Iraq's Aziz to visit Turkey in the mid of this month

Turkey said on Wednesday that Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz will visit Ankara for 24 hours at the beginning of next week in order to discuss bilateral relations.

An official at the Turkish Foreign Ministry said that Tariq Aziz will arrive on February 15, "at his request."

Earlier, the Iraqi News Agency said that Tariq Aziz will visit Turkey at the invitation of the Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit, who had recently criticized the "absence of a clear US policy towards Iraq."

Ecevit expressed his dissatisfaction for the possibility of establishing a Kurdish state in northern Iraq as a result of the air embargo imposed by the Western planes over northern Iraq under the pretext of protecting the Kurds.

Last week Turkey called for revision of principles which govern the activity of the Western planes in the context of what is called "the process of monitoring northern Iraq."

Turkey says that imposing sanctions on Iraq causes it losses estimated at US $30 billion.