IRAQ: TURKISH MINISTER FOR FOREIGN TRADE CONTINUES BAGHDAD VISIT/ SADDAM HUSSEIN MEETS CABINET
Record ID:
645717
IRAQ: TURKISH MINISTER FOR FOREIGN TRADE CONTINUES BAGHDAD VISIT/ SADDAM HUSSEIN MEETS CABINET
- Title: IRAQ: TURKISH MINISTER FOR FOREIGN TRADE CONTINUES BAGHDAD VISIT/ SADDAM HUSSEIN MEETS CABINET
- Date: 11th January 2003
- Summary: (W5) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (JANUARY 11, 2003) (REUTERS) MV: TURKISH FOREIGN TRADE MINISTER KURSAD TUZMEN AND IRAQI MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AHMED MURTADHA AHMED KISSING EACH OTHER MCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) KURSAD TUZMEN, TURKISH MINISTER OF FOREIGN TRADE SAYING: "We don't want to relive the experience of the first Gulf War. We believe that the potential war will cost the region a lot, so we are supporting the peaceful solution for this crisis, and if there is a small hope for peace, we should follow that route." CU/ZOOM/MV: WIDE OF MEETING Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 26th January 2003 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Iraq
- Country: Iraq
- Topics: International Relations,Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA2YH2CQNFOINOSBS5FYTYHZK81
- Story Text: Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has met with members of his cabinet as the Turkish Minister of Foreign Trade wound up a visit to Baghdad recalling the first Gulf War and telling journalists that he would seek a path to peace in the region.
As Iraqi President Saddam Hussein met with his cabinet on Saturday (January 11) Iraqi state television announced that Oil Minister Amir Muhammad Rasheed had been replaced by a senior Baath party member, Samir Abdulaziz Al-Najm.
The new appointment, in an acting capacity, came by decree from President Saddam Hussein as Baghdad prepares for the looming possibility of a military assault by the United States to force it to disarm.
The country's dilapidated oil industry, still able to pump substantial exports, could be targeted for missile strikes to disrupt fuel supplies to Iraqi defences.
Iraq sells crude in exchange for food and medicine under strict United Nations supervision but has managed to increase smuggled exports, mostly via Syria, over the past two years.
The new minister is a familiar figure in Iraq's ruling Baath party politics but has no previous ministerial experience.
Turkish Minister of Foreign Trade Kursad Tuzmen, who arrived in Baghdad on Friday (January 10), heading a delegation of some 350 businessmen, said that Turkey aimed to enhance ties not only with Iraq but with all states in the region.
"We don't want to relive the experience of the first Gulf War. We believe that the potential war will cost the region a lot, so we are supporting the peaceful solution for this crisis, and if there is a small hope for peace, we should follow that route," Tuzmen told reporters at a meeting with Iraq's Minister of Transport and Communications Ahmed Murtadha Ahmed.
As efforts to avert war continue, Turkish Prime Minister Abdullah Gul arrived in Saudi Arabia for talks about the crisis between their common neighbour Iraq and their key ally the United States. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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