ANKARA - Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul left for Vienna, Austria on Monday for an official visit upon the invitation of Austrian Foreign Minister Benita-Maria Ferrero-Waldner.
Speaking at Esenboga Airport, Gul said that the meetings to be held during the visit of Gen. James Jones, the NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) chief and top U.S. commander to Europe, would be the first important meetings in military issues.
Recalling that the U.S. sent written responses to the set of questions asked by Turkey, Gul said that the issues which Turkey would like to learn would be taken up in detail at the meetings with Gen. Jones.
When asked who would meet the expenses if Turkey decided to send soldiers to Iraq, Gul said that no decision to send soldiers was taken yet. The thing that mattered was taking a decision and the issue of expenses would not be the heart of the matter during the talks.
Asked if the issue of terrorist organization PKK/KADEK would be taken up in the contacts with Jones, Gul said that developments about PKK/KADEK were closely monitored and that ''the U.S. and U.K. are in control of Iraq for the moment. When terrorism is in question, these powers have responsibility.''
Upon a question asking if the attitude of the U.S. towards the terrorist organization would be influential in Turkey's decision of sending soldiers, Gul said that ''the process continues, let's monitor the process together.''
(Öª-AÖ) 01.09.2003