Ecevit: The Turkish Nation Is Very Concerned About Efforts To Set Up Independent Kurdish State In Northern Iraq

ANKARA - Democratic Left Party (DSP) leader and Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit has said that a majority of the Turkish nation and politicians were concerned about the efforts to establish an independent Kurdish state in Northern Iraq. ''We have to adopt a more effective attitude on the face of the recent developments,'' he said.
''We're all very concerned about what is going on in Northern Iraq,'' he said. ''We have to adopt a more effective policy. Why couldn't we do this before? Before the world has changed. The world has only one power, not two anymore. We have an interesting relation with the United States. We're very close allies despite the geographical distance between us. The United States can sometimes lead us to unwanted situations but we have to say stop after a certain point.''
''At the moment, Turkey is facing a very serious risk because of a situation that we had nothing to do with,'' he continued. ''The United States is talking about a military operation. Turkey will be drifted to this operation whether it wants or not. We might lose many of our young people if we find ourselves in the war although this war has nothing to with us and it is completely unnecessary for us.''
When asked if the United States was causing chaos in Northern Iraq in order to pull Turkey into the war, Ecevit said ''that was possible.''
Ecevit said that the U.S. is closely interested in the Middle East and the oil field for a long time, adding that Iraqi Head of State Saddam Hussein did many bad things. Stressing that Iraq is under inspection today, Ecevit said that ''the U.S. can benefit from Incirlik base as it wants by getting permission from Turkey in order to end the influence of Saddam. There is no need to do more. All kinds of embargo and inspection is implemented, there is no need to think of starting a war, I don't understand that. If we enter a war related to Northern Iraq, even if we don't want it, God forbid, many more young people from Turkey can die. Thousands of young persons died in southeastern and eastern Turkey...We can't risk such a thing again.''
Stressing that no country other than Turkey will suffer from a possible operation in Iraq, Ecevit said that very serious steps have to be taken while dealing with such issues. Ecevit said ''my patience has almost come to an end and I told something.''
When reminded about the statement of Talabani who said that ''politicians talk nonsense, they exaggerate the issue of Northern Iraq in order to distract the people's attention during the election process,'' Ecevit said that ''they are not people to be taken up seriously, so their words can't be taken up seriously. In sum, I have many concerns. In fact the state takes many measures, very careful steps are being taken at the prime ministry, foreign miinstry and general staff.''
''Will we enter Iraq with army against Saddam, will we enter the war, why do you talk about casualties?'' asked journalists to Ecevit who said that Turkey can be effected by the reaction of Iraq to such a military operation of the U.S.
''Can Saddam hit Turkey?'' asked journalists to Ecevit who said that ''studies that take into consideration all sorts of possibilities continue between the general staff and foreign ministry and also at the presidential and prime ministry level for a long time.''
''Is the possibility of Saddam to hit Turkey high?'' said Ecevit adding that ''you can see if you look at the map.''
Upon a question asking if the intention of the U.S. is just to topple Saddam, Ecevit said ''I don't think that U.S. President Bush insists on this operation only as he wants to take revenge from Hussein, because this will not be logical.''
Ecevit said that Turkey's Iraqi border and the region in between-northern Iraq- are very critical regions, adding that any development in the region between Northern Iraq and Turkey can have repercussions in Turkey.
''I don't think that Mr. Bush only wants to get rid of Saddam, I suppose he has certain ideas about the Middle East,'' Ecevit said.
Upon another question, Ecevit said that IMF and World Bank have important effect in economy, adding that ''we will live with them for a certain period of time. Turkey has also a great potenital. I think that Turkey will stand on its feet without getting aid from IMF in the near future.''
''What do you expect from Copenhagen summit? Will they give a date to Turkey?'' asked journalists to Ecevit who replied to that saying EU officials want to know what kind of a government to be founded after the Nov. 3 elections and decide according to that.
''What is the issue that maks you feel worried the most while entering the elections?'' asked journalists to Ecevit who said ''it is the Iraqi problem.''