ANKARA - Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul said on Tuesday that it was the United States who asked Turkey to send soldiers to Iraq and noted, ''the United States is our interlocutor.''
Speaking to reporters at the Prime Ministry, Gul said that Turkey could send soldiers to Iraq when it believed that it could help settlement of tranquility in Iraq.
Gul said, ''the highest authority in Iraq is the United States at the moment. The United States is the interlocutor of official invasion.''
Noting that talks continued with the United States, Gul said that however, they had not reached a satisfactory stage for Turkey in the talks.
Gul went on saying, ''our talks will continue. We are not in a hurry because we don't have any ambition or secret plans. A country which doesn't have any secret intentions will not be in a hurry.''
When he was recalled about the statements of the U.S. authorities that Iraqi Interim Governing Council and Ankara should meet to discuss dispatch of Turkish soldiers to the region, Gul said, ''it was the United States who asked us to send soldiers. The authority in Iraq is the United States. We don't want it to continue this way. This is another issue. But, when we take into consideration the current situation in Iraq, Iraq's authority is the United States. It has come to Iraq and invaded it. Therefore, our interlocutor is the United States. But, this doesn't mean that we are leaving the Iraqi people outside. Stance of Iraqi people is very important for us. Iraqi Council is a council which is appointed for a temporary period of time.''
Drawing attention that the United States had appointed the Iraqi Interim Governing Council, Gul said, ''of course, they will convince whom they appointed.''
Asked if he would meet with members of Iraqi Interim Governing Council in Syria where he would visit at the weekend, Gul said that it was not immediately definite whether or not Iraqi Interim Governing Council would attend the meeting in Damascus.
Gul said, ''they can come to Damascus. We are talking to them. Our aim is to end the invasion as soon as possible.''
When asked if the United States sent a message to Turkey that ''it did no more want any soldiers from Turkey'' through military channels, Gul said, ''on the contrary, there are different messages in the military level. There are messages that 'where Turkish soldiers will be deployed if they go to Iraq'.''
Replying to a question that at which point the United States, which was willing about dispatch of Turkish soldiers to the region at the beginning, had a problem, Gul said, ''of course, there is a deficiency here. They were very passionate at first and they did not want any delay in dispatch of soldiers. Then, they saw that there were different things. They have many hesitations among themselves.''
Gul went on saying, ''I would like to underline that we can't do anything over hesitations because we will make self-sacrifice. We can't make self-sacrifice in places where we are met with hesitations. Therefore, everything should be open and clear for us. Everybody should say yes.''
''This confusion also results from this: Americans don't know the region and regional people. They did not take into consideration recommendations made beforehand. If the cadre ruling Iraq at the moment had known well about the region, things might have been better,'' Gul said.
Gul noted that Turkey would make self-sacrifice after it was sure about where and how it would serve.
''We won't make self-sacrifice without any return. Settlement of tranquility in Iraq, Iraq's territorial integrity, and helping Iraqi people are all self-sacrifice,'' Gul said.
Responding to a question what would be the return of that self-sacrifice, Gul said, ''the places where we will go and the relations there.''
When he was recalled about the statement of Paul Bremer, the U.S. civilian administrator for Iraq, about Ottoman existence in Iraq as ''colonialist force'' for more than 400 years, Gul said, ''it shows that he doesn't know the region and history. If he knew the history, then he would say that 'tranquility in the region was ensured during the Ottoman era and that tranquility also covered Jerusalem and Palestinian lands.' The United States is facing problems and difficulties because it doesn't know the region and history and it doesn't know traditions of people living there.''
Replying to another question, Gul said that the United States proposed Firat (Euphrates) axis for Turkish soldiers and all those were being evaluated.
(BRC-AÖ) 28.10.2003