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The Turkish government on Monday agreed to base tens of thousands of US troops on its soil to open a "northern front" against neighboring Iraq.
The government also decided to hand in the motion on deployment of foreign troops in Turkey and dispatch of Turkish troops abroad to the Parliament, which will vote for approval on Tuesday, said Deputy Prime Minister and government spokesman Abdullatif Sener.
The decision came after a lengthy cabinet session which lasted for 6 hours and 20 minutes.
Noting that Monday's agenda of the cabinet meeting only focused on Iraq, Sener said that they had evaluated a possible US-led military action against Iraq and developments after such an action.
Sener said that the government was still seeking a deal with the United States on military, political and economic issues during Turko-US ambassadorial talks.
"The Cabinet was firstly informed on the latest point reached in talks on political issues and details. Later, information was given on talks on military issues and latest point reached in those talks. Finally, economic issues were taken up in detail," he said.
He said "besides these ongoing talks, impacts of a possible military action on Turkey, measures that our government has to take to protect Turkey's interests in a sensitive way, and position, attitude and opinion of other countries regarding a US military action against Iraq were evaluated."
Sener said that during these talks most of the cabinet members did not find developments satisfactory. Nevertheless, the cabinet decided to send the motion to the parliament on Monday.
Turkey has recently come under ever increasing pressure to allow a massive US combatant force to station on Turkish land to launch a military assault on Iraq.
The United States also wants to use a number of Turkish bases and ports in a looming war against Iraq. It has dispatched hundreds of military personnel these days to upgrade the facilities. Huge cargo ships carrying military hardware have also arrived in the ports.
However, unsatisfied with the US offer of economic compensation for a war on Iraq, Turkey has been reluctant to submit the motion on US troop deployment for parliament approval.
Washington offers a US$6 billion grant, and a US$20 billion loan to offset the possible war damage on the Turkish economy, but the offer falls far short of Turkey's original demand for US$32 billion.
(Xinhua News Agency February 25, 2003)
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