Nato Senior Civilian Representative Says Being A Turk Is Always A Plus In Afghanistan

KABUL - Hikmet Cetin, the NATO Senior Civilian Representative in Afghanistan, said on Wednesday that being a Turk was always a plus in Afghanistan.
After meeting a Turkish parliamentary delegation headed by deputy Mahmut Kocak, Cetin told A.A correspondent that Afghan people were interested more than anything in the presidential elections to be held on October 9th.
Stressing the importance of the presidential elections, Cetin said that there were still some circles that wanted to hinder the elections, and noted that threats from terrorist organization Al Qaeda, Taleban and forces bound to Gulbeddin Hikmetyar still continued.
Cetin said, ''despite this, number of people who have registered to cast votes in the presidential elections reached 7.2 million. Especially, number of women electors are increasing rapidly. These are all pleasing developments. Rate of participation in elections has reached 50 percent in some regions. What is important at the moment is to hold the elections in a secure atmosphere. NATO took important decisions during its Istanbul summit, to assure the security . Holding the elections, which have not been held in Afghanistan for many years, and in a successful way, is very important for the future of this country.''
Turkey would probably take over command of International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in February 2005, Cetin added.
Cetin said, ''being a Turk is always a plus in Afghanistan. Everybody are warm towards Turks due to deeply-rooted relations. Turkey's taking over the ISAF command is very important for NATO because, days when Turkey was assuming the command of the ISAF (by General Akin Zorlu) are still remembered as good old days.''
Hikmet Cetin called on Turkish businessmen not to only work in engineering projects but also make other investments in Afghanistan.
(BRC-ULG) 21.07.2004