GURE - Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc said regarding the debate on sending soldiers to Iraq that ''our basic targets in foreign policy are also national interests of Turkey. Turkey can take part in anything that can make these national interests come true.''
Responding to questions of journalists about the issue of sending soldiers to Iraq, Arinc said that ''The President, Prime Minister and Foreign Minister say that if such a decision is needed, it has to be taken by the parliament.''
''Article 92 and partially Article 87 of the Constitution tell that in such incidents, a decision has to be taken by the parliament. The decision taken last March can't be evaluated within the same scope. The decision taken in March was about opening the airspace and providing humanitarian aid. There was a sentence about the deployment of Turkish soldiers in north of Iraq. The thing discussed today is not the same. If the government is going to give a decision, it will bring it before the parliament and the latter will take the rightist decision,'' Arinc said.
''The parliament is the highest authority that represents the will of the nation. Whatever the decision is taken in the parliament, we will defend it. Today there are many questions need to be answered about sending soldiers to Iraq. When the responses are taken to these questions, the prime ministry will inform the parliament with a motion and the parliament will take a decision by discussing it in details,'' Arinc said.
''Today the situation is totally different, a dictatorship has been overthrown in Iraq and a new structure is tried to be formed. The number one issue is to bring peace to Iraq. We favour protection of Iraqi territorial integrity. If a new democratic regime is set up in Iraq, all kinds of people should be represented in it irrespective of their ethnic and religious origins...The basic point is what our nation thinks about the issue,'' he said.
Arinc noted that he didn't expect a motion to come to the parliament soon, adding that ''it may probably come to parliament as of the mid-September.
(Öª) 15.08.2003