LONDON - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday that NATO did not make any request to Turkey regarding dispatch of soldiers to Iraq.
Erdogan held a news conference following his meetings in London.
When a journalist asked about the possibility of NATO's asking Turkey for dispatch of soldiers to Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine, Erdogan said he did not think there would be a need for a parliamentary approval on Afghanistan issue.
Erdogan said they would be able to meet such a request, noting that, ''however, regarding Iraq, you know NATO is not there at the moment. Being a NATO member, we are resolved to fulfill our responsibilities about the requests NATO will make to us. We are aware of our duties in our international organizations we are members of.''
When asked whether or not they were obliged to issue a new decision from the Parliament in case new Iraqi administration makes such a request, Erdogan said, ''this is not in question at the moment. We have no such information. We will make necessary evaluations when such a request is in question.''
Erdogan said UN launched activities in Iraq in humanitarian sense and that Turkey undertook important missions in this respect, noting that, ''we do what is necessary to meet foodstuff, medicine, water and energy needs of Iraq and this will continue.''
Erdogan said Turkey expected UN to take a step to use political will before June 30 when interim government takes over the administration in Iraq.
Erdogan stressed that the new arrangement should not damage Iraq's territorial integrity, stating that, ''facilities should be given for distribution of natural riches of Iraq fairly.''
Replying to a question about terrorism, Erdogan said they would not allow acts of terrorism on territories of Turkish Republic.
Erdogan said Turkey fought against terrorism, which is an international problem, acting together with the world countries.
When asked whether or not ethical groups living in Turkey were subjected to a discrimination, Erdogan said as the government they would not allow such a discrimination.
Replying to a question of a Greek Cypriot journalist asking what kind of steps would be taken to overcome the problems between Turkey and Greece, Erdogan said they took many steps to improve relations with Greece.
Asked what kind of steps would be taken in G-8 summit regarding the Middle East problem, Erdogan said, ''developments in the Middle East, particularly the developments in Palestine and Iraq, wounds our heart. We have taken several steps to contribute to initiatives to provide peace between Israel and Palestine. However, we could not obtain the expected results at the first step. Yet, we are still insistent in this respect and we will continue efforts.''
Stating that Turkey would join G-8 meeting in the United States not as a target country but a democratic partner, Erdogan said, ''we are ready to expend support to democratic openings here in case there is not any authoritarian approach. We will support democratic openings of countries included in the Greater Middle East Project.''
When a Greek Cypriot journalist said Greek Cypriots voted ''no'' in the referendum because of Turkey's military force, Erdogan said, ''this is wrong. There was a plan and this plan linked time and conditions of withdrawal of Turkish soldiers to a road map.''
Erdogan said ''no'' vote of Southern Cyprus meant rejection of this road map, stating that, ''Turkish soldiers were on the Island basing on right of guarantor status. Similarly, there were soldiers in Southern Cyprus. You should see this. Northern Cyprus voted ''yes'' to the plan. In fact we are not the interlocutor of this problem, Southern Cyprus is the interlocutor of it.''
(AY) 30.05.2004