ISTANBUL - Prime Minister Abdullah Gul said on Friday that the whole world is interested in the efforts of Turkey to solve the Iraqi crisis without war.
Speaking at Ataturk Airport before departing for Davos where the World Economic Forum would be held, Gul said that an important part of Davos meeting is that it is held in a period of big crisis.
Recalling that a meeting was held in Istanbul on Thursday on the Iraqi issue, Gul said that that meeting was very important.
''The countries which attended the meeting, come together very rarely. They issued a joint declaration and everybody launched efforts sincerely to find a method other than war. This is a process. We can't reach peace immediately. Various contacts, open and close, will be held in the coming days. All our efforts aim to prevent the war. The EU has a great interest in our efforts to this end and it supports us. U.N. Secretary General called us, he closely monitored the developments and extended support. This meeting will come to agenda during the meetings in Davos. We will continue our efforts to prevent the Iraqi crisis without a war,'' he said.
When a journalist asked Gul why the publication of the joint declaration was delayed, and if there were points on which regional countries had difficulty to reach consensus, Gul said no such thing was in question at the meetings.
When asked whether or not a second summit would be held in Damascus, Gul said, ''this is a process. Weapon inspectors will present a report. Within this process, talks will continue. Organization of a second meeting in Damascus is possible.''
When recalled of criticisms about lack of message to the United States in yesterday's meeting's joint declaration, Gul said, ''it is more appropriate to call out to Iraq at the moment as weapon inspectors have not presented their report yet. There are many things that Iraq can do until January 28. Only Iraq can contribute to complete fulfillment of the U.N. Security Council resolutions and presentation of clean reports. There cannot be anything natural than yesterday's meeting's focusing on Iraq. The Iraqi administration will make the biggest contribution to prevention of this war.''
Replying a question, Gul said that German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer and he had not discussed extradition of Metin Kaplan to Turkey in their meeting yesterday.
Meanwhile, Gul said that he would attend a session on ''Can War in Iraq be Prevented?'', a session on ''New Europe'' and a meeting on ''Turkey At Crossroads'' in Davos, Switzerland the same day.
Gul said that he would attend a forum on ''Revival of Economy in Turkey and Europe-United States Relations Beyond Atlantic'' on Saturday.
Prime Minister Gul said that he would have meetings with the Swiss President, Romanian, Ukrainian and Finnish prime ministers, U.S. Secretary of State and Israeli Foreign Minister and managers and chairmen of some giant companies in Davos.
Stating that he would proceed to France on Monday, Gul said that he would deliver a speech at the Council of Europe (COE) Parliamentary Assembly and he would visit COE officials and the European Court of Human Rights.