NATO Delays Decision on Aid to Turkey

However, Yves Brodeur, a NATO spokesman in Brussels says a meeting of the North Atlantic Council – ambassadors from the 19 NATO member states – could be delayed until next week. The ambassadors were to have met Friday, but German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder says it would be inappropriate for NATO to act now, before the Security Council meeting in New York.

Germany, France, and Belgium have opposed a U.S.-backed proposal for NATO to assist Turkey until the U.N. Security Council acts on the Iraqi crisis. They say efforts to achieve a diplomatic solution to the Iraqi crisis must come before sending military equipment to Turkey, the only member state that borders Iraq. But Chancellor Schroeder said solidarity between Turkey and NATO is not in question.

In Washington Thursday, Turkish Foreign Minister Yasar Yakis said his country is continuing talks on a bilateral basis with NATO members, and is sure there will be protection from NATO if Turkey needs it.

Mr. Yakis said Turkey is sending military units into northern Iraq, but only on humanitarian missions. The foreign minister said his country wants to avoid a repeat of the events of the 1991 Gulf War, when thousands of Iraqi refugees flooded into Turkey.