U.S. Loans to Turkey May Be Delayed, Sources Say

[Nambe]

WASHINGTON (Reuters)

Billions of dollars in U.S. loans for Turkey could be held up for months due to concerns about Ankara's slow progress meeting IMF conditions, people briefed by the Bush administration said on Tuesday.

President Bush has offered up to $8.5 billion in loans to help Turkey weather the economic shock of the war in neighboring Iraq.

But the administration has yet to approve the first loan payment, which Washington conditioned on Turkey meeting its obligations under a $16 billion loan program with the International Monetary Fund.

Congressional sources briefed by the administration said the first U.S. loan installment could be delayed until September or possibly later unless Turkey quickly undertakes the promised economic reforms. "There will be no disbursements from us until they comply with the IMF plan and they have a long way to go. It could take until September or December. It all depends on them," said one source. ---

[LauraK]

1. Bet France and the EU look pretty inviting now.

dimson is running out of our money.

[indictrichardperle]

2. The problem with Turkey

which is not a democracy......all began when Wolfowitz went over there talking trash, and they told him to get lost. No were allowed in Turkey, now we are going back on our word, and with-holding the $$$$$$$$$.

Turkey isnt playing ball with the Kurds, we better twist their arm a little more :eyes:

Keep it up assholes, Turkey can cause all kinds of problems in Northern Iraq.

[Paschall]

4. Turkey not a democracy?

That's gonna surprise a lot of Turks. Granted, the country does not quite fit the bill of the European Charter of Human Rights, but it is at least a secular democratic republic.

[ze_dscherman]

6. You took the words right off my keyboard ...

... said the German to the French.

Salut!

[OldCurmudgeon]

3. hey, they should have expected this...

When it comes to promises from ShrubCo, get the money in advance, in cash.

You just can't trust a bunch of lying spin weasels.

[DannyRed]

5. As far as I can tell...

Turkey has absolutely no interest in helping us out at this point.

They have everything to gain and nothing to lose from a complete collapse of the US in Iraq - civil collapse in Iraq will result in a series of large plums for the taking - Mosul and Kirkuk being the obvious ones.

Syria will want a piece, and I am sure that Syria, Turkey and Iran will come to a nice, cozy agreement about a partitioning plan in which Turkey "administers" Kurdistan, Syria gets the Sunni/Baathist sector, and Iran "cares for" the Shi'ia south centered around Basra.

[Rex]

7. This is SOP for the GOP

Looks like Turkey and NYC now have something in common...they both got screwed by the BFEE.