Pressures Grow on Turkey

The national currency, the lira, tumbled 5 percent, and the threat of higher interest rates loomed. Turkey is emerging from its worst recession since World War II. The parliamentary rejection put at risk a potential $30 billion U.S. aid package designed to cushion any financial shock from a war in Iraq and lessen Turkey’s debt. Cabinet ministers worked late into Monday night to try to assess why parliament didn’t approve the measure to allow U.S. troops to use Turkish bases to invade Iraq. “A decision will be made after the evaluations end. And I don’t know when the evaluation will end,” Foreign Minister Yasar Yakis said Monday. Kuwait said it would accept some of the 62,000 American troops lined up to go to Turkey if Turkey would not.
“Turkey is reviewing its options for what they will or will not be able to do, and we are evaluating our options and our alternatives,” White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said in Washington.
“No matter what course Turkey selects . . . there’s no doubt it will lead to a successful military outcome.”