25 September 2001 , Copyright © Turkish Daily News
Mete
Belovacikli
metebe@cnnturk.com.tr
The Middle Eastern chessboard
While the whole world is curious about the general picture of the expected retaliation, Turkey has been pondering the second part of the operation that is to be conducted against Afghanistan. The main problem concerns how Turkey will cope with the conflict -- if it spreads through the Mideast. Ankara has devised three strategies to prevent armed conflict from spreading through the region.
The first plans to lend support in the technical, political and intelligence fields during the operation against Afghanistan -- so as to enhance its influence in the process and to gain more say during the second chapter of the series.
The second aims to have an active stance in the Israel-Palestine peace process in order to keep conflicts localized.
Determining the limits of the operation when it comes to Iraq composes the third.
The Middle East is of importance for Turkey for two reasons -- the unavoidable spread of the operations to the region and the fact that Turkey wants to have a leading role in operations that are to take place.
That is why the Foreign Ministry keeps reminding its Western friends that "terrorism has no religion" while it is in fact trying to gain the support of Muslim countries existing in the region.
Trying to prevent an Israeli-Palestinian conflict has the aim of keeping religion out of regional escalations and localizing those escalations as much as possible.
The only problem left to deal with then is that of Iraq. Despite the fact that its name is never mentioned, Turkey has determined its stance in a possible operation to be directed against Iraq quite clearly. As Foreign Minister Ismail Cem said: "Turkey believes in the necessity of fighting terrorism without making any distinctions of nation and geography. Turkey has revealed what it is capable of doing, and will surely do what it says."
This means Turkey will be on the U.S. front in an operation directed against Iraq. Most of all, "it will be carrying out its responsibilities without missing anything."
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