Turkey to Iran: Great concern over Iraq
Iran-Turkey, International, 2/16/1998

Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi met on Sunday with Turkey's deputy foreign minister, Kurkmaz Haq Tanir, who arrived in Tehran earlier in the day carrying a communique from Turkish President Suleiman Demirel to Iranian President Muhammad Khatami concerning the Iraq crisis.

The Turkish official expressed his country's concern over the crisis between Washington and Baghdad, noting that Turkey seeks, in collaboration with countries of the region, to settle the crisis by diplomatic means.

Kharazi stressed his country's opposition to using force, noting the need for mobilized international efforts to settle the Iraq crisis through diplomatic channels.Tehran accused the U.S. of planning to divide Iraq, and Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi called on the secretary-general of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, to visit Baghdad and to try to find a peaceful solution for the Iraqi crisis to avoid a war.

Iranian diplomatic sources said Iraq is reviewing French and Russian suggestions to find a peaceful solution to the crisis and that Iran is making important contacts to prevent the U.S. from using force against Iraq.

The chairman of the Iranian Islamic consultation council (the parliament), Ali Akbar Nateq Nouri, accused the U.S. of planning to partition Iraq, and criticized the countries that have announced their support for a U.S. strike against Iraq.

Both Turkey and Iran share borders with Iraq, with Turkish forces making occasional incursions into Northern Iraq to fight Kurdish forces that are opposed to Turkey. Turkey has also concerns about the establishment of a separate Kurdish state on its border, should this US act to destabilize Iraq and succeed in partitioning it.

Iran was involved in a war with Iraq in the 80's, but both Turkey and Iran have expressed their strong desire to see a peaceful solution to the Iraqi crisis.

Previous Stories:
  Iraq's Sahaf reiterates Iraqi inspection proposal   (2/14/1998)
  Iraq lists presidential sites to be inspected as Annan intensifies effort   (2/14/1998)

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