WASHINGTON D.C., Jan 16 (A.A) - U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said on Wednesday regarding the transfer of the command of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan to Turkey that the U.S. would be pleased with such a development.
Diplomatic sources said that Rumsfeld thanked to Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit in their meeting for the military contribution of Turkey which will send 261 soldiers for the peace keeping force in Afghanistan.
Sources noted that consultations would intensify regarding the transfer of the command of the peace keeping force to Turkey in the coming period, adding that intensive meetings are expected to be held between Turkey, Britain, the U.S. and Afghanistan.
Rumsfeld also said in his meeting with Ecevit that Turkey is a successful Muslim country, adding that ''Turkey model is a very beneficial model.''
Rumsfeld stressed that there is a cooperation from the beginning between the military base in Florida which carries out the operation in Afghanistan and the Turkish General Staff.
The issue of Afghanistan was taken up in details in the meeting and Ecevit underlined the importance of Afghanistan's having modern armed forces.
Noting that the divided armed forces in Afgahnistan is one of the reasons of the situation in Afghanistan today, Ecevit said that Turkey's experience can be used in reconstruction of the Afghan army.
Ecevit said that Turkey aims to cooperate with the U.S. for development of Afghanistan.
Ecevit also mentioned the economic expectations of Turkey in the meeting. Rumsfeld in his part noted that the U.S. wanted to speed up the economic relations with Turkey.
The two statesmen also referred in general economic context to the issue of erasing the military credit debts of Turkey, but the issues of Iraq, European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP), military purchases, Cyprus and Greece were not taken up in the meeting.