ANKARA - Turkey on Friday sent an official delegation to Kyrgyzstan to convey appeals for moderation amid the turmoil in the country, officials said.
The delegation, led by Metin Goker, a senior diplomat who served as Turkey's ambassador to Kyrgyzstan in the 1990s, flew on a plane that will also evacuate Turkish nationals from the Central Asian nation, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul told reporters.
The minister said the delegation's schedule was not immediately clear, but added that it would meet with people "who carry weight" in the country, where the opposition toppled the regime of president Askar Akayev.
A senior diplomat said the officials in the delegation had close contacts with both the opposition and the overthrown administration and would try to obtain first-hand information on the situation in the country.
"Our message will be that we support the improvement of democracy and freedoms in Kyrgyzstan, but that people should respect the constitutional order and stay on lawful ground so that stability and peace can be restored in the country," he told AFP.
Turkey has had close political and economic relations with Kyrgyzstan and the other Turkic-speaking republics in Central Asia since they gained independence following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Gul welcomed the Kyrgyz parliament's appointment of interim officials, among them opposition leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev who was named head of state.
"This is good because it shows that the things are under control. We hope that stability will be restored in the shortest possible time," he said.
The plane dispatched by Ankara was expected to evacuate about 150 nationals, mostly women, children and students.
Some 3,500 Turks are based in Kyrgyzstan, most of them workers and students, according to foreign ministry figures.
03/25/2005 12:01 GMT -