Khalilzad: Agreement Has Not Been Reached

ANKARA - U.S. President George W. Bush's envoy to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad said on Monday that an agreement had not yet been reached on the entrance of Turkish soldiers in Northern Iraq.
Following his 30-minute contacts at the Foreign Ministry, Khalilzad told reporters that modalities about entrance of Turkish soldiers in Northern Iraq were taken up.
Khalilzad said that an agreement had not been reached yet and they would continue their deliberations the following day.
Asked what the problem was, Khalilzad said that they had not reached a deal yet and they were evaluating the factors.
Khalilzad noted that they also took up the meeting of the Iraqi opposition groups and thought that the meeting was very fruitful.
DIRIOZ: WE ARE DISCUSSING CONCRETE PRINCIPLES WITH THE U.S. SIDE
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Huseyin Dirioz said that concrete principles were under discussion at talks between Turkey and the United States.
Following the meeting Dirioz told reporters that talks were continuing in ''quite a good'' atmosphere.
''We are discussing concrete principles. Khalilzad will continue talks with Foreign Ministry officials at 10 a.m. tomorrow,'' he said.
Meanwhile, diplomats said that use of Turkish airspace continued under the existing deal, and there had not been any restriction.
The views which the Turkish side had conveyed to the U.S. side had been noted down by the U.S. delegation, and the U.S. side was waiting for instructions of Washington for a response to those views.
(BRC-AÖ-MS-ÖS) 24.03.2003