IRAN TURKEY CONCERNED ON THE FUTURE OF IRAQ
ANKARA 6 Apr. (IPS) As the days of the Iraqi regime are being counted under massive American attacks, Iran and Turkey on Sunday expressed their firm determination in ending the war and on the need to respect Iraq's territorial integrity.
"Formation of a broad-based and democratic government under the supervision of the United Nations is the only solution to restoring stability to Iraq", Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Kamal Kharrazi said in Ankara during a joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart, Abdollah Gul, adding that the future government in Iraq should respect the rights and interests of its neighbours.
The two ministers were talking to journalists at the end of Mr. Kharrazi’s short visit to Ankara, where he conferred with Prime Minister Rajab Tayyeb Erdoqan and Mr. Gul on the ongoing war in neighbouring Iraq, but particularly the situation in the Iraqi Kurdistan in the post-Saddam period, diplomatic sources told Iran Press Service.
Although both Tehran and Ankara are worried about the possibility that the Iraqi Kurds, who ruled major parts of the Iraqi Kurdistan almost independently of the Baghdad government thanks to the military cover provided for them by the Americans and the British at the end of the first war against Iraq in 1991, but Iran is anxious about Turkish plans for this region.
Ankara has assured Washington that it would not occupy parts of the Iraqi Kurdistan, namely the oil-rich areas of Kerkook and Mosul, but at the same time it has dispatched a ‘token" force of some 2.000 armed men to stop the flux of Iraqi refugees.
Iran has also a military presence in parts of the Iraqi Kurdistan controlled by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan of Mr. Jalal Talebani, the second most influential and powerful Iraqi Kurdish leader after Mr. Mas’ood Barzani, the leader of the Iraqi Democratic Party of Kurdistan.
"The Iraqi people are equally averse to the aggressor and the Baath regime which indicates their objection to both sides", he said, observing that imposing any government to Iraqi people will not be welcomed and the US should not make such a mistake".
Confirming that his talks the Turkish officials had focused on the Iraqi conflict, Kharrazi said Iran and Turkey, as two important and influential countries in the region, share "common concerns and interests regarding Iraq".
The Islamic Republic, classified by President George W. Bush as an "evil State" alongside with Iraq and North Korea, is a staunch foe of the United States while Turkey is one of Washington’s closest allies, but both are against the American-led war on Iraq.
Kharrazi joined France, Germany and Russia in insisting that the Iraq issue should be referred to the UN as soon as possible and the Iraqi people should be allowed to decide on their own fate, the official Iranian news afency IRNA reported from the Turkish Capital.
"US unilateralism in starting the war and violation of a country's sovereignty is considered as a bad precedence in international relations", Kharrazi said, adding that Iraqi people should determine their own destiny instead of resorting to middle age methods, war and bloodshed.
He also repeated that Iran was opposed to the war on Iraq by the US, but, he stressed, opposition to the war does not mean support for the regime of Saddam Hoseyn, since Iran has suffered the most from Saddam Hussein's regime.
At the meetings, the two sides, which maintain "problematic" relationship, described contacts between officials of the two countries as a valuable support for expansion of political, cultural and economic cooperation between the two countries and underlined the need for cooperation between the private and state sectors of the two countries.
There is no barrier for expansion of mutual relations between the two countries", Gul said adding that the current visit of the Iranian foreign minister at this very sensitive juncture will help restore regional stability.
There now exist grounds for expansion of political, economic and security cooperation between the two sides which should be actively pursued, he said. ENDS IRAN TURKEY IRAQ 6403