US trying to buy Turkey's approval for war on Iraq

Well-informed sources said that the USA has proposed an offer of several aid packages at a value of 6 billion dollars as well as a sum of 20 billion dollars as loan guarantees from banks owned by the private sector in an attempt to ensure Turkey's support in a war against Iraq.

The sources explained that the US asks as a precondition to provide the loan guarantees so that the loans will be subjected for the conditions of Turkey's program with the International Monetary Fund.

It is not clear whether Ankara will accept this offer whose value has increased greatly in recent days in light of the demands raised by the Turkish side for billions of extra dollars.

As soon as an agreement is reached, the US President George Bush who met at the White House last Friday with the Turkish foreign minister Yashar Yakish, will submit it to the US Congress to approve it together with a request to allocate an emergency budget at the time of war.

However, sources at the US Congress had asked Washington for 50 billions of aid. A figure which is stated by American officials as too much exaggerated.