ANKARA - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said, ''the United States has requested Turkey to send soldiers to Afghanistan. However, the issue has not acquired a certain quality yet.''
Prime Minister Erdogan left for Romania as the official guest of Prime Minister Adrian Nastase of Romania on Thursday.
Holding a news conference at Ankara's Esenboga Airport prior to his departure, Prime Minister Erdogan said, ''the United States has requested Turkey to send soldiers to Afghanistan. However, the issue has not acquired a certain quality yet.''
Upon a question about the meeting with U.S. Ambassador Eric Edelman, Prime Minister Erdogan said, ''the meeting focused on preparatory works for U.S. President George W. Bush's scheduled visit to Turkey on the eve of NATO Summit in Istanbul in June.''
Replying to a question about recent developments in Israel and Iraq, Prime Minister Erdogan said, ''recent developments both in the Middle East and in Iraq have revealed that the course of events were extremely dangerous in regard to human rights and humankind. As a human and as a father, I am profoundly concerned about recent developments both in Palestine and in Iraq. These events are totally unforgivable. The real target of all those bombs are the peace. Killing of defenseless civilians including children cannot be justified.''
''We should form a joint platform to fight against terrorism. To this end, I call on all relevant presidents, prime ministers and the other politicians to assume an attitude against these steps escalating tension in the region. The United Nations has a very important duty. We should not be content with condemning such events. We should take all necessary steps without any more delay,'' Prime Minister Erdogan added.
(UK-AÖ) 20.05.2004