BY NURAY BASARAN
AKSAM- The interim government set to take over Iraq on June 30 came early; it took power yesterday unexpectedly for security reasons. I hope this decision will benefit Iraq. Yesterday the NATO summit also started in Istanbul. So there is both the power handover in Iraq and a change of opinion in NATO concerning Iraq. This way a new process has started for NATO and the US, which are both looking for concrete steps concerning the Iraq issue. With the invitation and request of new Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, NATO’s course in Iraq and the office’s new mission were determined on the first day of the summit. Of course the ground covered by the Iraqi people on their government and the coalition transferring administration to Iraqis are both very important. However, there’s also the difficult side of the story, that is, solving the thousands of problems facing Iraq, including ensuring stability and security.
The transfer of sovereignty ceremony was carried out yesterday with the presentation of official documents by Paul Bremer, now the ex-US civilian administrator in Iraq, to Allawi. ‘Today is a historic and joyous day long awaited by the Iraqi people,’ said Allawi. ‘We think we can handle security.’ Even if the Iraqi government has full sovereignty now, there are still certain restrictions. It won’t be able to make long-term political decisions and will have no control of foreign military forces in the country. Important diplomatic messages were given when word of the transfer reached the NATO summit. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari stated that the Iraqi government considered the PKK a terrorist organization, something both intriguing and important. There are so many things to do to make Iraq stable again. Neither the Iraqi administration, nor the US nor NATO can do this alone. Everybody will have to cooperate, and countries in the region should help out. I wish there were more countries within the alliance.