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Significant Development in Buildup of Possible War Against Iraq
Aired February 06, 2003 - 11:15 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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: There's been a significant development today in the buildup of a possible war against Iraq, and that development comes from Turkey.
Let's go to Jane Arraf who, is standing by in Ankara with news out of the Turkish parliament.
Jane, hello.
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi.
You're absolutely right, just a few moments ago, turkey's parliament voted to approve the U.S. modernizing its air bases, as well as sending Turkish troops abroad. Now what that means in practical terms is that it's the first step to allowing U.S. troops here and the authority to send Turkish troops to Iraq.
Now the thing that the United States is waiting for is a parliament vote that would actually allow those American troops to be based in Turkey for a northern attack on Iraq. That vote is going to come in about a week probably. The government is still working on getting support for it, but this was a crucial first step -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Jane, one quick question for you. As I understand it, the delay in even getting this far in parliament, is there's been a disconnect between what public officials want to do versus what the public wants. Very strong public opinion against cooperating with this type of war.
ARRAF: You're absolutely right. And that's for a lot of reasons. And one of the main reasons seems to be economic. We've been going out and speaking to people across the country recently, particularly in the southeast, near the Turkish border, near the Iraqi-Turkish border, and what they are saying to us is that they really believe that the threat of a war would be far more than the threat of not having a war, of keeping the Iraqi leadership in place. What they are worried about is that the economy would essentially collapse.
Now Turkey is in a very deep recession they're just struggling out of, and what the politicians and the military are afraid of is that Iraq could collapse, and could disintegrate, and they could have chaos on their borders in the form of increases power by Iraqi Kurds that would, in turn, spark a separatist movement in Turkey among their own Kurdish minorities. So it's a complicated situation that the government is trying to grapple with and decide on -- Daryn. KAGAN: Jane Arraf in Ankara, Turkey, thank you so much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Iraq>
Aired February 6, 2003 - 11:15 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: There's been a significant development today in the buildup of a possible war against Iraq, and that development comes from Turkey.
Let's go to Jane Arraf who, is standing by in Ankara with news out of the Turkish parliament.
Jane, hello.
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi.
You're absolutely right, just a few moments ago, turkey's parliament voted to approve the U.S. modernizing its air bases, as well as sending Turkish troops abroad. Now what that means in practical terms is that it's the first step to allowing U.S. troops here and the authority to send Turkish troops to Iraq.
Now the thing that the United States is waiting for is a parliament vote that would actually allow those American troops to be based in Turkey for a northern attack on Iraq. That vote is going to come in about a week probably. The government is still working on getting support for it, but this was a crucial first step -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Jane, one quick question for you. As I understand it, the delay in even getting this far in parliament, is there's been a disconnect between what public officials want to do versus what the public wants. Very strong public opinion against cooperating with this type of war.
ARRAF: You're absolutely right. And that's for a lot of reasons. And one of the main reasons seems to be economic. We've been going out and speaking to people across the country recently, particularly in the southeast, near the Turkish border, near the Iraqi-Turkish border, and what they are saying to us is that they really believe that the threat of a war would be far more than the threat of not having a war, of keeping the Iraqi leadership in place. What they are worried about is that the economy would essentially collapse.
Now Turkey is in a very deep recession they're just struggling out of, and what the politicians and the military are afraid of is that Iraq could collapse, and could disintegrate, and they could have chaos on their borders in the form of increases power by Iraqi Kurds that would, in turn, spark a separatist movement in Turkey among their own Kurdish minorities. So it's a complicated situation that the government is trying to grapple with and decide on -- Daryn. KAGAN: Jane Arraf in Ankara, Turkey, thank you so much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Iraq>
