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CNN Live Saturday
Key Vote in Turkish Parliament Nullified
Aired March 01, 2003 - 18:17 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 LIN, CNN ANCHOR: American military planners will tell you that Turkey is absolutely essential for a key northern assault into Baghdad, into Iraq, if there is a war. The problem is, that the United States needs permission from Turkey's parliament. There was a key vote that took place today and here's what happened.
First the parliament voted "yes." And then the opposition moved in, asked for another vote, and they voted "no." And so far, that is where the decision stands. That Turkey will not allow the United States to base troops out of its country, which is a major blow to any war planning by the United States.
CNN's Harris Whitbeck is in Ankara with more on this debate.
Harris, the parliament is supposed to meet again on Tuesday. Is this at all on their agenda? Is there another chance for the United States to get a vote in Turkey?
HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN INT'L CORRESPONDENT: Carol, at this point that is not on the agenda. But one point of clarification that must be made, during today's voting session there was only one vote.
There were more "yes" votes than there were "no" votes, but the opposition made the point that the government parties have not received an absolute majority and for that reason parliament could not approve the government suggested proposal that Turkey allow that it's territory be used by U.S. military forces in an eventual conflict with Iraq.
Now, the cabinet has been meeting tonight. They will be meeting again tomorrow morning to discuss what steps to follow. They have not discarded the possibility of trying to put forth a second proposal. But, as we've said, at this point the topic is not on the agenda for Tuesday's parliamentary session.
Carol.
LIN: All right, so what is likely to happened next? Does the United States need to step up to satisfy something that the opposition party wants, or needs, from the Americans?
WHITBECK: Well, obviously, as you said, the United States is very, very interested in obtaining Turkish authorization to use its territory and it's bases. It has already offered a substantial monetary package. That monetary package apparently did not go over too, too well by the opposition. It didn't go over too well with Turkish public opinion. Polls here indicate that more than 90 percent of people in Turkey are opposed to the U.S. using their territory here in case of war with Iraq. People here also very opposed to war.
So many in the opposition say that there is really not much else that can be done, but this is Turkish democracy at work. And this is a functioning and very vibrant democratic system. And that is just the way things are.
LIN: All right. Well, I guess we'll just have to wait until Tuesday when the parliament meets again to see if they take it up once more.
Thank you very much, Harris Whitbeck reporting live from Ankara.
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 March 1, 2003 - 18:17 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: American military planners will tell you that Turkey is absolutely essential for a key northern assault into Baghdad, into Iraq, if there is a war. The problem is, that the United States needs permission from Turkey's parliament. There was a key vote that took place today and here's what happened.
First the parliament voted "yes." And then the opposition moved in, asked for another vote, and they voted "no." And so far, that is where the decision stands. That Turkey will not allow the United States to base troops out of its country, which is a major blow to any war planning by the United States.
CNN's Harris Whitbeck is in Ankara with more on this debate.
Harris, the parliament is supposed to meet again on Tuesday. Is this at all on their agenda? Is there another chance for the United States to get a vote in Turkey?
HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN INT'L CORRESPONDENT: Carol, at this point that is not on the agenda. But one point of clarification that must be made, during today's voting session there was only one vote.
There were more "yes" votes than there were "no" votes, but the opposition made the point that the government parties have not received an absolute majority and for that reason parliament could not approve the government suggested proposal that Turkey allow that it's territory be used by U.S. military forces in an eventual conflict with Iraq.
Now, the cabinet has been meeting tonight. They will be meeting again tomorrow morning to discuss what steps to follow. They have not discarded the possibility of trying to put forth a second proposal. But, as we've said, at this point the topic is not on the agenda for Tuesday's parliamentary session.
Carol.
LIN: All right, so what is likely to happened next? Does the United States need to step up to satisfy something that the opposition party wants, or needs, from the Americans?
WHITBECK: Well, obviously, as you said, the United States is very, very interested in obtaining Turkish authorization to use its territory and it's bases. It has already offered a substantial monetary package. That monetary package apparently did not go over too, too well by the opposition. It didn't go over too well with Turkish public opinion. Polls here indicate that more than 90 percent of people in Turkey are opposed to the U.S. using their territory here in case of war with Iraq. People here also very opposed to war.
So many in the opposition say that there is really not much else that can be done, but this is Turkish democracy at work. And this is a functioning and very vibrant democratic system. And that is just the way things are.
LIN: All right. Well, I guess we'll just have to wait until Tuesday when the parliament meets again to see if they take it up once more.
Thank you very much, Harris Whitbeck reporting live from Ankara.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
