ANKARA - Justice and Development Party (AK Party) leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that the government didn't have a specific date for the motion on deployment of foreign soldiers in Turkey and sending soldiers abroad in case of a possible operation against Iraq.
''A date for the motion has not been set either for during the week or the weekend. Certain demands have to be fulfilled. After that we can present the motion. These demands are not met, Turkey is always asked to make sacrifices,'' said Erdogan responding to questions in private NTV tv channel.
Responding to a question asking the course of the negotiations carried out with the U.S. also by reminding the telephone talk between Prime Minister Abdullah Gul and U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell the same evening, Erdogan said that ''in fact, we've yet to agree fully on political, military and economic issues.'' Erdogan said the U.S. has not yet given a positive response to these demands. Erdogan noted that they didn't have the opportunity with Prime Minister Gul to evaluate the results of the EU's extraordinary summit on Iraq which was held in Brussels between 17-18 Feb.
''We will meet with Prime Minister this evening, but according to the news I got from Reuters and my friends, the U.S. has not given a positive response to the demands of Turkey,'' he said.
When asked on which issues an agreement was not reached, Erdogan said that ''in fact, we've not fully agreed on political, military and economic issues. If Turkey makes a sacrifice, then its demands should not be considered as a simple bargain. We are not a country and nation who can make the issue of war an issue of bargain. First of all this operation can take place in our borders and in our neighbour. In fact we are against such a war. We take our measures as a precaution, but we always say that we don't want to take part in a war while taking these measures. The thing that is important is to prevent the incident that can take place in our neighbour country from spreading to our country. Certainly due to the alliance we have with the U.S., the parliament approved the motion on bases and ports. Yet we told then that this didn't mean giving approval to a second motion, Mr. Prime Minister also stressed that.''
Erdogan said that he never voiced the date of the motion, adding that ''I have not mentioned a specific date, the demands have to be fulfilled. As Prime Minister also says we can only bring onto agenda this second motion after meeting of our demands.''
''The U.S. puts pressure for Turkey's determining this date. Can you tell that the motion can be submitted to the parliament until the weekend or the beginning of next week?'' asked the journalist to Erdogan who said that there was an ''open door'' for U.N. weapon inspectors to resume studies until March 1. Reminding the demands for giving six months period to U.N. weapon inspectors, Erdogan said that ''this is not a usual event, a war is in question. It must have its reasons... If the reason is the weapons of mass destruction, this reason should be put forward. In fact it is not only Iraq which has these weapons in the world. It is also known which international institutions have the authority to take a stance or take measures against these weapons of mass destruction. The responsibility in the first place belongs to the U.N. U.N. sent weapon inspectors. Let's leave them finish their work and prepare a sound report. The world's point of view will change according to this report. There is no international coalition, we don't see such a coalition in EU, NATO and U.N. Security Council. All these will affect Turkey's decision process. Turkey is cautious, because we paid a price in 1991 and we still pay that. Turkey's economic problems also stem from that. Thousands of people died due to terrorism also because of the collapse in that region. We don't want these to happen again. Nobody has the right to make Turkey pay that price again.''
''Let's say the U.S. gave positive response to all demands of Turkey and on the other hand the studies of weapon inspectors continue. What will Turkey do in that case?'' asked the journalist to Erdogan. Erdogan said that one had to wait for the report of the U.N. weapon inspectors.
''A decision will be given by negotiations among the President, General Staff and the government. After a decision is taken, if the motion is necessary to be prepared, it will be prepared. This step will be taken if necessary. If not, no such step will be taken,'' he said. ''We'll evaluate the situation with Mr. Prime Minister and officials tonight,'' he added.
Erdogan said that it was not possible to accept a verbal assurance during the negotiations carried out with the U.S.
The assurance must have the dimension of an international agreement, said Erdogan.
When asked if he was satisfied with the assurances given about Northern Iraq during the negotiations with the U.S., Erdogan said ''what is this assurance? What is the power and guarantee of that? This is important...If the assurance does not have the dimension of an international agreement, Turkey should not take such a risk...Turkey can't stay indifferent to the steps to be taken in the region that concerns its own future and it has the right to take measures.'' Agreements have different forms, we want a strong agreement, Erdogan said.
In case of a problem between Turkmens and Kurdish groups in Northern Iraq, the issue of whether Turkey would have a mission or not and other issues should be covered by a sound document, Erdogan remarked.
Upon a question, Erdogan denied a news story quoting his words to Tariq Aziz as ''Saddam can come to Turkey, we can host him and send him to another country.''
Regarding the economic dimension of the negotiations carried out with the U.S., Erdogan said ''the negotiations started with 5 billion U.S. dollars, later it was increased to 6 billion dollars...It must be approved by the U.S. Congress first. They say the Congress can approve it in 6-8 weeks. On the other hand it is also said that this operation can be completed between three days and one week. What will happen if the Congress does not approve it after the operation finishes?''
''We can't accept any mortgage on our political will, future. We pay our debts without delay as much as we can, and we will try to do that, but nobody has the right to put mortgage on our will,'' Erdogan said. Upon another question, Erdogan said that the friendship between Turkey and the U.S. should not be negatively affected.
Upon a question, Erdogan said that they told Tariq Aziz that necessary facilities should be provided to U.N. weapon inspectors in Iraq and that Aziz told them that Iraq expected Turkey to show the same attitude of Germany and France.
When asked if negotiations with the U.S. on military issues were on a more advanced level, Erdogan said politics was more flexible, therefore certain political issues which were flexible should be clarified.
ERDOGAN: WE MUST SEE FIRST ATTITUDE OF PAPADOPOULOS IN NEGOTIATIONS
Erdogan said that it was early to make comment about the effect of the election of Papadopoulos as Greek Cypriot leader, on the solution efforts in Cyprus.
Erdogan said that it was wrong to make comment before Papadopoulos started his term in office. ''We must see first the attitude of Papadopoulos in the negotiation process,'' he said.
Noting that it will be good if a solution is found in Cyprus until Feb. 28, but the date of April 16 is more important, Erdogan said that ''it seems that no solution can be found until Feb. 28 as there is not much time left. I think the process will continue after Feb. 28.''
Upon a question asking if the elections in Siirt on March 9 could be cancelled in case of an operation against Iraq, Erdogan said Higher Election Board would give the decision. He added the campaign about the election continued and that he could go to Siirt after the announcement of final candidates list on Feb. 26.

(ÖS) 19.02.2003