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CNN Live At Daybreak
Mixed Signals from Turkey
Aired December 04, 2002 - 05:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And let's get right to our big story of the day right now. What type of role could Turkey play in a possible U.S. war on Iraq? That is the topic of high level talks.
CNN's Jane Arraf joins us from Turkey, where officials are delicately handling the sensitive issue -- was there really a change of mind here, Jane?
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, not really a change of mind, so much, Carol, but certainly a realization of just how sensitive this issue really is. Now, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz left just a short while ago, saying that he was extremely happy with these talks with the new Turkish government. In fact, from what he said it seems as if the United States might have found what is shaping up to be one of its new best friends in the region.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL WOLFOWITZ, DEPUTY DEFENSE SECRETARY: The attitude that we encountered was very encouraging, not surprising, actually, but very encouraging, that we find this new government is even more committed, if anything, than the last government to the idea of the Turkish-U.S. partnership and alliance, that they have said they will be with us in very clear and strong terms.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARRAF: Now, one of the things that Wolfowitz is talking about specifically is that quite contentious use of the air bases. And what he told a small group of reporters just before leaving was that the United States is close but not quite there yet on agreeing with Turkey which of the bases it would need and want to use and how exactly it would make that happen.
Now, as for the foreign ministry, we're standing out there right now and there has been quite a flap over the foreign minister's comments. Again, this is a new government, and he had said that Turkey was committed to letting these bases be used. Quite a flurry here, actually. This is a very important day for Turkey. We now have the Greek foreign minister, George Papandreou, arriving to discuss the very important issue to Turkey of Cyprus and its membership into the E.U.
But back to the Wolfowitz visit and those comments on the air bases, the foreign ministry later basically contradicted the foreign minister, saying that nothing had been decided yet, an indication of how sensitive it is really here -- Carol. COSTELLO: Yes, so it's still sort of up in the air and nothing's really been decided as of yet, Jane?
ARRAF: Well, what seems to have been decided is that there really is a commitment now. Now, Paul Wolfowitz said that a lot of things had been hanging in the air due to the political uncertainty here with elections just a few weeks ago that put this government in power. And, again, this is a government with Islamic roots. But it's very keen to show that it is an ally of the U.S.
And there was some question as to how they'd react. But that question apparently has been answered because in the talks with the deputy defense secretary, Turkey appears to have made clear that in principle the bases will be allowed to be used, as they were in the Gulf War. It seems to go further than that, as well. There is an indication that Turkey will be receiving quite a lot of money to facilitate use of those bases. We're also talking about air space and possibly the possibility of basing U.S. troops here, as Paul Wolfowitz has said.
This is a coalition partner potentially that offers the United States more than any other coalition partner. And in that sense, Turkey is extremely important and, in fact, unique -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Jane Arraf reporting live for us this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 4, 2002 - 05:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And let's get right to our big story of the day right now. What type of role could Turkey play in a possible U.S. war on Iraq? That is the topic of high level talks.
CNN's Jane Arraf joins us from Turkey, where officials are delicately handling the sensitive issue -- was there really a change of mind here, Jane?
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, not really a change of mind, so much, Carol, but certainly a realization of just how sensitive this issue really is. Now, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz left just a short while ago, saying that he was extremely happy with these talks with the new Turkish government. In fact, from what he said it seems as if the United States might have found what is shaping up to be one of its new best friends in the region.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL WOLFOWITZ, DEPUTY DEFENSE SECRETARY: The attitude that we encountered was very encouraging, not surprising, actually, but very encouraging, that we find this new government is even more committed, if anything, than the last government to the idea of the Turkish-U.S. partnership and alliance, that they have said they will be with us in very clear and strong terms.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARRAF: Now, one of the things that Wolfowitz is talking about specifically is that quite contentious use of the air bases. And what he told a small group of reporters just before leaving was that the United States is close but not quite there yet on agreeing with Turkey which of the bases it would need and want to use and how exactly it would make that happen.
Now, as for the foreign ministry, we're standing out there right now and there has been quite a flap over the foreign minister's comments. Again, this is a new government, and he had said that Turkey was committed to letting these bases be used. Quite a flurry here, actually. This is a very important day for Turkey. We now have the Greek foreign minister, George Papandreou, arriving to discuss the very important issue to Turkey of Cyprus and its membership into the E.U.
But back to the Wolfowitz visit and those comments on the air bases, the foreign ministry later basically contradicted the foreign minister, saying that nothing had been decided yet, an indication of how sensitive it is really here -- Carol. COSTELLO: Yes, so it's still sort of up in the air and nothing's really been decided as of yet, Jane?
ARRAF: Well, what seems to have been decided is that there really is a commitment now. Now, Paul Wolfowitz said that a lot of things had been hanging in the air due to the political uncertainty here with elections just a few weeks ago that put this government in power. And, again, this is a government with Islamic roots. But it's very keen to show that it is an ally of the U.S.
And there was some question as to how they'd react. But that question apparently has been answered because in the talks with the deputy defense secretary, Turkey appears to have made clear that in principle the bases will be allowed to be used, as they were in the Gulf War. It seems to go further than that, as well. There is an indication that Turkey will be receiving quite a lot of money to facilitate use of those bases. We're also talking about air space and possibly the possibility of basing U.S. troops here, as Paul Wolfowitz has said.
This is a coalition partner potentially that offers the United States more than any other coalition partner. And in that sense, Turkey is extremely important and, in fact, unique -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Jane Arraf reporting live for us this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
