Turkey vote douses US hopes for troop access

ANKARA - Turkey said it would ask Parliament only to approve US military overflights to Iraq in a vote last night, signalling the end of Washington's urgent efforts to deploy thousands of US troops on Turkish soil.

A senior US official said Ankara's allowing the United States to use Turkish airspace and bases to fly into Iraq would not justify any of the billions of dollars in aid the US had pledged in an earlier plan to station ground troops for a northern front against Iraq.

But Ankara said after reaching the deal with Washington on overflights it would consider any further US requests.

"The motion we will present today will be to allow the transit of US military aircraft and Turkish soldiers to be deployed abroad," a Government spokesman said.

"If further requests emerge in the future we will evaluate them, but at this moment the request from the United States is for permission for overflights through Turkish airspace."

With US troops making final preparations to invade Iraq, a top-level meeting in Ankara had briefly revived flagging hopes in Washington of using Turkey as a launch-pad to accelerate victory over Baghdad. A northern front via Turkey's southern border might also have lessened US casualties.

The US could attack Iraq any time after 1.15pm today (NZ time), when the deadline for Saddam Hussein and his sons to leave the country or face war expires.

The deal with Ankara, the result of months of negotiating, means the US may still be able to fly a more limited force across Turkey's airspace into northern Iraq to protect oil fields and exert pressure on Saddam's rearguard.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq