NATO: 'Possible NATO's mission in Iraq depends on Iraqi government's demand'

ISTANBUL (CIHAN) - The NATO General Secretary, Jaap De Hoop Scheffer said in Istanbul on Sunday that NATO`s mission in Iraq totally depends on Iraqi government`s decision.
The NATO General Secretary, Jaap De Hoop Scheffer, who arrived in Istanbul to attend NATO Summit on June 28-29, attended opening ceremony of an exhibition of NATO at which he delivered the opening speech of the exhibition.
The NATO General Secretary, Scheffer said that NATO`s real prestige was in the area of military and NATO showed its military power in Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan.
Scheffer stated the need for transformation of NATO and failure in transformation of Iraq would lead to decrease in the power of NATO. Scheffer added that the transformation was a process and both political and military structure of NATO would be transformed.
As a response to a question of a reporter whether NATO would undertake a military mission in Iraq, Scheffer said that the issue was totally dependent on demand of Iraqi government.
Scheffer said that hours were left for transfer of sovereignty from coalition administration to interim Iraqi government and the demand of Iraqi Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi for training of Iraqi soldiers and Iraqi security forces by NATO would be possible. Scheffer added that the demand of Iyad Alllawi would be discussed in Istanbul Summit and to be finalized.
Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi sent a letter to NATO and demanded training and equipment of Iraqi security forces by NATO.