GUL: WE HAVE NO INTENTION OF INVADING IRAQ"
Turkey has no intention of invading Iraq, as our only goal is to eliminate a threat to our country, said President Abdullah Gul yesterday. "No country lets an illegal armed power in its territory or near its border," Gul told a group of radio and TV reporters. "If the state allowed such an illegal force, then we can't call it a state." He added, "Every fallen soldier we see hurts us deeply. But we would have seen even more if the ground operation (into northern Iraq) had been launched at a later date. Failure to act in a timely fashion leads to more casualties." Stating that Turkey will show its determined to the very end, Gul said that their intention is very clear. When asked whether he had deliberately chosen last Friday, the day the ground operation was made public, to sign controversial constitutional changes to end the university headscarf ban, Gul said the operation had not been a factor in his timing for approving the changes. /Star/
TURKISH DELEGATION VISITS BAGHDAD
A Turkish delegation yesterday traveled to Baghdad to hold talks with top Iraqi officials. The delegation, made up of Murat Ozcelik, Turkey's deputy special representative to Iraq, Ahmet Davutoglu, chief foreign advisor to the premier, and Prime Ministry Deputy Undersecretary Hakan Fidan, first met with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari. Speaking to reporters afterwards, Davutoglu said that the presence of the terrorist PKK in northern Iraq could be tolerated neither by Turkey nor Iraq. "For us, continuing operations is not a violation of Iraqi sovereignty. It's just the opposite," he added. For his part, Zebari said that the PKK is a terrorist group which gets no support from the Iraqi government. However, he warned that the presence of foreign troops in the Iraqi territory was a sensitive matter for Baghdad. He added that they want to have good relations with Turkey. The delegation then held talks with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and gave him President Abdullah Gul's official invitation to visit Turkey. After holding contacts at the US Embassy, Davutoglu said that US support for Turkey is continuing and that the PKK will be eliminated from northern Iraq. /Turkiye/
YOK HEAD DECLINES INVITATION TO INTER-UNIVERSITIES BOARD MEETING
Board of Higher Education (YOK) Chairman Yusuf Ziya Ozcan yesterday declined an invitation to attend today's Inter-Universities Board (UAK) meeting, adding that the group had no standing to discuss the headscarf issue. In a written statement, Ozcan said that the UAK was meant only to deal with academic issues, not the headscarf issue. The UAK, made up of all of Turkey's university rectors, will hold an extraordinary meeting in Ankara this morning to discuss constitutional changes to lift the university headscarf ban. /Cumhuriyet/
CHP ASKS CONSTITUTIONAL COURT TO HOLD UP UNIVERSITY HEADSCARF BAN
The main opposition Republican Party (CHP) yesterday submitted a petition to the Constitutional Court asking it to annul constitutional amendments to Articles 10 and 42 allowing women to enter universities wearing headscarves. The 58-page petition was signed by 111 deputies from the CHP and the Democratic Left Party (DSP) as well as Tunceli independent Deputy Kamer Genc. CHP Secretary General Onder Sav, flanked by top party officials, told reporters that the changes violate the Constitution and expressed hope that the top court will take up the matter soon. /Turkiye/
US DEFENSE SEC'Y TO DISCUSS CROSS-BORDER OP IN ANKARA
Turkey must limit its military operations against the PKK in northern Iraq to days or a couple of weeks rather than months, said US Defense Secretary Robert Gates yesterday before beginning his visit to Ankara. Gates arrived in the capital to pay an official visit at the invitation of his counterpart Vecdi Gonul. President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan are set to receive Gates, and he will also meet separately with Gonul and Chief of General Staff Gen. Yasar Buyukanit. Their meetings are expected to focus on the duration and extent of the cross-border operation in northern Iraq, the results of the operation so far, and intelligence-sharing with the US. /Hurriyet/
TALAT: "EU GUARANTEE FOR CYPRUS TALKS LACKS CREDIBILITY"
A European Union "guarantee" for Cyprus reunification talks has little credibility, said Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Mehmet Ali Talat yesterday. Responding to comments by former Greek Cypriot leader George Vasiliou, Talat said, "We've seen what such a guarantee means. For three years now the EU has failed to take up laws to allow direct trade with the TRNC. The EU has no claim to this issue, and Turkey isn't currently a member of EU." He added that any reunification talks should be held on the basis of the 2004 UN plan. Talat also criticized new Greek Cypriot leader Demetris Christofias' demand that all foreign soldiers should leave the island, saying that this belies the promise of a compromise. Talat is due to meet next Monday with Christofias and Michael Moller, the UN's special envoy to Cyprus. /Cumhuriyet/
TUSIAD OFFICIALS MEET WITH GOVT ECONOMIC COMMITTEE
A delegation led by Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association (TUSIAD) head Arzuhan Dogan Yalcindag yesterday held talks with an government economic policy committee chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Nazim Erken. During the talks, major economic problems, global risks and the economy's structural reform process as well as the headscarf issue and the current land operation in northern Iraq were discussed. TUSIAD proposed that the government coordinate the Treasury's borrowing calendar with the financial sector's external debts schedule, adding that a project-based, competitive and innovative incentive model should be considered in preparing a new industrial strategy and promoting government policy as well as regional and sectoral incentive alternatives. /Sabah/