Pentagon is lobbying for Turkish companies to be excluded…

"Potentially it will be very huge because they have stopped everything and they need everything and we are next door. It is very important to do business with your neighbours and for my company it may grow up to 200 million dollars turnover in various area."

US concerns
But such hopes could be dashed if US-Turkish relations continue to deteriorate. Washington is also expressing concern about recent high level ministerial visits between Turkey and its neighbours Syria and Iran, two countries it has accused of supporting terrorism. Mr Wolfowitz is calling for Ankara to change its attitude. But Turkey’s Islamic-rooted government has pledged to improve relations with all its neighbours.

For his part, Foreign Minster Abdullah Gul is trying to play down rising tensions saying Turkey had supported the US in its war against Iraq. "We are now looking to the future. What is important for us is the future. Turkish-American relations will continue on a much healthier ground in the future," Gul told the media on Thursday.

Turkey´s suspicions
But worryingly for supporters of US-Turkish relations, there remains scope for further confrontations. Ankara continues to remain suspicious of Kurds in northern Iraq, which it fears could declare a Kurdish state, leading to similar demands from its own Kurdish population. Mensor Akgun of the Turkish think-tank Tesev says while Turkey and the US remain allies, their interests in the region may differ:

"Of course we are allies, but at the end of the day we are not governed from Washington. We may have some conflicting interests over the fate of this region."