ANKARA - Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul said on Thursday that they wished the Iraqi operation not to last long and they didn't want any civilian casualties.
Speaking in the joint news conference after meeting with Spanish Foreign Minister Ana Palacio, Gul said that Turkey and Spain which were two Mediterranean countries understood each other very well.
Gul said that they discussed issues like recent developments about the Iraqi operation, the future of the war, Middle East and Turkey-EU relations in their meeting.
Noting that Spanish officials extended great support during Turkey's EU membership process, Gul said that the support would continue. Gul said that they decided to strengthen the bilateral relations in this framework, adding that a delegation would go to Madrid and benefit from the EU experience of Spain.
Gul said that the economic relations between the two countries were also fine and the trade volume reached 2 billion dollars, adding that both sides had the resolution to further speed up the reciprocal investments. Gul pointed out that Turkey and Spain which had cultural richness would be in cooperation regarding communication among civilizations.
Gul said that the Spanish government had certain preparations regarding a possible migration movement from Iraq, adding that they would undertake common studies as Turkey would be affected by such a migration.
When journalists reminded the words of Prime Minister Erdogan who said that ''Turkey made preparations to make the second motion more comprehensive, but that the U.S. government only wanted to use the airspace,'' Gul said that ''the U.S. wanted to use the Turkish airspace, therefore the government brought that onto the parliament's agenda.''
When recalled of statements of several European and U.S. officials about Turkey's northern Iraq policy, Gul said that he had explained the issue in Brussels last week, adding, ''Turkey's intentions are clear. As a country which accepts Iraq's territorial integrity as a principle, we don't have any desire for any Iraqi soil. But we take required measures if necessary.''
''The aim of the measures that we have to take is to keep big migration waves outside Turkey. Secondly, we cannot give opportunity to any terrorist organization of turning the area into a training camp. So our targets are very clear. And all our allies understand us. However, wrong information and news are received from time to time. And this causes several countries to have doubts. But when we explain our targets clearly, we see that these countries understand us. Because, Iraq's territorial integrity should be preserved, and all resources in Iraq belong to Iraqi people, and these are among our principles,'' he said.
When asked about killing of civilians in Iraq, Gul said, ''unfortunately, this issue could not be solved peacefully. We wish that the war would end soon, the sides would suffer no more losses, and there would be no civilian losses.''
PALACIO: WE NEED TURKEY IN EU
Palacio said that the reason of her visit to Ankara was to evaluate Iraq war and the humanitarian dimensions of the war.
The humanitarian dimension of the war was the prior issue on Spain's agenda, Palacio noted.
Palacio said that they wanted to work actively and implementation of joint projects with Turkey was in question.
They took up many different issues during their meeting, Palacio stated. She said that they would continue their discussions in a working lunch.
Palacio said that her visit was a ''planned'' visit and pointed out that Turkey and Spain had many common interests.
EU-Turkey relations and Turkey's accession to the EU would be beneficial for Spain and the Mediterranean, Palacio pointed out.
Palacio said that the 21st century was important for the Mediterranean and also, Turkey had a key role which would be played in the dialogue among civilizations.
They needed Turkey in the EU, Palacio emphasized.
Palacio said that Turkish and Spanish delegations would meet the following week and stressed that the two countries had common experiences and interests.
Palacio said that relations in several fields could be further improved.
If she was to say what they were trying to in one sentence, she could say that they wanted to work together because they had common interests, Palacio stressed.
Asked ''how Turkey's entrance in Northern Iraq would affect their current stance,'' Palacio said that they had some commitments within the scope of NATO regarding Turkey's defense.
Palacio noted that if there was a change in the suppositions, change of their commitment could be in question.
Replying to another question, Palacio said that her government would make an evaluation on such an issue and that the issue would be taken up within the scope of dialogue and agreements.
Asked about his views regarding loss of lives of the civilians in Iraq, Palacio said that every war was tragic and that they felt themselves close to everybody who suffered from that operation.
Palacio noted that they felt themselves close to people who lost their lives and soldiers of the coalition forces who were taken prisoner.
Similarly, Palacio said, they felt themselves close to the Iraqi people.
However, Palacio noted, Saddam Hussein should be accused not the coalition forces.
Palacio said that Iraq had the time and opportunity to disarm and added that Saddam Hussein was responsible for the losses in Iraq.
(BRC-AÖ) 27.03.2003