Turkey supports U.S. campaign at same time as confronting economic crisis, public opposition to strikes

By SELCAN HACAOGLU
Associated Press Writer

ANKARA, Turkey – Turkey – NATO's sole Muslim member and a key U.S. ally – has pledged its support of the U.S.-led campaign against terrorism. But the backing comes at a time of great economic uncertainty for the country.

Inflation is expected to top 70 percent this year, the lira has shrunk more than 60 percent against the dollar since February and up to a million Turks have lost their jobs. And there are fears the war on terrorism could deepen the economic crisis by spreading to neighboring Iraq and then to Turkey.

"We have two fronts," said Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit in an interview with Radikal newspaper Sunday. "There is the Afghanistan crisis ... our second front is economy."

Last week, parliament authorized sending Turkish troops to train fighters of the northern alliance, the main anti-Taliban force in Afghanistan.

The sprawling Incirlik air base, in south-central Turkey, would be a key staging area for U.S. planes in a possible operation against Iraq. It was a launching pad for attacks against Iraq during the 1991 Gulf War.

Incirlik is apparently being used as a transport hub in the campaign against Afghanistan.

But Turkish leaders are facing growing public uneasiness over the U.S.-led airstrikes on a fellow Muslim country.

In Istanbul on Sunday, riot police used dogs and truncheons to disperse hundreds of leftist demonstrators protesting the military strikes on Afghanistan, two days after firing tear gas to break up another demonstration by 2,000 Islamists.

Polls indicate that some 70 percent of the public oppose the U.S. strikes on Afghanistan, fearing that it could engulf Turkey.

"It is not our war," said Arif Tuncel, a civil servant. "Why should we send soldiers?"

Most Turks also say they feel betrayed what they call the West's "double standards" in fighting terrorism.

Turkey has received little Western backing in its fight against Kurdish rebels who have carried out bombings and arson attacks in a campaign for autonomy. Some 37,000 people, mostly Kurds, have been killed in the 15-year-long fight. The U.S. State Department has named rebels' Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, a terrorist group.

"When I saw the planes ramming into the twin towers, I said: 'Well done,"' said Senol Basbay, a computer programmer. "It is sad, but now they can understand what terror is."

Many Turks also are angry at European countries for activating the NATO's Article 5 – which says an attack on one alliance member is an attack on all – only after the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. Turkey had made similar appeals in the past.

As Turkey becomes increasingly reliant on Western loans to recover from its economic crisis, however, it has little room to maneuver.

The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have offered loans of $15.7 billion. But the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States and the U.S.-led campaign against terrorism have doomed Turkey's prospects of recovering with exports and tourism.

"Most of that contribution has evaporated because of these latest incidents," Ecevit told private NTV television Sunday, appealing to the G-7 countries for extra loans. "It is in their interest to help Turkey out of this economic crisis."

Turkey, which has already lowered its economic targets for 2002, is seeking loans of up to $9 billion to sustain the program next year.

"Next year will be a difficult year for the Turkish economy, at least as difficult as 2001," said Zemin Yildiko, an economist with Istanbul-based Nurol Securities.

APNP-10-15-01 0750CDT