TURKEY gave its first official nod to a Washington-led operation on Iraq when it voted yesterday to allow the modernisation of bases and ports that the United States wants to use as part of a northern front against Baghdad.

The vote means that Washington can immediately start modernising the Turkish facilities and sets the ball rolling for further co-operation.

Ankara, which is still reluctant to be seen as declaring war on its neighbour, has delayed a further vote on the deployment of foreign troops on its soil until after a Muslim holiday next week but that vote is also likely to go through. Most MPs of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK) voted against their conscience when they cast their votes. To relieve the pressure, the ballot was secret and came after a closed sitting whose minutes will be classified for the next ten years.

Although Turkey, whose public overwhelmingly opposes a war, was always expected to come onside, the process has been painful for the party. Given its roots in Turkey’s Islamic movement, AK does not want to go down in history as approving a war against a Muslim neighbour.

Tayyip Erdogan, the party leader, was keen to emphasise that the vote was not a sign that Turkey was getting actively involved. “We are not taking part in any war,” he said after the vote.

“We are simply trying to protect our country in the face of an increasingly likely war on our doorstep,” he added.

Abdullah Gul, the Prime Minister, has tried to pursue peace efforts but neither a secret meeting on Monday with the Iraqi Vice-President Taha Yahin Ramadan nor attempts to unite regional leaders and put pressure on Saddam Hussein have yielded results.

Senior Turkish journalists invited to a briefing with Mr Gul on the eve of the vote reported his frustration. “We’ve done all we can . . . From now on we have to think of our country,” he told them.

Turkey is likely to suffer economically whether or not it is party to a war, and Turkish officials are afraid that displeasing Washington will put Ankara at a disadvantage when it seeks further funding from the International Monetary Fund to mend its crisis-ridden economy.

Mr Gul and Mr Erdogan have assured their deputies that Turkey will be compensated for its economic losses.

John Taylor, the US Treasury Under-Secretary for International Affairs, is due in Ankara today to discuss what form that compensation might take. Diplomats said that Mr Taylor would be reviewing a package of loans or grants based on bankers’ estimates of $4billion to $15 billion (£2½ billion to £9 billion) worth of damage to Turkey’s economy — less than the cost of war as estimated by Turkish officials.

Ankara is also anxious to have a say in post-war scenarios in Iraq, particularly in the north where it wants to avoid the creation of a Kurdish state that might unsettle its own restive Kurds.

The Turkish military, which already has a presence in northern Iraq, plans to move in with thousands more troops in an attempt to dissuade Iraqi Kurds from declaring independence and to help to keep refugees on the Iraqi side of the border.

At a meeting in Ankara that included a US representative, Turkish officials impressed on Iraqi Kurdish leaders their determination to keep Iraq whole. “Imagine your neighbour’s house is on fire,” Mr Erdogan said. “What would you do? We are trying to put out this fire so our own house will not burn too.”

Nato challenge to protect Turkey

Brussels: Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, Secretary-General of Nato, gave France, Germany and Belgium a Monday deadline to accept measures to protect Turkey in the event of war with Iraq, or face isolation.

Bringing to a head three weeks of transatlantic wrangling, Lord Robertson used his perogative as chairman of the North Atlantic Council to put the proposals under a so-called “silence procedure” — effectively daring any ally to risk vetoing them. If none does, the decision to begin military planning will take effect at 9am on Monday.

“All that Nato is considering for the moment are prudent deterrent and defensive measures with regard to one nation which happens to have a common border with Iraq,” Lord Robertson said.

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