ANKARA - Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul said on Wednesday that statements of European Union (EU) Commissioner for enlargement Guenter Verheugen about Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) were ``unacceptable.``
Prior to his departure for Brussels to attend NATO foreign ministers meeting, Gul evaluated Verheugen`s speech in Belgian Senate, but said that they had not seen the full text of the speech yet.
Gul noted that Verheugen`s words about TSK were unacceptable and incorrect and went on saying, ``because TSK has fulfilling its responsibilities in line with our state policies. It doesn`t have different views about Cyprus issue and EU.``
``Also, TSK is in Cyprus under international agreements. Therefore, Verheugen`s words especially on TSK were misfortune,`` Gul said.
Gul emphasized that the only condition in Turkey`s EU accession process was fulfillment of Copenhagen political criteria and added, ``we have said that Cyprus is not a precondition for many times and, it is so. Turkey is acting with good will and doing everything it can to solve Cyprus issue. Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) is also doing so. There will be elections in TRNC in coming days.``
``Nobody should doubt that elections will be held in a democratic atmosphere. Those who have such doubts should come and monitor the elections on the island. TRNC has invited not only OSCE, but also COE to elections,`` Gul noted.
Upon another question, Gul evaluated words of Verheugen who said that ``decisions were taken without informing TRNC President Rauf Denktas and Denktas was not informed about anything`` and noted that they had not received full text of Verheugen`s speech yet.
Gul said, ``Denktas is the negotiator in TRNC Presidency at the moment.``
Asked if he would meet with Verheugen in Brussels, Gul said that he could have many bilateral meetings, but schedule of his meetings was not clear yet.
When asked if Turkey had launched initiatives for lifting of the condition which was said to be imposed on 8.5 billion U.S. dollars of loan from the United States, Gul said that there was not any condition on that loan which linked the loan to non-presence of Turkish soldiers in north of Iraq.
Gul said, ``because, the invalidity of this condition is clear. TSK has a force there and everybody knows it.``
The loan would be put into practice whenever the Treasury needed it, Gul added.
When he was recalled about news that soldiers would be sent to Afghanistan, Gul said that there was not such thing.
Gul said, ``our government will not use the authority it got from the parliament to send soldiers to Iraq. There is an impression that maybe soldiers will be sent to Afghanistan. This is not right. We won`t send soldiers to Afghanistan at the moment.``
When he was recalled that Britain softened travel warning against Turkey, Gul said, ``this was what should be done.``
Gul noted that the former stance of Britain was extreme and it caused some negative developments. ``They then became aware of it and corrected it,`` Gul said.
Asked if there was difference of opinion between the government and soldiers about implementation of Adana Agreement between Turkey and Syria, Gul said that the agreement was in effect and added, ``our neighbors are making cooperation which they have not made before.``
Gul stated that NATO`s structure, doctrines and partnership relations were changing after September 11th terrorist attacks.
They would take up those issues in the NATO meetings and could give priority to discussions on terrorism and countering terrorism, Gul said.
Gul noted that NATO Council and NATO-Russia Council issued statements after bomb attacks in Istanbul and announced that they were in solidarity with Turkey.
He would hold bilateral and multilateral meetings in Brussels, Gul pointed out.
Gul said that schedule of NATO summit to be held in Istanbul on June 28-29, 2004 would be reviewed and issues to be taken up in the summit would be discussed during meetings in Brussels.
Noting that Galatasaray soccer club of Turkey gave the best answer to Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) by winning a victory over Juventus of Italy, Gul hoped that Besiktas soccer team would also give the same answer.

(BRC-AÖ) 03.12.2003