iraq.

Some 50 U.S. warplanes, mostly U.S. F-15s and F-16s, are based at Incirlik, about an hour from northern Iraq. Hundreds of U.S. pilots and support personnel are stationed there.

U.S. jets that patrol northern Iraq to deter Iraqi attacks on Kurds take off from Incirlik.