NATO split over Turkey plan

The US has sought to persuade the Ankara Government to allow the deployment of up to 80,000 US troops to Turkish bases as part of contingency plans for an attack on Iraq. The British Government has also been lobbying Ankara for permission to deploy 16 Air Assault Brigade and Tornado GR4 bombers to Turkish bases to join the US in a coalition attack. However, France and Germany, leading the way in rejecting the war option, insist moves to protect Turkey from possible retaliatory action by Iraq would be inappropriate while diplomatic efforts are still under way to resolve the confrontation with Iraq. For the first time, Ankara confirmed publicly on Wednesday that it wanted NATO to deploy Patriot anti-missile batteries in southern Turkey, which shares a border with Iraq.
The US has also proposed increased airborne radar surveillance over Turkey using NATO aircraft, and a reinforcement of naval patrols in the Mediterranean.
A Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman said Turkey supported the package, following Baghdad’s threat to strike at any country backing the US’s war plans. However, when the proposal was raised for the second week running during private discussions at NATO headquarters in Brussels, there was deadlock. France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg refused to allow the matter to be put on the agenda for a meeting of the North Atlantic Council, the alliance’s main policy-making body. The 15-4 split was being seen as the most damaging division the alliance has suffered since the initial rows over the proposal to bomb Yugoslavia in 1999. The impasse also contrasted with NATO’s decision soon after the September 11 terrorist attacks to invoke article 5 of the Washington Treaty, under which each member state was obliged to come to the US’s aid. Alliance aircraft were subsequently sent to the US to mount surveillance patrols. If France, Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium were to reject a formal request for help from Ankara, it would be the first time in its history that NATO members would have failed to honour the terms of the founding Washington Treaty.
However, NATO officials, although embarrassed by the split in the alliance, stressed Turkey had not yet tabled a formal request for assistance. It was at this stage, they said, just a proposal from the US, backed by Turkey.
NATO officials said that privately the Turks had been told they would get what they needed to defend the country against an Iraqi attack. But at this stage, the four member states refused to consider the request because they felt the time was not yet right.