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|  | April 27, 2000 Representative Sonny Callahan Your "Dear Colleague" letter of April 14, 2000 on Turkey (Exhibit 1) contains serious errors of fact and omissions of fact. Whoever drafted the letter or supplied the facts did you a disservice. These factual errors and omissions are so egregious that we urge you to withdraw the letter. The letter's reference to "several important business decisions" in your opening paragraph appears to be a key reason for your letter. Turkey proposes to purchase 145 attack helicopters for $4 billion. There are three remaining bidders: U.S. Bell-Textron; Italy's Augusta; and a Russian/Israeli joint venture. Boeing Aircraft was rejected by Turkey in an announcement earlier this year. It should be noted that Turkey recently retained the services of three former congressmen: Robert Livingston (R-LA), Gerald Solomon (R-NY), and Stephen Solarz (D-NY) for $1.8 million to lobby for arms sales to Turkey. On April 18, 2000, 29 of your colleagues wrote to the President urging him to deny an export license for Turkey's proposed purchase of 145 attack helicopters from a U.S. manufacturer. That letter sets forth the reasons why such a purchase is sharply contrary to U.S. foreign policy interests and states "Nothing could be more destructive to your efforts to bring peace and stability to the eastern Mediterranean region than this huge arms purchase by Turkey." (See Exhibit 2) I urge you to inform your colleagues that you are in agreement with the contents of their April 18, 2000 letter. ERRORS OF FACT AND OMISSIONS OF FACT The Persian Gulf War Turkey did not "serve with us" in Desert Storm. Turkish public opinion supported Iraq's dictator, Saddam Hussein. Throughout Desert Shield (August 2, 1990 - January 15, 1991), Turkey sat on the sidelines, refusing to send any forces to the U.S.-led Coalition, refusing to authorize the U.S. request for a second land front from Turkey (see Wash. Post, Jan. 16, 1991, at A6, col. 5), and refusing to allow the use of the NATO air base at Incirlik, Turkey. Desert Storm began January 16, 1991. It was not until over 48 hours after the air war began and only after the Iraqi air force and air defenses had been neutralized and the U.S. had achieved air superiority, that Turkey changed its position and allowed a limited number of sorties from Incirlik NATO air base; and these sorties were clearly unnecessary by that time. Turkey never sent any forces to the U.S.-led Coalition. Cut off of oil from Iraq The letter is in error regarding "Turkey's decision to cut off the flow of oil from Iraq." Regarding the two oil pipelines from Iraq through Turkey to the Mediterranean coast, Iraq, not Turkey closed the first oil pipeline and reduced the flow of oil through the second by 75 percent for lack of customers. Turkey refused to act to shut off the second pipeline until after the UN Security Council passed resolution 661 on August 6, 1990, (see Wash. Post Aug. 8, 1999, at A12, col. 4). Other countries acted right away. Further, we did not need Turkey to halt the remaining 25 percent of the second pipeline since the naval blockade would have prevented any movement of Iraqi oil from Turkey's Mediterranean port if there had been any customers. Turkey's President Ozal admitted this in a news conference on June 7, 1991 in Istanbul when he stated: "If Turkey had not imposed an embargo and shut the pipeline it would have led to a blockade." (Associated Press, June 7, 1991) The Persian Gulf War demonstrated that Greece, not Turkey, is the strategic key for the United States in the Eastern Mediterranean and Persian Gulf. The NATO naval base in Suda Bay, Crete is the key base for the projection of U.S. power in the Eastern Mediterranean through the Sixth Fleet and is far more important to U.S. strategic interests than any bases, including Incirlik, in Turkey. Operation Desert Shield/ Desert Storm demonstrated that Turkey is fundamentally irrelevant for protecting the oil resources in the Persian Gulf. For additional details, including the important role of Greece in the Persian Gulf War, please see Exhibit 3, which contains that part of my January 29, 1994 testimony on the Persian Gulf War before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe and the Middle East. Turkey is not a democracy The assertion that Turkey is a "Muslim secular democracy" is in error. Turkey is not a democracy. Under its 1980 constitution, the military controls foreign affairs and national security and has pervasive influence over domestic matters. In an important speech on September 6, 1999, the Chief Justice of Turkey's Supreme Court of Appeal, Sami Selcuk, stated that the Turkish constitution, imposed by the military after its coup in 1980, "had almost no legitimacy." He said it was "an obstacle to democracy and it had to be changed," and that "Turkey could not enter a new century with a constitution whose legitimacy was almost zero." (BBC News, Sept. 6, 1999) The comment that Turkey's "Muslim secular democracy...is a bold example to the rest of the world" is simply ludicrous. It is a disingenuous statement that attempts to cover-up the well-documented human rights abuses and limitations on basic human freedoms that exist in Turkey today. Turkey is not on the verge of entry into the European Union The statement in your letter that "Turkey stands on the verge of entry into the European Union" is in error. To the contrary, in offering conditional candidate status to Turkey at its Helsinki Summit, December 10-11, 1999, the EU laid down strict conditions to be fulfilled by Turkey by 2004 before accession negotiations can even start. The conditions include Turkey taking its unilateral territorial claims against Greek sovereign territory in the Aegean to the International Court of Justice at the Hague "within a reasonable time"; far-reaching constitutional, economic and domestic reforms to bring Turkey into conformity with Western-style democracies and human rights norms; and, by implication, a resolution of the Cyprus problem in accordance with democratic norms. Omissions of Fact
For the reasons stated in this letter, we believe that your "Dear Colleague" letter contains serious errors and omissions of fact and is misleading. Only by instituting the right pressure, in accordance with our American values, will we bring about the changes necessary in Turkey's constitution and institutions. Further arms sales to Turkey at this juncture would only serve to retard the forces for reform in that nation. In closing, I again urge you to inform your colleagues that you are in agreement with the contents of their letter of April 18, 2000 to the President. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMSincerely, MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMEugene T. Rossides cc: Members of Congress | |||
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