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Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said that Turkey's policy regarding northern Iraq is to keep refugees from flowing into Turkey, reported the Anatolian News Agency on Saturday.
Speaking to reporters Friday evening upon return from Brussels after attending EU summit, Gul said that Turkey, bordering with Iraq in the south, has no intention of violating Iraq's territorial integrity.
Recalling that Turkey had to accept 500,000 people within its borders during the first Gulf War in 1991, Gul said "Turkey has suffered from this very big population for a long time. So, it does not want to experience this sorrowful experience once again."
The 1991 Gulf War was triggered by Iraq's invasion of its neighbor Kuwait, and resulted in a large flow of Iraqi refugees into neighboring countries.
Gul emphasized that the second worry of Turkey is the "vacuum" created in northern Iraq following the US-led war on Iraq.
"The vacuum became practically a camp for terrorist activity. This time, we do not want such a vacuum. Turkey has no designs whatsoever on Iraq's territory," he said.
Responding to a question on what Turkey has gained in opening the airspace to US military planes, Gul said Turkey is not after bargaining and its political targets were clear.
Referring to a statement of National Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul that Turkey and the United States were still negotiating over the entrance of Turkish soldiers into Northern Iraq, Gul said, "What we say from the very beginning is that Turkey is already in northern Iraq."
"Turkey has no designs on Iraq's territorial integrity. Turkey will take measures in line with the two goals I stated just now," he said.
Gul also denied that differences remain between Ankara and Washington, saying "all the difficulties have been overcome. Thus, there is not any problem between Turkey and the United States at the moment."
On US Secretary of State Colin Powell's opposition to the entrance of Turkish soldiers into Northern Iraq, Gul said "All of them have been solved. Turkish soldiers will go."
"Turkey's policy about Iraq is that: Preservation of Iraq's territorial integrity, equal usage of Iraq's resources by all Iraqi people, and that main elements of Iraq are Arabs, Turkmen and Kurds."
(Xinhua News Agency March 22, 2003)
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