ANKARA - British Prime Minister Tony Blair spoke to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan by the phone on Thursday due to blasts in Istanbul.
Prime Ministry officials said that Blair told Erdogan that British people felt deeply sad over incidents and expressed his condolences to Erdogan during conversation. Blair said that besides British people, Turkish people lost their lives in blasts and thanked Erdogan for his strong statement which he made on Thursday.
Erdogan thanked Blair and stated that this incident showed that countries should make a very effective cooperation in fight against terrorism. Erdogan said that he also felt deeply sad over death of British Consul-General and consulate personnel and added that but they would not give up and continue to fight against international terrorism. Erdogan said that it was impossible to reach a legitimate thing through illegitimate ways and stated that Turkey would continue to improve solidarity.
Erdogan told Blair that they felt sad over the statement of British Foreign Secretary who said that British people should not travel to Istanbul. Stating that Foreign Secretary would come to Turkey on Friday and meet with Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, he said that Gul would also convey this uneasiness to British Foreign Secretary.
Blair said that he did not know the statement and stated that he did not consider this statement appropriate, either. Stating that two ministers would have a meeting on Friday, Blair said that he thought that they would make a joint statement on the issue.
(EÖ-AÖ) 20.11.2003