WASHINGTON -- The United States may dominate the globe, but it is almost alone in the war against Iraq. Even the offer of some $30 billion in aid could not procure basing rights from Turkey, a longtime ally.
The Turkish Parliament's narrow refusal to accept up to 62,000 American soldiers was a particularly bitter disappointment to Washington. Only under great pressure did newly inaugurated Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan submit approval of military overflights for legislative approval.
Despite hope that Erdogan would open Turkey as a second front against Iraq, he so far refuses to risk his prestige to back such a measure. People in Washington just weren't "paying attention to political differences in Turkey," explains Abdullah Akyuz, Washington representative of the Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association.