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| Axis of Evil |
| Todays Turkish News |
| 2003-01-24 |
| These are some of the major headlines and their brief stories in Turkey's press on January 24, 2003. The Anadolu Agency does not verify these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. Prime Minister Abdullah Gul received a surprising letter from U.S. President George W. Bush while the peace summit on Iraqi issue was gathering in Istanbul. George Bush gave two important messages in his letter to Gul saying:''I would like to thank you for starting talks between Turkish and U.S. military officials regarding a possibble operation against Iraq. I am also pleased with Turkey's holding such a meeting to persuade Iraq for a peaceful solution of the problem.'' Bush knows Iraq won't give in peacefully, but the thank you note to Turkey is a nice touch. Chief of Defence Staff Admiral Sir Michael Boyce of Britain which acts together with the United States against Iraq visited General Staff Chief General Hilmi Ozkok in Ankara yesterday. Sources said that Boyce demanded, ''we want to deploy our troops in Northern front'' while Ozkok said, ''our government did not authorize us to make plans with you.'' Boyce was told that due to this reason, it was impossible to include Britain in military planning with the United States. In this contact that was held following British Secretary of State for Defense Geoffrey Hoon's visit, negative response was given to Britain and organization of opposition groups in Iraq by Britain constituted an important factor in this negative response, sources said. It was stressed that within this framework, Britain also played great role in determination of policies of formations in Northern Iraq and preparation of draft constitutions and it hosted opposition groups' meetings in London. Turkey doesn't like the fact Kurdish opposition groups found a home in London, thus the snub. Looks like the British troops will be operating in Southern Iraq instead of going thru Turkey This message: ''take United Nations into consideration and cooperate'' was given to Iraq at the end of the ''Regional Initative On Iraq-Meeting of Foreign Ministers'' hosted by Prime Minister Abdullah Gul at the Ciragan Palace in Istanbul yesterday. After their meeting, foreign ministers Yasar Yakis, Ahmed Maher of Egypt, Kamal Kharrazi of Iran, Marwan Muasher of Jordan, Saud Al-Faysal of Saudi Arabia and Farouk Al-Shara of Syria held a joint press conference and announced joint declaration. They called on Iraq to cooperate with the United Nations while it was mentioned that there was not a plan about exile of Saddam Hussein. Bye, bye, Sammy U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Robert Pearson reacted harshly to the claims saying that the U.S. had contact with the terrorist organization PKK. Speaking to private NTV channel and showing the newspaper which put forward such claims, Pearson said that ''these are very big lies.'' Pearson commented that such kind of news aim to disturb the friendship between Turkey and the U.S. Journalist Can Dundar who wrote the news said in his part that General Staff and intelligence units had statements confirming the news. Another day, another denial At the ''Peace Summit'' held in Istanbul to prevent a possible U.S. operation against Iraq, foreign ministers agreed on the opinion that Iraq should abide by the U.N. resolutions and cooperate with the weapon inspectors. Intense debates took place especially after Egypt and Syria demanded that the United States should be warned and Israel which was believed to have mass destruction weapons should be condemned. In the joint declaration which was announced after a 4-hour delay, no harsh statement against the United States was issued while foreign ministers said, ''we don't want war''. There was no anti-US statement, was there? Interesting. According to the negotiations carried out between Turkey and the U.S., the missions of defense and humanitarian aid and preventing activities that aim to disturb the instability in Northern Iraq were given to Turkey. Turkish soldiers won't be involved in a possible war except fulfilling these tasks. Now there is wide open mission statement if I ever saw one! You could pretty much justify doing anything you want. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #1 I agree. The condemnation of Israel is Standard Operating Procedure, but the absence of anything said directly to the USA is significant. Of course, that's just today. Tommorrow is a different matter. And I'm still concerned about that accusation of us talking to the PKK. |
| Posted by: Ptah 2003-01-24 13:22:59 |