U.S. Is Getting Impatient

The issue came to agenda during the visit of Richard Lugar, the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the U.S. Senate Ankara; in the talks between Rifat Hisarciklioglu, the Chairman of Turkish Union of Chambers and Exchanges (TOBB), and U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz; and in the meeting of Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul and U.S. State Secretary Colin Powell.

An American official said; Turkey’s sending troops is very much important to recover Turco-American relations. If Turkey sends troops to Iraq this will show that she is our strategic partner. However no matter what the decision will be, Ankara should decide as soon as possible and take action. The official said that even though Turkey did not send troops to Iraq the relations with U.S. would continue but U.S. would not be as willing to assist Turkey economically as she was at the moment.