ANKARA - Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc said on Thursday, ''deputies will take the most beneficial decision for Turkey. Therefore, our people should rely on the parliament.''
During his meeting with Ankara Chamber of Industry (ASO) Chairman Zafer Caglayan and members of ASO Executive Board, Arinc explained his views about the Iraq issue and Turkey's attitude.
''This is not a new issue. The issue first turned into a crisis. Now, this crisis is about to turn into a war. Turkey will, of course, take some measures. We will do whatever is necessary to protect our country from the negative impacts of a possible war,'' he said.
Arinc said, ''the government explained its views about the Iraq issue. The first prime ministry motion was approved by the parliament. As for the second prime ministry motion, sufficient number could not be reached for approval or rejection of the motion.''
Arinc said that if the parliament adopted the motion, his mission as the Parliament Speaker, and also the mission of the deputies and both political parties would be to support that decision and to respect it. ''We must respect the rejection of the motion, too,'' Arinc stressed.
Arinc expressed pleasure over the attitude of the political parties, government, opposition party, deputies and Chief of General Staff Gen. Hilmi Ozkok about the recent decision of the parliament, adding that ''this is the advantage of Turkey, this is the advantage of the democracy. This is the advantage of the parliament... We must respect the decision of the parliament as we also promised to do so while taking oath to respect the Constitution.''
''We will see what will happen from now on, and what decisions will be taken,'' said Arinc, adding that ''the parliament didn't give such a decision for the first time. The organ which will think in details and give a decision as the legislative organ is the parliament. Therefore, we must say that our deputies acted with patriotic feelings and the deputies who cast vote against the motion and who cast votes for the motion share the same responsibility. Now the government says it respects the decision and it is in full charge. Nothing ends with one motion, everything continues and the institutions fulfill their missions. They prepare their plans according to everything because governments govern the country. Our Chief of General Staff put forward in a very good way both his respect for democracy and also the attitude they assumed not to influence the will of the parliament in anyway.''
Stating that it, of course, related to military and security dimensions, Arinc said that if institutions fulfill their missions in the best way, there would be a very good result.
Arinc said, ''it is obvious that Turkish Armed Forces is making a very good planning on threats and dangers to which Turkey may be exposed.''
Stating that approval or refusal of the motion did not cause any trouble in Turkish Armed Forces, he said that Turkish Armed Forces could fulfil its mission under every condition.
Stressing that now everybody should see that the parliament will act with this mentality, Arinc said, ''I rely on our deputies. They will take the most beneficial decision on the issue for this country. I cannot think something else. Thus, people should rely on the parliament. The parliament has duty to do what is necessary regarding the issue whenever and how our government wants it. Of course, we will fulfil our duty.''
Pointing out that events in Iraq had political and economic dimensions concerning Turkey, Arinc said that the government had duty to see and show where interest was by considering all those things.
Arinc said, ''because the government will consider both possible losses and developments. It will carry out its works according to that. I believe that Prime Minister Gul has good will on exerting utmost efforts to reach a peaceful solution on the issue till the very end. I hope that those efforts will yield positive results and that peace will come to the region.''
Arinc said that those who wanted peace should be prepared for war and added that Turkey had great experiences coming from history.
(UK-Öª-EÖ-AÖ) 06.03.2003