A Strategically Located Ally

Resuming full-scale shipments of arms to Turkey will strengthen NATO's southern flank. Almost twice the size of California, with a population of about 42 million, Turkey shares a 370-mile border with the Soviet Union. The 500,000-man Turkish armed forces are deservedly renowned for their ferocity. With more than 300 warplanes and nearly 3,000 tanks, they help tie down about 26 divisions of the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact, which otherwise might be deployed against NATO forces in Central Europe. Its location enables Turkey to monitor Soviet warships, including submarines, passing from the Black Sea into the Mediterranean and to deny overflight rights to Russian warplanes headed for the Middle East. Three U.S.-manned electronic surveillance bases, due to resume operations shortly, can eavesdrop on the U.S.S.R.'s underground nuclear explosions and missile tests and even tune in radio traffic between Soviet aircraft.

U.S. aid from 1946 through last year totalled nearly $7 billion, and even during the four-year embargo a loophole enabled the U.S. to send the Turks about $140 million worth of fighter jets and missiles, among other things. But the Turks, angered by the embargo, began making overtures to their Russian neighbors. Moscow responded eagerly and this year alone granted Ankara an $800 million credit for non-military purchases. Turkey's slight shift toward neutralism is now expected to end.

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