ANKARA (A.A) - 16.07.2002 - Mesut Yilmaz, the leader of the Motherland Party (ANAP), State Minister and Deputy Prime Minister said on Monday that ''a possible intervention can take place in Iraq without our wish. If Saddam can give certain guarantees demanded by the U.S. and if he can end certain suspicions about him, he can prevent such an act.''
Responding to questions at CNN Turk tv channel, Yilmaz said that the EU adjustment laws can be adopted by the parliament including the amendments in the election and political parties laws if the parliament continiously works for two weeks.
Upon a question, Yilmaz said that neither himself nor the new formation had the idea of overthrowing the government.
''The most realistic solution is to turn this government into an election government. If this is the case, the government will determine a certain mission to itself, which is to hold the elections,'' Yilmaz said.
When asked if the Cyprus issue is an impediment in EU-Turkey relations, Yilmaz said that ''if the EU and the whole world public opinion thinks that Turkey considers the existing situation on the island as the final solution and that it does not support initiatives aiming to found a partnership state on the island, this can impede our relations with EU. In fact the initiative of TRNC President Denktas is a step taken to help in ending this image. I believe that a solution can be found without taking a step back from issues such as security, and gurantees and the equal partnership status of Turkish Cypriot society. But if Turkey is seen as the side which does not want solution, this will impede our EU accession process. We shouldn't consider the steps we will take here as concession.''
When asked about Turkey's attitude in a possible Iraqi operation, Yilmaz said that ''the attitude of Turkey is known. We don't have any difference of opinion about Turkey's attitude within the government. Turkey does not want such an operation. But it can take place without our desire. Personnaly I think that it is Saddam who can prevent such an intervention. If Saddam can give certain guarantees demanded by the U.N. and monitored by the U.S. and if he particularly permits the controls regarding nuclear and chemical weapons production, he can prevent such an operation. If this is not the case, the U.S. will intervene in Iraq sooner or later. I don't think that this will take place before November. It means as long as Saddam does not change his attitude, an intervention can take place and Turkey should take this into consideration.''