ANKARA - Justice Minister and Government Spokesman Cemil Cicek said on Monday that lack of authority in north of Iraq was in question for whole Iraq this time, stating that, ''there are various elements who want to benefit from lack of authority. Iraq and its region are open to every kind of planning, provocation, and incitement stemming of failure to provide authority.''
Cicek spoke to journalists after Council of Ministers meeting.
Pointing out that primarily foreign and domestic developments were discussed, Cicek said incidents which had occurred in Iraq at the weekend constituted primary agenda item of the meeting.
Cicek said, ''an incident happened in Tuz Kharmato on August 22, 2003 in which Peshmergas destroyed a place of Imam Ali which is extremely holly for Shiite Turkmens. Eight Turkmens died when gunfire was opened against those who wanted to protest the incident, and 30 people were injured.''
Cicek said according to the information obtained, three peshmergas died, stating that some other incidents occurred to protest this incident. Three other Turkmens lost their lives.
Cicek said this incident and the recent developments in Iraq were discussed during today's meeting.
Cicek said, ''a serious lack of authority occurred in Iraq after collapse of Saddam regime. Lack of authority in northern part of Iraq is now valid for whole Iraq. There are many elements which want to benefit from this lack of authority. Even there are terrorist groups.''
Cicek said the government tried to discuss the incidents with the United States, temporary administration of Iraq, and U.S. officials in Iraq, and it also tried to convey the sensitivity of Turkish government in this respect, the importance it attributed to the incidents, and the concerns.
Cicek said, ''as you know, the issue of whether or not sending soldiers to Iraq is under discussion in Turkey's agenda in the past one month. Government continues contacts to see and evaluate the incidents with all its dimensions. We have two separate delegations there. One is the delegation comprised of officials of General Staff, Foreign Ministry and state units and the other is two parliamentarians and the delegation sent by Red Crescent.
''We evaluated all the information obtained from those delegations, and we continue to evaluate them,'' Cicek said.
Upon a question when the government would take a decision about sending Turkish soldier to the region, Cicek said, ''we are trying to evaluate the incident on every aspect. Firstly, both Iraqi Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the governor of the region, where the incident happened, apologized from us. Our delegation in the region met with the civilian administrator of the United States Bremer. Also the delegation met with Songul Cabuk who worked for Turkmens in the interim council. Naturally, our Foreign Ministry is continuing negotiations with U.S. officials via our embassies and by other ways.''
Cicek said a multilateral evaluation is necessary for the reply that would be given to the request of sending soldiers to Iraq, noting that related units of the state were evaluating the issue at the time being.
''The incident has many dimensions. The issue has military, economic, political, and legal dimensions. We have neighborhood relations. We will take a decision by taking into consideration all those. Naturally, we should take a decision by considering not only the developments in Iraq, but also the possible developments in the future and Turkey's rights and interests. To this end, we don't have to take a decision immediately. We will take a decision under the light of the information that would be brought by the delegations.''
When asked what was the information obtained from north of Iraq, Cicek said the information was still coming, noting that they were not at the point of taking a decision with the current information.
Cicek said, ''related units of the state firstly evaluate the information. A political decision should be taken as a result of possible alternatives. We are not at the point of taking a political decision at the time being.''
When asked whether or not Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan would talk to U.S. officials about the issue, Cicek said the talks were so far carried out by the delegations in the region and foreign ministry. Cicek said any other meeting was out of question.
(GC-AY-AÖ) 25.08.2003