WASHINGTON — More than six months after it refused to help the Pentagon overthrow Saddam Hussein, Turkey is again a key to American military plans in Iraq.
U.S. officials hope that, even as other countries drag their feet, Turkey will agree within two weeks to provide up to 10,000 peacekeeping troops in Iraq. Turkish troops could help the U.S. minimize the call-up of more reservists, and could provide the core for an Islamic force that officials would like to field.
Turkish officials say chances of cooperation are considerably better than they were March 1, when the parliament threw Washington's invasion plans into confusion by refusing to allow U.S. troops to pass through Turkish territory into Iraq.
"Turkey's interest requires that it intervene in the chaotic situation," Yuksel Soylemez, a retired Turkish diplomat, said in the Turkish Daily News. "Turkey cannot remain a spectator when 31 faraway countries are involved in an international coalition."
At the same time, Turkish officials and private experts say the government needs to calm public anxieties about such a mission, and to offer proof that Washington is willing to give Ankara a special role in the rebuilding of a country that until 1991 was its second-largest trading partner.
The Turkish military is well positioned to help in Iraq. The army has 600,000 troops near the Iraqi border, even though U.S. forces probably would airlift the units over northern Iraq to avoid potential conflict in the predominantly Kurdish area.
During the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Washington was concerned that Turkish troops might enter northern Iraq and rekindle conflict in the Kurdish-controlled region. Turkish officials feared that autonomy for ethnic Kurds in postwar Iraq could revive separatist demands among Kurds in Turkey.
Possible Turkish involvement in Iraq has become all the more important because some countries, such as Pakistan and India, that only weeks ago appeared ready to contribute troops have since cooled to the idea.
The Turkish public strongly opposed the war and recoils at the idea of the country's troops being placed in a position that might lead to their firing on Muslim Iraqis.
"The big issues are still there: Do we want to take part in the occupation? Do we want our troops to fire on Muslims? How long will this last, and how much will it cost?" said Bulent Aliriza, director of the Turkey Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "They're debating this endlessly."
