British Ambassador To Turkey Hopes Turkey Will Decide To Send Soldiers To Iraq

ANKARA - British Ambassador to Turkey Peter Westmacott hoped on Monday that Turkey would decide to send soldiers to Iraq.
Westmacott, who chatted with reporters, said that Britain was a key member of the coalition in Iraq and took very seriously the responsibility to make Iraq a secure place.
Turkey was a country which knew Iraq well, Westmacott noted.
Stating that Turkey had very close historical, cultural and economic relations with Iraq, Westmacott hoped that Turkey would contribute to efforts to settle stability in Iraq by sending soldiers to that country.
Westmacott said that two high-level British defense delegations would come to Turkey in the following week.
The first delegation headed by British Minister of State for Armed Forces Adam Ingram would visit National Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul while British Chief of General Staff Michael Walker would come to Turkey to meet with Chief of General Staff Hilmi Ozkok, Westmacott stated.
Westmacott said that Iraq issue would be taken up during meetings of those two delegations with Turkish officials.
(BRC-AY) 22.09.2003