ANKARA - Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said on Saturday that Turkey did their best to prevent a civil war in Iraq.
Releasing a speech in Turkish SKY Turk channel, Gul emphasized that there was an uncontrolled situation in the whole Iraq. He said, ''there is no power to provide order. American and British soldiers are not interested in this. They won the war at the moment and they are busy with Iraq army.''
Mentioning lootings, Gul said that there were lootings in every part of Iraq and as Mosul and Kirkuk were parts of Iraq. He added that any civil war, clash or murder and kidnapping were out of question and Turkey was doing its best to prevent those.
Noting that the United States gave all guarantees for not experiencing dangerous incidents, Gul said, ''we always remind them. When we receive any intelligence, we inform them without confirming as soon as possible. They rapidly go there.''
Gul said that Iraq would be reconstructed in political and economical means and he added that Turkey's first sensitivity in Iraq's reconstruction politically was its territorial integrity and secondly Iraq's natural resources' belonging to Iraqi people, not to any ethnical group.
Stating that postwar condition had some problems, Gul said, ''everybody knew that war will not continue long. Because there was an Iraqi army who have been living under embargo for 10 years against a huge military force. Postwar situation has more problems. Everybody should work hard to overcome this period. Turkey will extend all kinds of support on this issue. Iraq, the United States, Britain and all regional countries need this support.''
Gul said that demand of the United States in cancellation of his visit to Syria was out of question and stated, ''Turkey is an independent country. It can take its own decisions. Syria is a neighbor country of Turkey. Syria-Turkey relations improve gradually. Relations are at a good level now when compared to three or four years ago. Those relations will be better in the future. Many people showed great interest in my last visit to Syria. Our mutual intentions and wishes are obvious. There is cooperation in every field. I had to cancel my visit to Syria due to developments in north of Iraq. Everything can take place in such a critical period. I delayed it.''
Touching on Greek Cypriot side's membership to the European Union (EU), Gul said, ''lasting solution on Cyprus issue could not be found. Concerns of Turkey and Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) could not be removed. A total of 10 countries including Greek Cypriot side will become members of the EU. We said that it is wrong and it should not occur at the moment. We said that a country which has problems should not join the union. But, it took decision unanimously. Thus, we won't change our policy on the EU. We will exert efforts to start membership negotiations. On the other side, we will exert efforts for solution.''
(GC-EÖ-AY) 13.04.2003