ANKARA - Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said on Tuesday that tripartite structure planned to be established between Turkey, United States and Iraq would not have representatives.
"Relevant units of the three countries will convene and discuss what could be done about terrorist PKK organization. It is up to Baghdad whether or not the regional administration in north of Iraq would be included in this structure" Babacan told the private NTV channel.
"The tripartite structure that was established three years ago with the participation of representatives did not work. That was totally shelved and the representatives retired. There is a separate tripartite coordination system that has been established between the Turkish and U.S. military. This system includes Turkey`s deputy chief of General Staff, vice chairman of U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, and general of the U.S. troops in Iraq. Iraq is not included in this system. Military operations going on in the past one year are an outcome of this system and good coordination. A military success is in question."
Babacan said the tripartite system, planned to be established, aimed at creating an atmosphere to discuss what could be done about the terrorist organization. He said this system would not be an alternative to bilateral talks.
Asked whether regional administration would be included in this structure, Babacan said, "we say this structure has three legs. One of them is Iraq. When we say Iraq, we should think of whole Iraq. It is the preference of Baghdad."
Referring to a statement of Massoud Barzani, leader of the regional administration in north of Iraq, that a new page was opened in relations with Turkey, Babacan said Turkey established direct dialogue with the regional administration in north of Iraq.
"By considering the domestic structure of Iraq, we should work on what we can do to deal with and eliminate terrorist organization by taking advantage of this," he said.
Babacan said the motion regarding deployment of Turkish troops was issued on October 17, 2007, adding that "we carried out intensive contacts in the Middle East and Europe. We got the open support of the central government in Baghdad and PKK was announced as the common enemy during Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan`s visit to Washington D.C.."
"Thus only administration in north of Iraq remained as the element to isolate terrorist PKK organization. Nobody should allow attacks on Turkey from the region where they say was under their control. A busy but silent diplomacy traffic will be carried out from now on. You will not hear many statements from us on the matter," Babacan said.
Asked to comment on a probable military cooperation, Babacan said there were many methods in diplomacy, noting that acting with a proper method at the proper time was important. "The sooner the stability is restored in Iraq in general, this will be in our advantage," he said.
Babacan said the model suggested by Turkey about Kirkuk was welcomed, adding that "Turkey will take into consideration the difficult period Iraq has been going through, but on the other side we will continue to be in contact with Baghdad and the local administration to resolve the problem about PKK."
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