The Pentagon talks Turkey: a fine romance this is, but where are the ki$$e$? (Gazette).(US-Turkish relations)

THE UNITED STATES AND Turkey have been locked in a strange mating ritual since September 11. The Pentagon plays the ardent suitor--making offers that meet with skepticism, admiring Turkey's democratic trappings and secular state--to Turkey's coy coquette. "It's like a lover who promises everything to get the girl.

But when it comes to marriage, what happens?" asks Bulent Aliriza, a Turkey analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. With war looming in Iraq, this ambivalent pair may soon find itself rushed to the altar, buoyed by promises neither party ...

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