Barazani, Talibani in Ankara after Jalabi; Turkish parliament discuss American requests
Iraq-Turkey, Politics, 12/24/2002

The Turkish prime minister Abdullah Ghoule and the armed forces chief of staff Helmi Ozkok yesterday held a meeting dedicated to discuss the American requests from Turkey in the framework of US military threats of attack against Iraq.

This was just days after the American ambassador in Turkey handed over the Turkish government a message from the US President George Bush asking for prompt reply to his demands "because time expires."

The meeting was attended by the Turkish foreign minister Yashar Kalash and the assistant for the secretary of the prime minister's office Fikrat Okan.

However, the Turkish parliament will discuss this issue during the week.

Meantime, a Turkish diplomatic source announced yesterday that the chiefs of the two main Kurdish parties in northern Iraq, Masoud al-Barazani and Jalal al-Talibani, will hold in Ankara as from tomorrow talks with the Turkish officials concerning a likely war. The same source explained that Talibani arrived yesterday evening to Turkey and he will be followed by Barazani today.

The two Kurdish leaders will meet with the Turkish foreign ministry secretary Orgor Zayal in order to brief the Turkish side with the results of London's conference of the Iraqi opposition and to discuss the Iraqi crisis, according to the diplomatic source.

The leading figure at the Iraqi National Congress Ahmad al-Jalabi met on Friday in Ankara several Kurdish officials.

Meantime, The specialized Middle East Economic Survey said yesterday that London's conference dealt with certain economic issues relating to oil but it had failed to reach a detailed policy to run oil resources after toppling the Iraqi president.

The Bulletin said that names of several prominent economy experts were inserted in a 75- member committees formed to fill any vacuum that might emerge in Baghdad following the collapse of the Iraqi regime.

Jalabi said that in the "After Saddam" phase, Iraq will set an objective of producing 6 million barrels of crude oil on daily basis. Double of its current production.

Previous Stories:
  Al-Jalabi: the military operation against Iraq will start very soon   (12/23/2002)
  Milliyet: Turkey's position regarding Iraq   (12/21/2002)
  Hurriyet: Turkish preparations for the war against Iraq   (12/20/2002)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search