3 in NATO Block Defense Aid to Turkey

NATO headquarters became another front in the diplomatic clash over Iraq on Monday as France, Germany and Belgium blocked the alliance from preparing plans to defend Turkey in the event of war.

The response from Turkey was historic: Its ambassador requested that NATO begin emergency consultations under an article of the alliance’s treaty that requires member states to meet if one feels its security is threatened.

It was the first time since the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization 54 years ago that a nation has invoked Article 4, according to George Robertson, secretary-general of the alliance.

French, Belgian and German diplomats said they had no intention of hurting either NATO or Turkey, a country with which relations are sensitive because it has made little headway in its effort to join the European Union. The three dissenting nations said that even starting contingency plans for combat in Iraq would amount to embracing a “logic of war” at a time when they are pushing for the U.N. Security Council to continue with weapons inspections instead.

In Washington, President Bush reacted strongly to the move to block preparations. “ ‘Upset’ is not the proper word,” Bush said when asked about the situation.

“I am disappointed that France would block NATO from helping a country like Turkey to prepare.”

Bush said he hoped Paris would “reconsider.”

Nicholas Burns, U.S. ambassador to the alliance, said: “NATO is facing a crisis of credibility. It is inexcusable for [the three countries] to delay.

“This is the time for NATO to rally and stand behind one of our NATO colleagues that may be at risk.”

The veto blocks a 3-week-old proposal to start contingency plans for providing missile-defense batteries, AWACs surveillance planes and special troops to defend bases and respond to any chemical or biological attack during a war.

Turkey borders Iraq and would probably serve as a base for a second-front attack in a U.S. military operation.

U.S. officials argue that France and the other nations are being inconsistent because they have permitted contingency planning at the United Nations for a potential military conflict with Iraq.

Expressing the anger that marked two meetings of NATO ambassadors Monday, Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel said that Belgium, Germany and especially France, the leader of Europe’s antiwar camp, have no reason to be ashamed.

“I am very proud to be a country that today is close to France, which saves to some extent the honor of Europe and to some extent prevents war,” Michel told a French television interviewer. “If it weren’t for the wholly courageous attitude of [French] President Jacques Chirac, who plays his role as it should be played at the level of the U.N. Security Council, we would already be at war today.”

The impact of the veto remains primarily symbolic, but so does NATO’s part in the drama. The 19-member alliance was relegated to the sidelines during the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, an awkward position that summed up its existential crisis in the post-Cold War era of U.S. dominance.

In order for NATO to reassert itself despite the chasm between European and U.S. military capacity, unity on the continent is essential.

But the spillover of the international dispute over Iraq was almost inevitable.

A somber Secretary-General Robertson told journalists Monday evening in Brussels that discussions would continue today in hopes of a breakthrough. It may be unrealistic, however, to expect substantial advances before Friday’s crucial meeting of the Security Council, when U.N. weapons inspectors will report on their progress, other NATO diplomats said.

“There is a very heated debate inside NATO about the timing” of beginning preparations to defend Turkey, Robertson said. “I am not going to try to minimize the issue. It is serious.”

Meanwhile, the divisions over Iraq prompted Greece, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, to call for an emergency meeting of EU heads of state Monday.

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Times staff writer Robin Wright in Washington contributed to this report.