General Abizaid In Ankara

ANKARA - U.S. Central Command Chief General John Abizaid arrived in Ankara on Friday to hold meetings with Turkish officials.
General Abizaid did not make any statement at Ankara's Esenboga Airport.
General Abizaid will have a meeting with Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ugur Ziyal.
He is also expected to meet with officials of the General Staff the same day.
Abizaid will depart from Turkey on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Supreme Allied Commander General James Jones who came to Ankara on Friday morning to hold meetings at General Staff Headquarters departed from Ankara the same day.
GENERAL ABIZAID MEETS WITH FOREIGN MINISTRY UNDERSECRETARY ZIYAL
General John Abizaid met with Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ugur Ziyal.
General Abizaid did not make any statement after the meeting which lasted for 35 minutes.
ABIZAID GIVES MESSAGE THAT UNITED STATES DETERMINED TO STAY IN REGION TILL IRAQ BECOMES A NORMAL COUNTRY
U.S. Central Command Chief General John Abizaid conveyed Ankara that the United States was determined to stay in the region and did what was necessary till Iraq became a normal country in his meeting in Foreign Ministry, sources said.
Sources quoted General Abizaid as saying that his country was against every kind of terror.
Turkey explained its views on Iraq and gave message that Iraq should be considered as a whole and uniform implementation should be made in every side of the country.
GENERAL ABIZAID VISITS CHIEF OF GENERAL STAFF OZKOK
General John Abizaid visited Chief of General Staff General Hilmi Ozkok.
Ozkok came together with Abizaid at General Staff headquarters at 20.00 local time.
The meeting was close to press.
GUL: U.S. GENERALS ARE LIKELY TO EXPLAIN THEIR VIEWS ABOUT TURKEY'S POSSIBLE PARTICIPATION IN INTERNATIONAL COALITION IN IRAQ
Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul said on Friday, ''two U.S. generals, who held meetings with Turkish officials in Ankara are likely to explain their views about Turkey's possible participation in the international coalition in Iraq.''
Speaking at a program on the private CNN-Turk TV Channel, Gul said, ''Supreme Allied Commander General James Jones and U.S. Central Command Chief General John Abizaid are likely to explain their views about Turkey's sending soldiers to Iraq.''
When asked whether or not United States might say that there was a serious security problem in Iraq and request Turkey to send soldiers to the region, Gul said, ''we have not received such a request. Several countries have displayed their attitude clearly on the issue.''
Gul said, ''inclusion of only one Turkmen representative in the interim government council in Iraq is distressing. We have launched diplomatic initiatives to this end.''
PEARSON SAYS DEVELOPMENT OF ECONOMIC TIES BETWEEN TURKEY AND THE UNITED STATES WILL REPLACE WITH SUSPICION AND LACK OF CONFIDENCE EXPERIENCED IN THE PAST
U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Robert Pearson said on Friday that development of economic ties between Turkey and the United States would replace with suspicion and lack of confidence, which were experienced in the past.
Union of Turkish Contractors hosted a luncheon in honor of Pearson whose term in office in Turkey will end soon.
Speaking at the luncheon, Pearson said that Turkish and U.S. building sectors could cooperate in Central Asia, Caucasus, Russia and the Middle East.
Pearson said that Turkish contractors had applied as subcontractor firms for tenders to be opened for the rebuilding process of Iraq.
He said that Turkey should be considered a single ''economic region'' especially from east of Anatolia to all regions in north of Iraqi capital Baghdad.
Referring to detention of Turkish soldiers in northern Iraq, Pearson said that such an incident should have never been experienced.
Stressing that development of economic ties between Turkey and the United States would replace with suspicion and lack of confidence, which were experienced in the past, Pearson said formation of ties between Turkey and Iraq would make an important contribution to security of all regions.
He added that such a situation will be economically beneficial for Turkey.
(UK-AÖ) 18.07.2003