Turkey's government, treading a fine line with its population's sensitivities on participation in the imminent U.S.-led military action against Iraq, is embarrassed by parliamentary leaks that Ankara permitted a 36-member CIA team, accompanied by Turkish intelligence officers, to cross into northern Iraq last September and October. While there, the team grabbed 150 Iraqis suspected of being intelligence officers, who were then spirited to a third country for interrogation.
The Famous Undisclosed Third Country again
Although formal approval for U.S. hopes to push some 50,000 troops through Turkey still awaits (problematic) parliamentary approval, Ankara has agreed to let a 150-man Pentagon team examine three Turkish ports and six air bases for possible use in the upcoming campaign. Washington has formally requested not only the use of Incirlik airbase, but airbases in Batman, Diyarbakir, Afyon, Ãorlu, Sivas and Kaklic, along with the ports of Mersin Tasucu, Içel (Mersin), and Ãskenderun (Alexandretta)." |