Turk leaders, generals meet amid US troop impasse

ANKARA Feb 28 - Turkey's government and powerful generals met amid simmering uncertainty on Friday to discuss the fate of U.S. plans to deploy thousands of troops in the country for a possible invasion of Iraq.

Turkey's top business group urged quick approval of the troop deployments to halt a deepening crisis.

With U.S. troops and armour waiting on ships off Turkey's southern coast and war possibly only a few weeks away, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) decided on Thursday to defer an expected parliamentary vote until Saturday. It was the latest in a series of delays testing U.S. military planners.

``We seemed to enter new and, for the Americans perhaps, more disturbing territory on Thursday,'' one Western diplomat said.

``Previous delays were largely about differences on financial or military terms of support. Maybe some issues remain here, but what I think we see now is underlying anguish over who makes the decision, who takes responsibility for consequences.''

Turkish leader Tayyip Erdogan said, however, that - barring the unexpected - parliament would act on Saturday.

``There are negatives whichever decision is taken,'' he told reporters on a flight to the southeastern city of Siirt. ``But that the government has sent the motion to parliament means the concerns have essentially been overcome.''

Turkey has been reluctant throughout to commit itself to a role in the war, fearing turmoil on its borders and political conflict at home. But if it rebuffs the U.S. it would forfeit financial aid and exclude itself from decision-making on the fate of northern Iraq - an area where it has vital interests.

A decision on backing an invasion of neighbouring Iraq would be a traumatic one at any time. But the current debate finds NATO member Turkey with a government, only three months old, that stands in something less than a relationship of confidence with a powerful military wary of its Islamist roots.

Friday's key meeting of the National Security Council (MGK) furnishes the AKP with an opportunity to seek the blessing it must need from military and president for the action.

It falls, poignantly perhaps for some, on the sixth anniversary of another MGK meeting burnt into national history. On February 28, 1997, the council launched an army-led pressure campaign that quickly led to the fall of Turkey's first Islamist government and a nationwide clampdown on political Islam that brought the banning of parent parties of the AKP.

Explanations for Thursday's postponement offered by AKP deputies after their closed meeting varied greatly. The most common was that more time was needed for discussion.

But sources close to the party said the government was nervous now over the constitutional legitimacy of its resolution to admit 62,000 troops - a force the United States would use for a ``northern front'' experts say might speed a victory.

President Ahmet Necdet Sezer said recently the resolution would violate the constitution if it lacked the ``international legitimacy'' offered by a second U.N. Security Council resolution explicitly authorising the use of force against Iraq.

A second resolution, drawn up by the United States and Britain, may not be presented for at least two weeks - not a timetable likely to suit U.S. military planners.

Article 92 of the constitution states that any deployment of foreign troops on Turkish soil or the dispatch of Turkish troops overseas for combat requires ``international legitimacy''.

The head of Turkey's top business group, TUSIAD, urged parliament to approve the troops motion quickly.

``If this war happens, it will happen even if Turkey doesn't give permission for the deployment,'' chairman Tuncay Ozilhan said. ``For its own interests, Turkey must take the decision on the motion so as not to ... deepen the continuing crisis.''

The government may ask the military for its view at the MGK meeting, chaired by the president. A decision may then emerge on whether the vote will go ahead on Saturday or be delayed again.

The armed forces, which accused the government last month of encouraging Islamist militancy, have remained silent over the Iraq issue, insisting it is purely a matter for the politicians. - Reuters