topic by
Mehdi Saleh
8/23/2002 (22:38) |
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Turkey & Iraq to Seal Long-Term Cooperation, Russia Argues Against U.S. Strikes
(IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Iraq and NATO member Turkey, a key Muslim ally of the United States, Friday, August 23, 2002,
agreed to seal a long-term cooperation pact, as Russia said Friday it would send a top delegation to Washington next month to argue against military strikes on Iraq.
Visiting Iraqi Trade Minister Mohammed Mehdi Saleh said Friday that the sought deal would be similar to that discussed between Baghdad and Moscow, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Speaking after a meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit, Saleh told reporters that Baghdad proposed to Ankara an accord involving comprehensive joint investment projects.
'This proposal was accepted in principle. The two sides will begin work over the details later,' Saleh said.
Joint investments had already been discussed between the two sides, the Iraqi official said.
'A durable, sustainable cooperation is targeted under this proposal,' he said, adding that the proposed deal would include cooperation in developing oil and natural gas resources in Iraq.
Much to the discontent of Washington, Russia earlier this week confirmed it was close to sealing an economic cooperation pact with Iraq, valued by some at up to 40 billion dollars (euros).
Saleh said the proposal forwarded to Ankara also envisaged long-term cooperation in the fields of health, agriculture, infrastructure development, electricity, transport and communication.
Turkish officials, who met with Saleh earlier in the day, hailed the improvement of trade between Turkey and Iraq in recent years.
'Our trade volume, which had all but stopped in 1990, reached a point of surpassing one billion dollars,' State Minister Edip Safter Gaydali said, according to Anatolia news agency.
Turkey has in recent years moved to revitalize its trade with its neighbor to compensate for economic losses - estimated at some 40 billion dollars - inflicted by sanctions imposed on Baghdad for its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
The economic progress has been achieved despite political bitterness between the two neighbors over Turkey's hosting U.S. warplanes that since the 1991 Gulf War enforce a no-fly zone over mainly Kurdish northern Iraq.
Turkish Foreign Trade Minister Tunca Toskay said that 'a very serious relationship based on (mutual) trust has been developed with Iraq in the past three years.'
He said Turkey became one of the main exporters to Iraq and that Turkish companies had undertaken projects worth 1.2 billion dollars (euros) in the country, Anatolia reported.
However, he added, 'We are concerned over a war breaking out there... It is obvious we will suffer.'
Turkey, whose bases were used by U.S. jets to launch air strikes on Iraq in 1991, is strongly opposed to a new military operation against its neighbor, fearing that the economic fallout of a war in the region could deepen an already severe recession plaguing the country.
Ankara also worries that turmoil in Iraq could result in the establishment of an independent state by the Kurds in northern Iraq, already outside Baghdad's control since the Gulf War, which in turn, could incite Turkey's own Kurds.
In a separate related development, Russia is to send a high level delegation to Washington next month to argue against military strikes on Iraq, and to demand to see firm proof from the United States that Baghdad was stocking up on weapons of mass destruction, AFP reported.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said he and Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov would visit Washington to focus on the threat. Consultations with their U.S. counterparts would be in the framework of the new council set up by the two sides during a Presidential summit in May.
Russian officials mentioned on several occasions that the 'four-sided' council representing Defense and Foreign Ministry heads from the two countries would be convened for the first time in Washington next month.
However, U.S. officials said little on the subject and have so far failed to confirm the meeting. Ivanov did not say what date had been set for the talks.
Moscow vocally opposes Washington's plans to unseat Saddam Hussein's regime in Baghdad despite otherwise supporting the U.S.-led 'anti-terror' campaign.
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