King Abdullah: We Cancelled Passports of Uzans!

In an exclusive interview , at his palace in Akabe city –500 meters from Israel- , Jordanian King Abdullah Ibnul Hussein bin Tallal told Hurriyet’s Editor-in-Chief Ertugrul Ozkok that, he had visited Turkey several times in his younger days and paid one of his first official visits, again to Turkey. The King, whose grandmother is Turkish, admitted that his country handed passports to Cem and Hakan Uzan for 5 years. “Their passports terminate at the end of 2004 but we ordered officials to confiscate these, if they apply to authorities to extend their terms“ he said.

MIDDLE WAY TO KURD PROBLEM

Asked to comment on Turco-Middle Eastern relations, King Abdullah said that; For a period, Turkey did not seem interested in the Middle East; she was turned somewhat to the West. But the Israeli-Palestinian problem and after especially the things that happened in Iraq, she became more involved with the region. Turkey is a country playing a very strategic role. She is one of the rare countries that can play an unbiased role in the region.

He said; The interest of the Middle East to Turkey has increased. That is to say, the attitude of both sides towards each other, started changing.

The King continued to say that; We have to need to pursue our policies much more coordinated from now on, adding that he expected these relations to be furthered, once Turkey entered EU.“

King Abdullah said that the change of governments in Turkey had no influence whatsoever on the Turco-Jordanian affairs. Asked to comment on the Kurd problem in Northern Iraq, he said; This is a difficult question for me because Jordan does not have such a problem. But we all know that it is a very serious problem for Turkey, Iran and Syria and therefore a middle way should be found. Abdullah said that; The U.S. President is aware of Turkey’s sensitivity over the Kurdish problem.

On his country’s relations with U.S., Abdullah said that the exports of his country to U.S. which was worth 14 billion dollars in 1999, rose 500 million dollars. Asked whether Americans understood the region, Abdullah that; There are nice people in America too. But we have cultural differences. Some Americans have difficulty in understanding the people here. We, Turkey and neighbor countries should show the right things to America.

MIDDLE EAST PROJECT

On the Great Middle East Project of U.S., the King said that; These reforms should be done by ourselves. If we do not want the G-8 countries to impose a formula in June, then we should write our own recipe. We have no problem because we are already implementing a reform program. We started implementing reforms in education, economy and social life.

IT IS NOT A CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS

The King said that the Al-Qaeda terror was not related with a clash of civilizations. He said, even though Al-Qaeda was an extremist organization, it did not create a problem between the East and the West as this was a war inside the Islam. September 11 weakened the Islam and the Middle Eastern countries. In sum, Al-Qaeda is a threat for Islam.
Asked what should be done to fight Al-Qaeda, King Abddullah said that; This war has various stages. It has an intelligence and military aspect. This might take one or two years. The second step would be drying up its financial sources. But the most important phase is a long-term fight, which could be won only through training. The interpretation of the Kor’an by these people is very different from the majority of Moslems.

Asked what the thought about the future, King Abdullah said that; September 11 made us Moslems look at the mirror. The silent majority of the Moslem world started saying that we should not remain silent and this was not the Islam which we believed. Al-Qaeda and its followers want to turn this into a clash of civilizations and weaken the Islam.

My personal view is that; Moslems should learn that this is not a clash between the East and the West, but their internal war.

The interview will be aired today at CNN-TURK’s “Manset” Program.
King Abdullah is arriving in Turkey Tuesday, for a two-day official visit.