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CNN Saturday Morning News

Turkey Stands Behind U.S.

Aired September 22, 2001 - 07:09   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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Now to Istanbul, Turkey, by telephone, CNN's Jane Arraf with the news about the Turkish government allowing the U.S. to use continued air bases there in Turkey.

Jane, what are they saying out of Ankara?

JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill, the Turkish government is making clear this morning what it emphasized last week as soon as this attack happened, that even though it is a predominantly Muslim country, as a U.S. ally it's standing behind the United States.

Now, a statement this morning out of Ankara after high-level cabinet talks over the past couple of days emphasizes that Turkey will allow the U.S. to use its air bases. It has one of the biggest U.S. air bases in the region in southeastern Turkey, as well as its own Turkish bases, that it appears to be ready to allow the U.S. to use.

Now, there is a caveat to this. Like a lot of countries in the region, Turkey is saying that the U.S. has to retaliate, that there has to be a coordinated effort, but it's not going the entire way. The prime minister told CNN yesterday that he did not believe that the use of ground forces was appropriate, and that Turkey couldn't contribute ground forces to any ground assault.

His solution, since this is in many respects a war of intelligence, is to increase the intelligence coordination between Turkey and other countries in the region, and also to increase the training and the equipment that Turkey itself is providing to the opposition in Afghanistan -- Bill.

HEMMER: Jane, while we have you here, quickly, it should be pointed out the Insulak (ph) air base has been used by the U.S. Air Force for years now, and it's surveying the skies over northern Iraq and the northern and southern no-fly zones. How will that be impacted, or can you give us a measure of how much that air base is being used at this point today?

ARRAF: That air base appears to -- according to the U.S. military, is being used in its routine capacity, which is as the main base for Operation Northern Watch. That's the patrols of northern Iraq that the U.S. and Britain have been doing since the end of the Gulf War.

Now, that is a NATO base, so it could be expanded to be used for other applications, according to military sources here. And in a statement this morning, the Turkish government said that it was opening its air bases and its air space to transport planes from the U.S.

So that base in southeastern Turkey on the border with Iraq could certainly be used as a transit point and a transport point.

At this point, it's unclear what specific applications that base would have, since it's primarily geographically applicable only to Iraq and possibly Iran. Now, U.S. officials do seem to be backing down on the thought that Iraq has been officially implicated in this, but Injurlik (ph), according to the Americans and to the Turks, certainly, stands ready to do whatever's needed in terms of any proof that Iraq has been involved -- Bill.

HEMMER: All right, keep us posted, Jane Arraf by telephone in Istanbul.

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