Delegations from the United States and Iraq ran into each other yesterday at the Turkish Foreign Ministry where they both tried to lure Ankara into their tense dispute over Iraq's refusal to allow UN arms inspectors to return. A five-person delegation from the US Congress told Turkish officials that Turkey's backing was crucial for Washington in this matter, while simultaneously the Iraqi Ambassador engaged in what he called regular consultations with the Turkish authorities.
Congressmen Robert Wexler, James Moran, Kay Granger, Clifford Stearns, and Tom Tancredo met Undersecretary Ugur Ziyal and told him that they would do their best to help meet Turkish expectations from the US legislative body. Their visit was Washington's first step to expand the US-Turkish strategic partnership to the economic field, as agreed by both sides during Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit's visit to Washington in January, but actual talks about improving Turkish-US economic ties will take place only when the State Department Undersecretary for Economic Affairs visits Ankara at the end of the month.
Turkey's economy is still shaken by a serious financial crisis. Turkey wants to delay repayments of US military loans, to abolish US quotas on its textiles and to have a more favorable trade balance with the United States. However, strong anti-Turkish lobbies active in both houses of Congress may prove an obstacle. A Turkey-US interparliamentary friendship group, including some 30 Congressmen, was established two years ago in a bid to limit the influence of those lobbies. The visiting delegation represents this group and will meet their counterparts in the Turkish Parliament headed by Motherland Party (ANAP) Deputy Kamran Inan. It is also scheduled to hold talks with Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit, Deputy Premier Devlet Bahceli and parliamentary Speaker Omer Izgi today, after visiting the Incirlik airbase from where a US-led air force patrols the skies of northern Iraq.
Baghdad criticizes Turkey for allowing Washington to use Incirlik for patrol flights. Visiting Iraqi Ambassador Mohammed Ahmad said there was no change in Baghdad's policy of refusing to admit UN arms inspectors, the issue at the heart of the row between Washington and Baghdad. Speculation that the US might attack Iraq mounted after President George W. Bush described Iraq, Iran and North Korea as an "axis of evil" developing weapons of mass destruction and sponsoring terrorism. "Iraq's policy on this issue is known," Ahmad said, after meeting his Turkish counterpart Turkekul Kurttekin, at the head of the ministry department for bilateral political relations. The Councilor of the Iraqi Embassy, Tarik Hamandi, attended the meeting.
Turkey is worried about a possible US strike against its neighbor Iraq, and is trying to calm the tension. Ankara fears that a confrontation nearby could renew separatist Kurdish sentiments at home and damage its International Monetary Fund (IMF)-backed economic reform program.
The Congressmen praised Ankara's support for the US war against international terrorism in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks last year that killed thousands in New York and Washington. Congressman Wexler said they were aware of Turkey's worries and warnings of the possible repercussions of military intervention in Iraq.
Turkey has reached a crucial moment in its history where it has to make some important decisions. Are we going to break the resistance to modernization and democratic transformation and become a genuine parliamentary democracy or shall we turn into another Third World country with its own rules?
Our leaders keep on telling us that they want to introduce a genuine democracy resembling the Western democracies here. They promise swift reforms and have tried to introduce some modest changes in the constitution and the penal laws. However, they have now reached a stage where they must either change the crucial laws or bow to the conservative establishment and let Turkey become a marginal country.
According to European norms, the death penalty is a crude form of punishment that should be abandoned. The Americans do not accept this argument and are executing dozens of people every year. However, Turkey is a signatory of the European conventions and thus has agreed to scrap capital punishment. The death penalty is regarded as a form of state revenge and its opponents feel it is outdated and cruel. Turkey stopped executing people in 1984, but has kept capital punishment in its laws. Now we have to take the extra step of banning capital punishment and make a sincere effort to integrate with the EU, but unfortunately this is easier said than done.
The real issue is not whether to scrap the death penalty. The real controversy centers on Abdullah Ocalan, the convicted terrorist leader of the PKK. The court has found Ocalan guilty of treason and has sentenced him to hang. His file is currently at the Prime Minister's Office awaiting the result of an appeal to the European Court of Justice. Once that appeal is finalized, the file will be sent to Parliament for approval. It will join nearly four dozen other capital punishment files awaiting parliamentary action.
Here, the conservative politicians seem to be racing to win points with the electorate. They may all be willing to scrap the death penalty, but are not prepared to do it now and they all give signals that they will do their best to see Ocalan hanged in order to win crucial points with their constituents. The issue has caused rifts in the coalition. So the death penalty will be a crucial test case on whether we are ready to introduce democratic reforms or to sacrifice EU membership for short-term political gains.
