In Turkish youths’ eyes, a cynical ploy by the U.S.

The explanation most of his students have finally settled on for the attacks is this: United States officials purposely allowed the attacks to happen, maybe even helped coordinate them, so they could later justify moving into Iraq to steal its oil.

That is an old claim among more extreme elements of other Muslim countries. It is, though, a relatively new conclusion among these private-school students, some of the wealthiest and best-educated in Turkey.

This, after all, is the country – predominantly Muslim but grounded in secularism and a member of NATO – that should be the most likely in the Islamic world to support the United States. And these are the students within Turkey who could be expected to be among the most likely to back U.S. policy.

But listen to Orkun Selcuk, a 17-year-old language student in love with Pepsi, Jennifer Lopez and most other emblems of American culture.

“They were in on the attack from the very beginning,” Selcuk says of the U.S. government’s involvement in Sept. 11. “The United States is the most powerful country in the world. George Bush could have stopped the attacks if he wanted to, but he didn’t because he wanted a reason for war.”

Selcuk, of course, is just a single student, one of 26 at the private Istanbul high school who agreed to discuss his views on the United States, the threat of war in neighboring Iraq and what the world looks like to teen-agers these days. The students – 15 to 18 years old – do not represent a scientific sampling of attitudes among the young people of Turkey.

These kids, the boys dressed in sweaters and ties, the girls in skirts, heads uncovered – religion plays little or no part in most of their lives – instead represent the best bet the United States has of gaining support in any predominantly Muslim country. But based on interviews with these students, that bet, at least at the moment, appears to be a longshot.

Of the 26 teen-agers interviewed, 18 of them said they believed the United States government either helped the Sept. 11 hijackers or looked the other way to allow the attacks to occur – all because of greed. Not one of them supports an attack on Iraq – which shares a 206-mile border with Turkey – because, they say, they do not believe the motives are to stop terrorism.

To these students, America is George W. Bush and George W. Bush is big oil and defense contractors. War would not be to protect Americans, of whom these students speak fondly.

“Bush wants to use his weapons, so he liquidates them with war, then buys more weapons and that makes him and his friends rich and happy,” says Sirma Algul, who is 18 and dreams of being an actress. “If the reason for war against Iraq is weapons, why haven’t the inspectors there found any weapons?”

Her comments, like Selcuk’s, are common among the students interviewed. The students are familiar with the United States, Bush’s work in the oil business and the sluggishness of the U.S. economy, which some here say is also contributing to a rush for war.

The students are also aware that the U.S. military is sending troops and materiel to the region – even as U.N. inspectors say that while Iraq has not been fully cooperative, they have found no evidence of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.

“The United Nations is the whole world and the United States is just the United States,” Algul says. “So if the United Nations says there’s no reason to go to war, that’s the whole world saying don’t go to war. But George Bush doesn’t care what the whole world thinks. He wants to use his weapons and take that oil.”

Unlike in other predominantly Muslim countries, opposition here to war with Iraq has little to do with a shared religion, of any notion that that United States is targeting Muslims because of their beliefs. When the prayers of imams crackle from amplifiers atop Istanbul’s mosques, these students are more likely to drown out the sounds by cranking up their Eminem tapes than they are to answer the calls to prayer. Muslim, in Turkey, does not necessarily mean religious.

Nor is their opposition rooted in pro-Arab sentiment. There has been strong animosity between Turks and Arabs dating to when Ottoman Turks ruled much of the Arab Middle East. Only when prompted do these students bring up the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and most of them agree the U.S.-led attack in Afghanistan was good for that country – though they are quick to add the United States invaded for its own benefit and not to help Afghans.

Yalim Eralp, a former Turkish diplomat and now a commentator on Turkish television, expresses no surprise at the comments of the students or at polls that show more than 80 percent of Turks oppose allowing the United States to use its soil to launch an invasion of Iraq.

Because United States is the world’s only superpower, criticism is apt to drown out any praise the country might receive for the good it does, such as going into Afghanistan and bringing an end to war in the Balkans.

“The reason the United States doesn’t get credit for the good things it does is because it doesn’t own up to policies that have turned out to be bad,” Eralp says. “Look, the United States is a very big ship. When it makes waves, everyone feels them, and when the waves are big and look dangerous, people are going to blame the ship.”

Some of the students’ opposition to war with Iraq seems parroted from their parents, not unexpected with teen-agers but a sign that the United States is failing to win the support of another generation of Muslim youth.

“We all know that George Bush has been elected with the great support of the international huge weapons sellers,” says Denyz Algul, Sirma Algul’s mother. “He is obliged to do the best he can in order to start a new world war. This attack is the best way.”

Turkey has reason to fear a war. Despite being battered by its worst recession in 50 years, this is a relatively pleasant time for Turks, their optimism tempered only by a threat they see coming more from the United States than from Saddam Hussein.

The country’s government is stable. The European Union, after rejecting the country’s bid for admittance, has promised to reconsider in 2004. Turkey’s streets are safer than almost any in Europe, which is reflected in Istanbul’s Old City, the center of its nightlife, which attracts thousands of people to its markets, restaurants and bars.

But Turkey lost billions of dollars in trade with Iraq during the 1991 gulf war, and an influx of Kurds from northern Iraq briefly threatened to destabilize the country.

The United States has let it be known it wants to use military bases in southeast Turkey to launch an assault from the north while troops to Iraq’s south push toward Baghdad. The government here, so far, has not agreed, but most Turks see the opposition merely as a negotiating tactic to win greater financial aid from the United States and assurances that the Kurds will not cause trouble.

“Americans can say, ‘Yeah, let’s attack Iraq,’ but to them it’s not as serious as it is to us,” says Sinem Duman, who is studying language and is due to graduate in June. “War is more real here. War here is not sending soldiers far away and waiting for them to come back.”

Adds Cem Kansu, an 18-year-old science student: “If the goal is only to get Saddam Hussein, the United States could get him from the inside. They don’t need to send the whole army but they are. So, obviously, getting Saddam is not the real goal.”

The owner of the private school, Ocar Candemir, spends a lot of time with his students, saw their reaction immediately after Sept. 11 and has seen their attitude toward the United States change.

He is a great fan of the United States but is discouraged because, in his view, Americans have learned no lessons from Sept. 11. The American government, Candemir says, seems to think military power alone is the answer to the world’s problems, an outlook that fails to attract people like his students.

“There’s no way anyone can support what happened Sept. 11. It was wrong and horrible and nothing can justify it,” Candemir says. “But it should have served as a reminder to America that they can be challenged by anyone who has nothing to lose. Another war is only going to make more people with nothing to lose.”