Prime Minister Erdogan Says They Hoped There Would Be No Loss In Votes

ANKARA - Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that they had hoped that there would be no loss in votes in favor of the motion on dispatch of soldiers to Iraq but there were two or three losses.
Replying to questions of reporters after the motion was adopted by the parliament, Erdogan said that the parliament granted authorization to the government to send soldiers to a foreign country for one year.
Erdogan noted, ''the government will make further evaluations with the Turkish Armed Forces.''
Asked if he expected such a result, Erdogan said, ''you know Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has 367 deputies. Three of our friends did not join the voting due to their illness. One of our friends chaired the session and there was also the Parliament Speaker. We had hoped that there were no losses in the voting but there were two or three losses.''
When he was recalled about the statement of the Iraqi Interim Governing Council, Erdogan said, ''according to information given to us by the Foreign Ministry, it has nothing to do with the reality.''
(BRC) 07.10.2003