Deutsche Presse-Agentur
June 27, 2004, Sunday
Bush’s Ankara talks focus on Iraq
Ankara
Iraq topped the agenda for U.S. President George Bush’s brief visit
to Ankara Sunday, with Turkish leaders pressing for U.S. action
against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq. In a brief statement before
meeting Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Bush said
ongoing developments in Iraq, NATO and a variety of other issues
would be the main agenda points. “I would remind the people of this
good country that I believe you ought to be given a date by the
European Union (EU) for your eventual acceptance into the EU,” Bush
said. “I appreciate so very much the example your country has set on
how to be a Moslem country and at the same time, a country which
embraces democracy and rule of law and freedom.” Bush declined
reporters’ questions and did not make any other public statement
during his stay in Ankara. After meeting Erdogan in the morning, Bush
layed a wreath at the mausoleum of the founder of the modern Turkish
Republic, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, and later met Turkish president
Ahmet Necdet Sezer. The U.S. president then flew to Istanbul where he
met various religious leaders including Greek Orthodox Patriarch
Bartholomeus, Armenian Orthodox Patriarch Mesrob Mutafyan and head of
the Turkish Religious Affairs Department Ali Bardakoglu. On Monday
Bush will participate in a two-day NATO summit in Istanbul. According
to Turkish media reports, leaders in Ankara sought assurances from
Bush, as well as from Secretary of State Colin Powell and National
Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, that the U.S. supported the full
territorial sovereignty of Iraq and that the oil-rich region of
Kirkuk would not be handed over to Iraqi Kurdish groups. Turkey is
concerned that Kurds in northern Iraq are laying claims on the region
with the view to use oil revenues that may one day allow them to
declare independence. Ankara fears that such a development may lead
to Turkey’s own restive Kurds to push for independence. On that
point, Turkish leaders called on Bush to make real efforts to rout
out rebels from the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) now holed up in
mountainous northern Iraq. Security was tight for Bush’s first-ever
visit to Turkey with some 13,000 police on duty in Ankara, police
helicopters patrolling the skies and some of the capital’s busiest
roads closed to traffic. Ties between Turkey, the only Moslem member
of NATO, and the United States were severely strained in the run-up
to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq when the Turkish parliament refused
to allow U.S. troops to use Turkey as a launching pad to attack its
neighbour. While government to government relations are now on a much
better level, the invasion and occupation of Iraq have been extremely
unpopular amongst Turks and anti-U.S. feeling may rise even higher if
a threat by members of the al-Tawhid wa al-Jihad group in Iraq to
execute three Turkish nationals being held hostage is carried out.
The group has said the three would be executed if Turkey does not
agree to pull its citizens and companies out of Iraq within 72 hours.
Supporters of various leftist political parties and trade unions
gathered in the Istanbul suburb of Kadikoy on Sunday to protest both
Bush’s visit and the NATO summit, but unlike protests in Ankara on
Saturday the demonstration proceeded peacefully. dpa cw sc mga