A Panel Discussion Held In Washington D.C. On Future Of Turkey And Iraq

WASHINGTON D.C. - Mark Parris, the former Ambassador of the United States to Turkey, said on Saturday that the United States that had been opposing to presence of a Kurdish state so far, would never support the idea of an independent Kurdish state.
Speaking at a panel discussion organized by the Turkish Studies Institute in Washington D.C. on the issue of ''Future of Turkey and Iraq'', Parris said that if the United States decided to launch a military operation against Iraq, it would prepare an economic aid package for Turkey.
Parris stressed that Turkey should get concrete guarantees from the United States this time to prevent negative developments of the Gulf War in 1991.
He defended that if a long-term solution was found to the problem of Iraq, strategical importance of relations between Turkey and the United States might decrease.
Responding a question, Parris said that he had been dealing with matters of Turkey for the last ten years. He said that he had never seen anyone in the United States defending foundation of a Kurdish state.
Noting that the United States wanted to unite Iraq and make it a model for the Middle East, Parris said that anyone in Washington D.C. did not have any benefits from foundation of a Kurdish state
They did not prepare themselves to see two or three states in Iraq, he said, and added that the United States that had been opposing to presence of a Kurdish state so far, would never support the idea of an independent Kurdish state.
Noting that he did not see a war against Iraq ''inevitable'' and that it was up to Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to prevent a war, Parris said that Turkey would receive an aid package in case of a military operation against Iraq.
Stating that the aim of the aid in question would be compensation of possible losses that Turkey might suffer due to a war and it might be given under different headlines, Parris recalled that some promises to Turkey after the Gulf War in 1991 had not been kept as they had not been accepted by the U.S. Congress, adding, ''if I were the Turkish government, I would take concrete assurances from the U.S. administration.''
Defending that whoever would come to the power after the polls in Turkey would cooperate with the United States in its operation against Iraq, Parris said that the issue of cooperation with the United States would be most important test in front of the new Turkish government after the polls.
Noting that stragetic importance of Turkish-U.S. relations had increased in last decade due to the Iraq issue, Parris defended that importance of those relations might decrease in long-term in case of change in regime in Iraq.