ANKARA - Prime Minister Abdullah Gul said on Tuesday that the statement, which was announced on Monday following extraordinary summit of the European Union (EU) held in Brussels regarding Iraq, referred to the efforts expended by Turkey for peace, and stated that, ''we altogether saw that efforts to solve this crisis before leading to war were accelerated in Europe.''
Gul participated in the extraordinary summit of the EU on Iraq in Brussels, and spoke to journalists in Ankara's Esenboga Airport at his arrival.
Gul said he talked about Turkey's peace initiatives and the measures taken by Turkey during his meetings with the EU officials and leaders of member countries prior to yesterday's EU summit. Gul said he also listened to the views of them.
Gul said he had the opportunity to provide Turkey's contribution to the joint attitude adopted by the EU, recalling that support had been given to the regional efforts expended by Turkey regarding Iraq in the final statement issued yesterday.
Gul said, ''Monday's statement referred to Turkey's concerns and the efforts expended by Turkey for peace. It has been pointed out in the statement that those were attributed importance.''
Prime Minister Gul said he had the opportunity to meet with European Union (EU) Term President Greece's Prime Minister Costas Simitis, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, French President Jacques Chirac, the United Nations (U.N.) Secretary General Kofi Annan, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, and European Parliament President Pat Cox.
Gul said some planned meetings could not take place because of limited time, stating that he also had very beneficial consultations with Turkey's Ambassadors in Brussels, London, Paris and Berlin, and permanent representatives in the EU and NATO regarding international issues.
Gul said he also participated in summit meeting of the EU troika with the 13 candidate countries and delivered a speech. He said, ''it has been announced at the end of this meeting that 13 candidate countries shared the views adopted by 15 member countries. Thus, 28 European countries adopted a joint attitude on Iraq issue. Purification of Iraq from mass destruction weapons has been reiterated as target. It has been stressed that Iraq has the main responsibility, and that Iraq should also take important steps. Fulfillment of this through peaceful means is the preference of Europe. In fact, the United States continuously talk about the solution without war. Resorting to force is seen as the last remedy. It is believed that the U.N. process and the weapons inspectors should be given necessary time. However, Iraq should be reminded that this period is not limitless.''
Gul said he believed that the extraordinary summit held in Brussels constituted an important step in overcoming differences of opinion in Europe regarding Iraq, and formation of international consensus.
Responding to a question when the government would take a decision about the motion regarding deployment or dispatch of soldiers, Gul said, ''as you know there were some issues which we attributed importance in economy, military and political areas. We have conveyed those to the United States. No response is in question so far.''
When asked whether or not sending authority motion to the Parliament would be discussed in Council of Ministers, Gul said this would be difficult before getting a response to the issues which they envisaged.
Gul said there was no development regarded with holding National Security Council (NSC) meeting before the planned time, stating that this could be evaluated in case such a view comes from the council members.
When asked about the contents of the letter which British Prime Minister Tony Blair sent to him, Gul said, ''we continuously negotiate the issues pertaining to the process. We inform each other from the developments.''
(AY) 18.02.2003