Erdogan: We Are Resolved About Iraqi Issue, We Want This Issue To Be Sorted Out With Peace

BEIJING - AK Party leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that the government is resolved about the Iraqi issue, adding that ''we want this issue to be sorted out with peace.''
Erdogan met separately with Chinese Vice President and Chinese Communist Party Secretary General Hu Jintao and Chinese National People's Congress Foreign Affairs Chairman Dai Bingguo the same day.
Speaking to reporters after the meetings which were close to the press, Erdogan said that China wants to improve economic relations with Turkey.
Erdogan said that China wants Turkish businessmen to take investments in their country, adding that they want to improve the trade volume between the two countries to 1.4 billion dollars.
Erdogan said that they want to take concrete steps regarding Kars-Tbilisi railway, adding that he invited Jintao to Turkey and that Jintao wants to come to Turkey in spring.
Noting that the Iraqi issue also came to agenda in his meetings with Chinese Prime Minister Zhu Ruo Rongji and Jintao, Erdogan said that China wants the problem to be sorted out peacefully.
Erdogan said that ''we assume the same attitude, we want to solve this issue peacefully. Another important issue on which Chinese officials focus is their territorial integrity. They focus on single China and they say that they favour formation of a common fight platform against terrorism in the world.
''Do you think the possibility of an operation against Iraq lessened or increased? It is stated that the U.S. government allocated a significant amount for war and it is stated that this will be used on media. What do you think?'' asked a journalist to Erdogan who said that ''we don't favour an operation against Iraq, we want this issue to be solved peacefully. U.N. inspectors have not found any fact about nuclear or chemical weapons in Iraq to date and they asked extension of their mission for one more year and we announced that we were in a position to wait for the final declaration to be taken up by U.N. Security Council. Mr. Prime Minister thinks in the same way, we have the same resolution, too. We had the experience of the Gulf Crisis. We still pay the price of Gulf Crisis and we know the effects of the Gulf Crisis to strengthening of terrorism in Turkey. Therefore, we must carefully negotiate the steps we will take and we must evaluate it. In this respect, this process about peace still continues. We are determined in this issue.''
When he was reminded about criticisms of Prime Minister Abdullah Gul about Turkish media related with a possible operation against Iraq, Erdogan claimed that there was an effort to show things which did not happen as if they were happening.
Erdogan said that this deteriorated economic balances in Turkey and noted, ''I think such a mistake should not be made.''
The media refrained from broadcasting news that could negatively affect psychology of people in the wake of the terrorist attacks in the United States, Erdogan stated.
Erdogan said, ''but unfortunately, we are doing our best to negatively affect things. But, we have to be in solidarity. We have to be in an effort to find how we can solve this issue through peaceful means and how our economy will be less affected from this. We shouldn't be harmed with this situation. There is a government working day and night. The media has to support this government.''
Responding to a question, Erdogan touched on relations with China and stressed that foreign capital volume in China was 50 billion U.S. dollars last year.
Erdogan said that he observed during his visit that China recorded a ''very big change'' in recent years.
''Chinese Communist Party Secretary General used an interesting expression in our meeting. He said that they saw their mistakes in culture revolution. Very interesting. Then, he used another expression. He said that we are not living in a world where there are ideological impositions. These are words of Secretary General of Chinese Communist Party and this party is maybe the oldest party in the world. His using this statement is very meaningful,'' Erdogan said.
Asked about Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc's visit to Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) and Tuesday's rally in TRNC, Erdogan said that he often expressed his views about Cyprus and there was not any change.
When asked if he would run his candidacy for by-elections to be held in Siirt, Erdogan said that the Higher Election Board postponed the by-elections to March 9 and that they would make an election timetable according to that.