Turkey Uneasy About Statements Of Garner

ANKARA - Turkey which is uneasy about the statements of retired American General Jay Garner who is expected to be the head of the interim administration in Iraq is going to convey its uneasiness to the U.S.
Diplomatic sources said that an official from the U.S. Embassy in Ankara would be summoned to the Foreign Ministry on Thursday and the statements of Garner would be reminded to the U.S. official.
Turkish officials are expected to tell the U.S. official that Kirkuk was not a Kurdish city, and they will remind the final declaration of the Iraqi opposition meeting held in Ankara to which U.S. President Bush's consultant for Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad also attended.
Garner, the close friend of U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld directed the operation launched 12 years ago at the end of First Gulf Crisis to help Kurds who tried to escape from the region.
The press claimed today that Garner told during his meeting with Kurdish groups in Erbil and Mosul that Kirkuk was a Kurdish city.
(ÖS-AÖ) 24.04.2003