Gul: Motion Is Necessary To Send Soldiers To Iraq

ANKARA - Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul said on Monday that he thought that a motion was necessary to send soldiers to peace force in Iraq.
Replying to questions of private NTV channel, Gul said that he thought that consent of parliament was necessary for sending troops to Iraq.
Asked if a problem could be faced in taking permission from parliament, Gul said that it was early to comment on the issue.
Gul drew attention that although there was war when the former motions were being voted, the item of agenda would be normalization of Iraq this time.
Risk analyses would be made very carefully, Gul stated.
Noting that U.S. officials expressed their wish to act together in Iraq during his contacts in Washington, Gul said that a fait accompli was out of question and officials underlined that the final decision would be made by Turkey.
Gul said that he told the U.S. officials that sending soldiers to Iraq would be discussed in detail in Ankara.
Recalling that Turkey was one of the countries which would face advantages of stability in Iraq and had been turned into a center of humanitarian aid, Gul said that sending soldiers to peace force would be evaluated within the framework of efforts to ensure stability in Iraq.
Gul stated that it would be ''righter'' to send soldiers to Iraq under the auspices of United Nations (U.N.) or NATO.
U.N. Security Council resolution 1483 pointed to Iraq's restructuring, Gul said.
Pointing out that analysis of sending Turkish soldiers to Iraq should be made well, Gul said that the General Staff and Foreign Ministry were evaluating the issue in regard to long-term interests.
Gul said, ''we have to see the result of our possible move.''
Replying to a question about the process of sending soldiers, Gul said that they would make their evaluation ''within an appropriate time'' and it would be right to talk about a few months of time.
Gul noted that opinion of the General Staff about the place of mission of soldiers would be very important.
The place of mission of Turkish soldiers would be determined according to need, Gul said.
Gul pointed out that everybody knew about success of Turkish soldiers in peace forces.
Stating that soldiers should serve the aim of normalization in Iraq, Gul said that it would be right to ensure integration with people there.
Gul said, ''we will go there in only such an order. We won't send there troops to be used as how others want.''
Asked if they could come to the conclusion that Turkish soldiers would be under command of a Turk, Gul said, ''yes, you can. But, it is too early to talk about these issues.''
Gul said that technical talks between Turkey and the United States on the issue could start after the issue was totally evaluated in Turkey.
Upon a question, Gul said that he had a short meeting with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan about his contacts in the United States.
Evaluating his contacts in the United States, Gul said that the aim of his visit was to lay Turkish-U.S. relations on a healthy basis.
Stating that his visit served its aim, Gul added that two countries understood each other more clearly.
(BRC-AÖ) 28.07.2003