Prime Minister Talks With U.S. State Secretary On Phone

ANKARA - Prime Minister Abdullah Gul talked with U.S. State Secretary Colin Powell on the phone on Wednesday.
Powell said during the phone conversation that the adoption of the motion on deployment of foreign soldiers in Turkey and dispatch of Turkish soldiers abroad at the parliament was urgent for U.S. military plans.
Sources said that Powell called Gul on the plane when he was returning from his tour to Asia.
Powell asked about the recent developments regarding the motion on allowing in foreign troops and sending Turkish troops abroad and when the U.S. ships could unload the equipment they were carrying.
''They were in a hurry due to their military plans,'' Powell said and asked Gul when the parliamentary procedure would be completed.
Gul said that they held a long Council of Ministers meeting and that they submitted the motion to parliament although majority of the ministers were not satisfied.
It was the parliament who would take the motion into its agenda and ratify it, Gul noted and added that the parliament would make the decision regarding that issue.
(BRC-AY) 26.02.2003