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NATO crisis talks on Turkey stall
BRUSSELS, Belgium (CNN) -- NATO has cancelled an emergency debate of the U.S. proposal to send equipment and personnel to protect Turkey. Washington wants to send surveillance planes, Patriot missiles and chemical and biological detection teams to Turkey to protect it from Iraq. But Germany, Belgium and France has blocked the initiative, saying it would damage efforts to resolve the Iraqi crisis peacefully. On Thursday, what would have been the fourth day of talks at NATO headquarters, in Brussels, were cancelled despite Germany expressing confidence that a solution would be found to the impasse. (Full story) NATO spokesman Yves Brodeur said: "No progress could be made in the formal surroundings of a North Atlantic Council meeting therefore the meeting has been cancelled for today." NATO officials said it was unlikely there would be a meeting before chief weapons inspectors Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei appear before the U.N. Security Council with a report on their progress in Iraq, on Friday. But, officials said, consultations and negotiations are continuing informally. Nicholas Burns, U.S. ambassador to NATO, said a new plan introduced on Wednesday moved the alliance into "a new phase of discussion" and would allow the United States to send planes, missiles and personnel to defend Turkey, NATO's only member state sharing a border with Iraq. The plan dropped a U.S.-backed measure that would have NATO replace any troops currently stationed in the Balkans should they be called to Iraq and another that called for NATO to help defend U.S. bases in Europe. The plan now deals strictly with the defense of Turkey. But Brodeur said the difficulties appeared to be related less to the defense of Turkey and more to the timing of it. "The issue here is not whether, it is when. That has not changed. It is still a timing issue," Brodeur said. "They still feel that the time is not right for NATO to make a decision." Earlier on Thursday, German Defence Minister Peter Struck told Germany's parliament in Berlin that NATO would decide Saturday on the proposal. NATO officials said they would welcome a resolution if one came by the weekend, but the three nations who object to the plan have given no indications of a significant change in their positions. Diplomats from the three countries had discussed waiting to approve any plan until after Friday's Security Council meeting. Turkey has agreed to allow the United States to upgrade its bases and ports for possible use in military action against Iraq. The United States has made clear that it will take steps to defend Turkey with or without NATO backing, but would prefer the full power of NATO. "Turkey will be defended," Secretary of State Colin Powell said Wednesday. "We've already figured out how." -- CNN Correspondents Matthew Chance and James Martone contributed to this report.
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