Gurel: Turkey Exerts All Kinds Of Efforts To Prevent Use Of Force In Iraq

ISTANBUL - Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Sukru Sina Gurel said on Thursday that Turkey was exerting all kinds of efforts with the international society to prevent use of force in Iraq and added, ''we attribute great importance preservation of Iraq's territorial integrity and political unity and hope that Iraq will join peacefully the international society.''
Gurel, who addressed opening of Assembly of Atlantic Treaty Association (ATA) 48th General Assembly, said that 2002 was the 50th anniversary of Turkey's joining NATO and added that this was very important for Turkey.
He said that Turkey's location in a point where the two continents connected gave the country a vision which could provide peace, order and democratic values between the two continents.
Stating that the main theme of the meeting was ''Atlantic Treaty and what awaits NATO within the framework of new strategical developments'', Gurel said that those issues would be taken up at NATO Summit which would be held in Prague in coming days.
Gurel said that Prague Summit was important for naming new NATO members and that Turkey was open and positive towards NATO's enlargement.
Stating that candidate countries were capable of abiding by NATO's rules, Gurel noted that to this end, they deserved membership.
Gurel stressed that this was valid for Southeastern Europe and said that this region had a special importance for the security of Europe.
Prague Summit would be new adaptation and definition meeting for NATO, Gurel pointed out.
Gurel said, ''changing international security atmosphere, political developments and risks show that NATO should be re-evaluated. Turkey believes that Prague will be an important step for proving NATO's importance and its role in international security.''
Noting that NATO had an important place in the counter terrorism campaign, Gurel said that Turkey, as a part of this effort, took over the command of International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan and it would successfully end the mission in December.
''As the most influential military organization of the world, NATO plays a vital role in prevention of crises and crisis management,'' he said.
Gurel said, ''within this framework, it should be influential against asymmetric threats. I hope that we will strengthen our capacity to eradicate terrorism and our defense against asymmetric threats by increasing NATO's role during the summit in Prague. NATO has been working hard in order to give rapid and effective response to attacks, to protect its area, to protect its soldiers and peoples from the weapons of mass destruction and other unusual threats and to increase its capabilities. Source is required to have the necessary capacity at the right time.''
Gurel also mentioned Iraqi issue, and said, ''Turkey exerts every kind of efforts together with the international community to prevent use of force in Iraq. The only way for Iraq is to make full cooperation with the U.N. and to abide by the Security Council resolutions.''
Gurel said Turkey encourages Iraq to take action in this direction, stressing that, ''we attribute importance to Iraq's territorial integrity and participation of Iraq to the international community in peaceful means. In this respect, we find cooperation of Iraqi administration with the U.N. and its accepting arrival of weapon inspectors as pleasing.''
Pointing out that they were also pleased over NATO's attributing further importance to Eurasia in this period, Gurel said Turkey supported improving cooperation of NATO with Russia and Ukraine.
Stressing that Caucasus and Central Asia were very important for Turkey, Gurel said they advised closer and stronger relations to be established between NATO and the countries in the region.
Gurel said, ''fight against terrorism in Afghanistan shows the value of the cooperation that would be made with those countries.''