ANKARA - Mustafa Ozyurek, the deputy group leader of the Republican People's Party (CHP) said on Tuesday that Turkey's sending soldiers to Iraq under such circumstances would be craziness.
Upon questions of journalists about the issue, Ozyurek stated that ''one has to be crazy to think of sending soldiers to Iraq under such circumstances. Everyday U.S. soldiers are killed there. U.S. soldiers want to leave there, but Turkey wants to send soldiers to that region. It is not possible to understand thinking of that after the maltreatment which our soldiers faced in Sulaymaniyah. First of all, a new motion is necessary for sending soldiers and there is need for international legitimacy. There is no U.N. there. What is the guarantee of non-repetition of the maltreatment our soldiers faced there or their being killed? In such a case, how will the anger of the public opinion be prevented? Prime Minister and the government seem to be very happy as the U.S. asked soldiers from us. We think that such a motion does not have the chance to be adopted in the parliament. A very wrong game is played for another time. If the motion is not adopted by the parliament again, our relations with the U.S. will totally end.''
(Öª-AÖ) 22.07.2003