THE FIRST ISLAMIC prime minister of Turkey, Necmettin Erbakan, won parliamentary extension of the right of U.S. planes to use Turkish bases to over-fly Iraq. But that done, he set off on a tour of Islamic Asian countries, starting with Iran. And there he sealed a 20-year massive deal to pipe Iran's natural gas to Turkey. First they must build the pipeline.
Official Washington is shocked to learn that other nations do not accept its dictation of their policies. This deal mocks the silly bill cynically signed into law by President Clinton compelling him to impose sanctions against any firm investing more than $40 million in the petroleum industries of Iran or Libya, which are declared to be supporting terrorism. The latest deal may not spurn the letter of that law, however, as trade is not forbidden and the $1 billion infrastructural investment to which Turkey committed itself is in Turkey. The Clinton (or Dole) administration would be well advised to conclude that the law does not apply.
Many governments friendly to the U.S. as well as others protest the effrontery of the U.S. in presuming to legislate for their citizens. The European Union did, threatening retaliation. China tsk-tsked. But the cut that hurts is Turkey's. Yet the relationship of Iranian natural gas production to Turkish consumption makes economic sense. The gas is nearer Turkey than its current supplies in Russia and Algeria.