ANKARA - Deputy Prime Minister, State Minister and the leader of the Motherland Party (ANAP) said on Sunday that Turkey has to take part in the operation to be launched against Iraq, adding that ''the things that will happen there will affect us either we are in it or not. If we take part, it will positively affect us, if not it will negatively affect us.''
Responding to questions in the state-run tv channel TRT 1, Yilmaz said that ''if there is a development about the postponement of elections this can only be related to the developments in Iraq. I don't think the elections will be postponed due to that. I don't think that a possible operation against Iraq can be before December.''
Noting that Turkey has always stressed that it would not permit the foundation of an independent Kurdish state in the region, Yilmaz said that Turkey can't ignore the things it has to do, the steps and measures it has to take about Iraq while entering the elections.
Yilmaz said that the formation in Iraq continues since 1991, and that the operation will aim to sort out this problem, adding that ''Turkey has to be in that operation in order to make this solution be to the advantage of Turkey.''
Upon questions about EU, Yilmaz said that the worst scenario Turkey can accept about the EU accession process can only be ''EU's giving a negotiation date to Turkey in 2003 on condition of Turkey's overcoming its shortcomings.''
''EU will be formally a union with 25 members in 2004 and Greek Cypriot side with whom we have a political conflict, will become a member of EU. If Turkey does not start negotiations until the beginning of 2004, then we will have to deal with EU having 25 member states. Our task will be tougher. Probably EU will put forward new political conditions for us. Circles within the EU which does not want to accept Turkey as a full member and which think that EU is a Christian union, started to produce new scenarios when Turkey undertook the reforms in a short period of 1,5 years. We must clearly state that Turkey can only accept full membership, and it can't accept any other alternative than that,'' he said.
''If the government had continued till 2004 April, if we had passed the EU adjustment efforts and resolved the conflicts in the government, the EU would have 99 percent given a date to start negotiations in Copenhagen,'' he said.
''We have a political problem in Cyprus,'' he continued. If the Greek Cypriot Administration enters the EU without the approval of Turkey, the EU-Turkey relations will become more tense. Therefore the EU is trying to find a middle way which will not infuriate Turkey. The future of the European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP) depends on the compromise with Turkey and Greece's accepting this agreement. Turkey is a key country in the Iraqi issue. The EU and the United States don't want to exclude Turkey in their Iraq policy. Turkey made a huge leap forward in only one and a half years although we still have shortcomings. Despite all this, if the EU doesn't fulfill its promises towards Turkey, it will lose its credibility.''
Yilmaz indicated that the EU has been providing little financial resources compared to its aid for other countries and he stressed that Turkey needed more foreign capital especially for education.
''If a government which has not been tried before comes to power after the elections, the EU will have the option to say 'Let's wait and see, then we'll decide,'' Yilmaz said.
Yilmaz also warned the Islamist parties that another Feb. 28 period might start if any one of these parties attempt to violate the basic principles of the Turkish Constitution. ''All political parties should realize that abusing religious values for politics leads nowhere,'' he ended.