WASHINGTON D.C. - During Ministry of Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Ugur Ziyal's visit to the United States, American officials said that they did not make any request from Turkey about the issue of Iraq.
Turkish diplomatic sources told the A.A correspondent on Friday that during his contacts in the United States, Ziyal explained drawbacks of a possible military operation against Iraq.
''Ziyal warned the United States that such an operation could give rise to a new terrorist wave. Meanwhile, U.S. President George W. Bush's administration told the Turkish side that it was determined to overthrow President Saddam Hussein of Iraq. They also noted that date and method of the operation have not been determined yet,'' the sources noted.
A Turkish official said, ''any certain decision has not been taken yet about Iraq. At this point, the United States did not have any request from Turkey.''
Turkish officials said that they got the impression that a possible operation could be launched following the Congress elections in November the earliest.
Turkish delegation also expressed Turkey's uneasiness about recent negative attitude of Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) leader Massoud Barzani against Turkey.
Meanwhile, Turkish officials denied the allegation put forward by Patriotic Union for Iraqi Kurdistan (PUK) leader Jalal Talabani who said, ''the United States assured Iraqi Kurds that Turkey would not intervene in Iraq in a possible military operation.''
An official said, ''the United States did not say Turkey that it should not enter Iraq. Actually, Turkey did not say that it would enter Iraq.''
Turkish side stressed that the organization named KADEK was a continuation of the terrorist organization PKK, and asked the United States to take measures against KADEK. The U.S. side said that it was positive about Turkey's request.
During his two-day visit to the United States, Ziyal held contacts with U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Richard Myers.
General Staff Plans and Principles Chairman General Resat Turgut, Ministry of Foreign Affairs deputy undersecretaries Baki Ilkin, Ali Tuygan and Alev Kilic, and Turkish Ambassador to the United States Faruk Logoglu.