Gul: Turkish Soldiers Will Never Go To Iraq As Occupier

ANTALYA - Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said on Monday that Turkish soldiers would not go to Iraq as occupier.
Replying to questions of journalists in Antalya about the motion on Turkish soldiers' deployment in Iraq, Gul said that ''the public opinion has started to understand the reason of the motion. If a chaos happens in Iraq, this will directly affect Turkey...It is to our benefit to bring peace to Iraq in order to guarantee the future of Turkey. Turkey will never go to Iraq as occupier. On the contrary, not only military, but also civilian officials will carry out missions to bring peace to the region. I hope we will be successful in Iraq like we were successful in Afghanistan, Kosovo and Bosnia. Besides our soldiers are not going to Iraq tomorrow. If the conditions are met, if everything we want happens, then the government will use this authority.''
When asked if Turkey's sending soldiers to Iraq would give damage to tourism, Gul said that ''in fact the real thing that affected tourism was the war. Later our parliament gave a decision and you see that our tourism is better today.''
(Öª-AY) 10.10.2003