- ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish
Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit was quoted as saying on Tuesday conflicting
messages from Washington on Iraq harmed Turkey and the Bush administration
should make up its mind on whether to strike Baghdad.
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- Ecevit's remarks, published a day after U.S. Central
Command chief Tommy Franks met with Turkish military brass to discuss Iraq,
reflect the NATO ally's unease over a war next door that could spark economic
and social turmoil at home.
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- "On one hand they (the Bush administration) are
continuously giving an impression of a military action. On the other hand
they are saying, 'An intervention may not happen, we have not yet made
a decision'," Ecevit said.
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- "President Bush and the U.S. administration should
make their decision immediately and this uncertainty should be eliminated,"
Ecevit, campaigning for November 3 general elections in Turkey, told Milliyet
newspaper.
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- "Turkey is affected most negatively by this contradiction.
We are left in the middle and under great pressure," he said.
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- Muslim Turkey is seen as a key player in any U.S.-led
attack on Iraq, accused by Washington of developing weapons of mass destruction.
It could provide air bases for U.S. warplanes or even troops in the event
of a war.
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- But Ankara has repeatedly said it opposes action, worried
the Iraqi Kurds who run north Iraq will set up an independent state during
any upheaval.
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- Kurds have enjoyed broad autonomy since rising up against
Baghdad after the 1991 Gulf War under the protection of U.S. warplanes
patrolling a "no-fly" zone over the region.
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- Ecevit accused the United States of stoking Kurdish aspirations
of statehood.
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- "U.S. civilian or military officials say during
meetings they are opposed to a Kurdish state in north Iraq. But when we
look at developments, we see north Iraq taking steps towards statehood
with a boldness given by the United States," he said.
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