ISTANBUL - Deputy Chief of General Staff Gen. Ilker Basbug said on Thursday that it was not possible for the region to reach stability before finding a solution to Israeli-Palestinian dispute.
General Staff Department of Military History and Strategical Studies held a symposium in Istanbul on Thursday on ''Regions of Crisis from the Perspective of Turkey, NATO and European Union (EU) and Their Impacts on Turkey's Security''.
Deputy Chief of General Staff Gen. Basbug, who addressed the opening of the symposium, said crisis regions around Turkey were Iraq and Afghanistan and Israel and Palestine.
Stating that clashes between Israel and Palestine reached to distressing dimensions, Gen. Basbug said, ''it is not possible for the region to reach stability before finding a solution to Israeli-Palestinian dispute.''
''When Israeli-Arab and Palestinian clashes are considered in regard to terrorism, it will be seen that the attitude adopted by some countries are influential in eruption and development of international terrorism,'' Gen. Basbug said, stressing it was important that the United States and Europe should have similar point of views on the way to solution.
Gen. Basbug said, ''mutual values of the United States and Europe and synergy of military, economic and political power can only open the ways of solution.''
Mentioning the developments in Iraq, Gen. Basbug said Turkey believed in the importance of preservation of national unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq.
Gen. Basbug said, ''Turkey considers Iraq as a whole not only with respect to ethnical closeness or in religious sense. Territorial integrity of Iraq is an important cornerstone for providing stability in the whole region.''
The question that should be asked here is how Iraqi State Transition Period Administrative Law would affect the future of Iraq, Gen. Basbug stated, and noted that, ''as the law tries to preserve the national and territorial integrity of Iraq, it at the same time shows that the state would not be in a secular structure. The important thing is how all ethnical and religious groups in Iraq, having different expectations, would live fairly together. The law in question sees the solution in a loose central federal state structure. Historical examples show that countries having different ethnical and religious groups may be administered under a stronger and central management.''
Gen. Basbug said, ''Turkey believes that Iraq should reach peace and stability soon and Turkmens, having an important rate within the population, should have the rights they deserved, and that they would contribute as an element of balance to solutions regarding future of Iraq.''
Gen. Basbug said Turkey always expended support for the success of the United States and coalition forces and transfer of administration to Iraqis in the way it was planned. He said, ''we should be aware that Turkey would be one of the main countries that may receive damage from a chaos or civil war that may erupt in Iraq. To this end, it is clearly important that UN should play a more influential role in Iraq.''
(AY-AÖ) 27.05.2004