Erdogan: Turkey Will Not Be Involved In War

RIZE - Justice and Development Party (AK Party) leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey would not be involved in a possible war against Iraq.
Answering questions on a TV channel in Rize, Erdogan said that ''elimination of an understanding'' was in question on Iraqi issue and stated that AK Party was against authoritarian, totalitarian and dictatorial regimes.
''Is there a problem in Iraq now? Yes, there is. Turkey is beside neither U.S. President Bush nor Saddam in case of a war. We are only beside interests of Turkey. We support peace. We defend Turkey's interests in political means. We have a natural alliance with the United States. On the other side Turkey also have right of neighborhood with Iraq. There are some commitments brought by sharing the same religion. But we don't handle the issue with respect to its religious aspect, but we handle the issue with respect to universal law. To this end, we are making a peaceful struggle. We are not favor of war,'' he stated.
Erdogan said, ''we will be not be involved in war. Turkey is only taking its measures regarding the issue at the moment. If Turkey was not border country and if it acted with equipments and devices of the United States toward a war, then we could say that it was in war. But, we are not and we are a border country.''