- Title: SWITZERLAND: TURKISH PM ERDOGAN CALLS FOR UNIFIED STAND AGAINST TERRORISM.
- Date: 28th January 2005
- Summary: (BN14) DAVOS, SWITZERLAND (JANUARY 27, 2005) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV: EXTERIOR OF BELVEDERE HOTEL 0.06 2. ERDOGAN ARRIVING AT HOTEL, SURROUNDED BY SECURITY 3. (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) PRIME MINISTER ERDOGAN SAYING: "Well, Turkey's message to the World Economic Forum in Davos is that we all need to develop a unified stance against terrori
- Embargoed: 12th February 2005 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: DAVOS, SWITZERLAND
- Country: Switzerland
- Reuters ID: LVA6JIED2DG7QYM117VPY4U1Y44J
- Story Text: Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan calls for a
unified stand against terrorism at the World Economic Forum
in Davos.
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on
Thursday (January 27) that this weekend's Iraqi election
would not be fully democratic and was unlikely to stem
violence or help stabilise the country.
"Turkey's message to the World Economic Forum in Davos
is that we all need to develop a unified stance against
terrorism in order to stop it, and that we also need to
build support for a good outcome for Iraq. It will also be
important that we all turn our efforts towards pushing for
peace in the Middle East," Erdogan told Reuters after the
day's meetings.
Asked whether he believed Sunday's voting would help
reduce widespread violence in Iraq, he said it did not
"seem as if it's going to be diminishing."
Turkey refused to let the United States use its bases
to launch the invasion that topped Saddam Hussein in 2003.
Asked whether he still felt that parliamentary decision
was justified, Erdogan said Turkey would never see fit to
collaborate with something it felt was unjust or unfair.
The failure to carry out proper voter registration and
the use of a system allowing voters to transfer from other
regions to the city of Kirkuk, which Iraqi Kurds claim as
part of their autonomous region, were among the
"irregularities", he said.
The Turkish leader expressed concern that the election
could be divisive because it was taking place largely on
the basis of ethnicity, and stressed Turkey remained
committed to the territorial integrity of its neighbour.
Erdogan cast doubt on media reports that the United
States may be preparing for a military strike against
Iran's disputed nuclear programme, but he declined
categorically to rule out the use of Turkish bases for such
an operation.
He said Turkey had no grounds to doubt Iran's statement
that its atomic research effort was purely for civilian
purposes and that it was cooperating fully with the U.N.
nuclear watchdog.
However, pressed to say whether Turkey would allow the
United States to use its air bases if there were a military
strike on Iran, he said: "It's too early to talk about
that. You make decisions when you need to make decisions.
You don't make decisions based on pre-assumptions."
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