Cakmakoglu: Turkey Does Not Have Any Statement Pertaining To Threat To Greece

ANKARA (A.A) - 27.04.2002 - National Defense Minister Sabahattin Cakmakoglu said on Saturday that Greek Defense Minister Yiannos Papandoniou said the biggest threat to his country came from Turkey, stressing that, ''we have no statement pertaining to threat to our neighbor Greece at a period when positive steps are taken to solve problems between the two countries.''
Cakmakoglu, who spoke at a TV program, evaluated the statement of Papandoniou to Defense News Magazine of the United States.
Cakmakoglu said Turkey did not carry out a policy targeting Greece while it was taking measures for its security and defense. Cakmakoglu said, ''Turkey makes its plans according to its multilateral security need.''
''Turkey and Greece experience a friendship process for a long time. Our target is to increase our neighborhood to the level of good neighborhood. As the minister of defense I support those views. We favor the policy carried out by the foreign ministers,'' he noted.
Cakmakoglu said, ''Greek Foreign Minister has very positive relations with our Foreign Minister that they together went to Yasser Arafat in Palestine and Ariel Sharon in Israel.''
Cakmakoglu said, ''Greek Defense Minister made a statement to the U.S. magazine the Defense News on April 18, 2002, and this coincides with the date when he invited us to Athens to attend Balkan Countries Defense Ministers Meeting. In his statement Papandoniou said the new Greek defense strategies have the capacity to respond to the threats in the newly established atmosphere. He said threats toward Greece were open, and that the first one was the Turkish threat. The Greek Minister said they spend 5 percent of their Gross National Product for defense. He said Turkey has several claims on their national territories and sovereignty.''
Cakmakoglu said, ''in that case, the duty of our public and the officials should be to overcome that double image. We have extended olive branch. We have signed agreements in many fields extending from environment to tourism and to economy. We have no statements pertaining to threat to neighoring Greece at a time steps are taken to solve the problems between the two countries.''
Pointing out that Turkey has security and defense measures with respect to its geographical position, Cakmakoglu asked, ''what do you think is the reason of such a statement in such a period?''
Responding to a question about the probable operation of the United States against Iraq, Cakmakoglu said Turkey's view in this respect was clear, stressing that Turkey did not favor such an operation on Iraq.