ROME - Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal said on Friday that the government's not informing public about U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's letter to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was not pleasing.
Baykal who attended meetings of Socialist International in Rome replied to questions of Turkish reporters.
''Not informing public about Rumsfeld's letter to Erdogan is not pleasing. I know sensitivity in international issues, but I think that not making public this letter is wrong. It should have been made public and discussed,'' he said.
Baykal said that interlocutor of Rumsfeld was not Prime Minister Erdogan and stated that it showed from what aspect the United States approached to the issue. He added that an event which did not comply with ethics of diplomacy took place.
Stating that facts regarding detention of Turkish soldiers in Suleymaniyah also started to appear with the letter of Rumsfeld, Baykal said, ''the letter shows that decision of raid in Suleymaniyah was not taken by locally, but by Washington. It is obvious that incidents were known by the U.S. Department of State and Department of Defense. The United States implies that they were right in incidents in Suleymaniyah.''
(EÖ-AÖ) 18.07.2003