ISTANBUL - Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal asserted on Saturday that Turkey didn't have concrete and reliable information about the issues it had to learn before taking a decision on sending soldiers to Iraq.
Responding to questions of journalists, Baykal said that no concrete decision was taken about the motion after the National Security Council meeting yesterday.
Commenting that no response was received to the set of questions Turkey asked to the U.S. in order to give its decision about sending soldiers, Baykal asserted that Turkey was asked to take a decision without having sufficient information on the issue.
Evaluating the recent developments in north of Iraq, Baykal said that public order could not be ensured in Iraq adding that the developments in north of Iraq closely concerned Turkey.
''We want installation of stability, and peace there. We see that unpleasant developments take place in Iraq, north of Iraq and in Turkey. The incident in Batman was the last example. This is the fourth incident that took place in the last two months in Turkey. The peace and stability ensured in the region for a long time started to be at danger. We must take effective measures against it. The happening of these incidents after the adoption of the reassociation law shows that the issue could not be correctly diagnosed. The existence of 6,000 PKK/KADEK terrorists in north of Iraq and the lack of effective measure against them is the most prior issue,'' Baykal said.
Baykal noted that Turkey had to ask the U.S. to pursue an effective policy about the issue, adding that negligence against terrorism had serious consequences. ''We had paid the price of that, we can't stay indifferent to developments which can drift us into those days again. The fire in north of Iraq can spread to anywhere any time,'' he said.
(Öª) 23.08.2003