Turkey could block Danish premier

Hurriyet Daily News with wires

Current secretary general Dutchman Jaap de Hoop Scheffer steps down on July 31. His successor is expected to be named at an April 3-4 NATO summit. NATO diplomats and a U.S. source said on Saturday Washington had told NATO allies it would back Anders Fogh Rasmussen as the next secretary general. When asked about Washington's position, a senior U.S. official would only say: "A number of people at the alliance are looking at Rasmussen as a leading candidate but there's been no decision yet and it takes a consensus."

A Turkish official said the Turkish position could be set in coming days, but Rasmussen was "tainted" in Turkey's eyes. "It may come to the veto," he told Reuters. "We will have to see." NATO leadership positions are filled by consensus among the 26-nation military pact.

The official, who did not want to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue, said Turkey was riled that Demark allowed a pro-Kurdish militant television station to broadcast from Denmark, and by comments by Rasmussen in 2003 saying that Turkey would never be a full EU member.

"Thirdly, the way that Denmark handled the cartoon crisis didn't go down well at all in Turkey," he said. "The cartoon crisis has a larger dimension than just Turkey. At a time when NATO is going to assume added responsibility in Afghanistan and Pakistan, having a secretary general with such an objectionable approach to billions of Muslims is not the right approach to the Muslim world."

The cartoon row erupted in 2006 after a Danish newspaper cartoon depicted the Prophet Mohammad with a bomb in his turban were reprinted across the European media.

Rasmussen refused to apologies for the cartoons, which sparked riots and attacks on Danish embassies in several Muslim states, but which Western governments defended in the name of freedom of expression.

The Turkish official said Ankara would prefer to see Canadian Defence Minister Peter MacKay in the NATO job, noting Canadian political support for Turkey in the past.

Speaking on the sidelines of the annual Brussels Forum conference, Mackay refused to rule himself out of the job that has traditionally gone to a European, although he said he had a lot of work to do rebuilding the Canadian armed forces.

"Canada, by virtue of being a ... founding member of NATO is of course very interested in all aspects of NATO, including the leadership, he said.

At the same event, U.S. Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher, seen as due to be named the new U.S. under secretary for arms control and international security, called Mackay "a star", but declined to say who Washington wanted in the job.

The United States is the biggest and most powerful of the 26 allies that make up the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and its backing for the Danish premier would certainly make him favorite for the post. Rasmussen has always been a loyal U.S. ally, including sending Danish troops to Iraq, and he also appeals to Europeans, notably France, through his support of closer NATO-European Union cooperation.

On Friday, Rasmussen, 56, declined to speak to reporters in Brussels about his possible candidature, but he has never officially ruled him himself out of the race. Scheffer's mandate ends at the end of July.