ANKARA - Acting Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul said on Friday that they wanted the Middle and Caucasus to be centers of peace and stability.
Gul answered questions of reporters.
Replying a question about Ministry of Foreign Affairs Intelligence and Research Department Director General Ecvet Tezcan's meetings with Armenian circles, Gul said that he did not want to say anything about content of those meetings. ''When Armenian issue is mentioned, there are people living in Armenia and also there are people who try to control the issue from abroad without living in Armenia.''
When asked whether or not new initiatives about Armenia were in question, Gul said, ''we want the Middle East and Caucasus to be centers of peace and stability. We want to accelerate everything in a way of playing the catalyst role to seek lasting solution to problems between Azerbaijan and Armenia.''
When reminded of comments on the ''International Convention on Civil and Political Rights'' and ''International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights'' approved by the parliament on June 4, Gul said that opinions of the public about the issue stemmed from lack of information.
Recalling that the United Nations had adopted those conventions in 1976, Gul said, ''look at the list of the countries which have not signed these two conventions yet. Do you want to see Turkey among those countries?''
Gul added that Turkey had reservations about several parts of those conventions.
Replying another question about application for lifting of supplementary taxes, Gul said, ''we abide by court decisions. These taxes were put to prevent Turkey to face another economic crisis due to war.''
(MS-AY) 13.06.2003