A rchive Date
[ 17-02-2003 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ European Union ]
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[http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2003/02/12/25095-ap.html
NATO breaks deadlock over Iraq
By PAUL GEITNER
Sun, February 16, 2003
BRUSSELS (AP) - NATO broke a month-long impasse Sunday over preparations in case of war in Iraq, reaffirming alliance solidarity while supporting United Nations efforts for a peaceful solution.
"Alliance solidarity has prevailed," NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson said. "We have been able collectively to overcome the impasse." The decision to start planning for Turkey's defence, however, was taken without France, which was shut out of the room as the alliance pushed to resolve its worst crisis in years.
With France sidelined, Germany dropped its objections, followed hours later by the final holdout, Belgium.
The United States called the decision a "very big step forward" for the alliance - even without France.
"We have a clear NATO decision to plan for the support for Turkey," said U.S. Ambassador Nicholas Burns. "And within several days, we have a clear commitment by all 18 allies that we will deploy AWACS and Patriot systems to Turkey."
The actual deployment is subject to another NATO decision.
NATO turned Sunday to its Defence Planning Committee, which Paris withdrew from in 1966, after the measures were held up for a month by French-led opposition.
"We felt this was the best way to make this very difficult decision," Burns said. "And that decision has been vindicated."
For a month, France, Germany and Belgium, had blocked a NATO decision to begin planning to help fortify Turkey - the only NATO ally bordering Iraq - against any potential reprisals. They argued such a move was premature and would undermine UN efforts to avoid a war.
At the last minute Sunday, Belgium insisted on linking any eventual NATO deployment to developments at the UN Security Council.
Announcing the agreement, Robertson said: "This is not a step toward going to war. We have stated the obvious, that is we support the United Nations process, that these decisions are purely for the defence of Turkey."
But the final statement underlined that while NATO supports UN efforts to find a peaceful solution, NATO decisions were not dependent on the United Nations or any other organization.
"There's no linkage," Burns said.
The three holdouts issued a joint statement stressing their determination to honour their obligations to NATO, but also their desire to disarm Iraq without force.
They insisted that not all alternatives to force had been "fully exploited."
Paris left NATO's military command structure in 1966 and participates only in political consultations.
The Defence Planning Committee was used ahead of the 1991 war against Iraq to approve aid for Turkey. But NATO has sought to limit its use since the end of the Cold War in a spirit of rapprochement with Paris.
"We would have preferred to have a decision . . . with all 19 members present," Roberston said. "France believed that these measures were not yet opportune. But I hope that people will not in any way get a signal that it implies any less commitment," to Turkey's defence.
Turkey feels especially vulnerable since it is considering allowing tens of thousands of U.S. soldiers to use Turkish facilities for a possible Iraq war.
The United States and its allies say denying support for Turkey's defence erodes the alliance's credibility and sends the wrong signal to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Some of the measures can be done bilaterally - Germany has already agreed to send Patriot missiles to Turkey via the Netherlands - but those missiles need to be linked to NATO radar networks to be effective.
Germany also has promised AWACS crews, but the planes themselves are NATO assets.
The dispute drove a deep wedge into the 53-year-old alliance.
It also exacerbated tensions within Europe ahead of Monday's emergency summit of 15 European Union leaders, who are trying to reconcile their own widely differing policies on Iraq.
Britain, Spain, Denmark and Italy have broadly backed U.S. President George W. Bush, while France and Germany have tried to slow what they see as his rush to war.
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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