TURKEY - May 7 - Ankara Hits Back At Criticism From US.

Responding to recent criticism by US Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, who suggested that Ankara made a mistake by not opening its doors to the US military during the Iraq war, PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan says: "Turkey, from the very beginning, never made any mistakes, and has taken all the necessary steps in all sincerity". (Wolfowitz, in an interview broadcast on May 6 on CNN-Turk, strongly criticised Ankara for not joining the US administration's campaign to topple Saddam Hussein. Just before the US bombing began, the Parliament rejected Pentagon requests to base troops in the country as part of a northern offensive on Iraq. Wolfowitz said: "Let's have a Turkey that steps up and says: 'We made a mistake. We should have known how bad things were in Iraq, but we know now. Let's figure out how we can be as helpful as possible to the Americans'. I'd like to see a different sort of attitude than I have yet detected". Wolfowitz singled out the Turkish military for criticism, saying it had lacked leadership at a critical foreign policy moment. He said: "I think for whatever reason, they did not play the strong leadership role that we would have expected". Wolfowitz suggested that relations between the US and Ankara would improve if the latter followed Washington's line in its relations with Iran and Syria). Justice Minister Cemil Cicek said Ankara's relationship with the US ought to be viewed over the last 50 years and not just in relation to one disagreement. He said, "many Turkish citizens died due to the importance we attributed to the relations and to the friendship with the US", noting that 400 Turks died in the Korean War while fighting on the side of the US. (Ankara allowed the US to use its airspace after the war in Iraq began but the parliamentary vote in Ankara frustrated US officials and sent US military planners back to the drawing board).