Sezer: Foreign Armed Forces Can Stay In Turkey In A Situation That Is Considered Legitimate By International Law

When a reporter told Sezer that ”you had recently said that the second resolution of the U.N. Security Council on Feb. 14 had to be waited. Meanwhile, the government decided not to send the motion to the parliament today. How do you evaluate that?” Sezer said, ”I always tell that our Constitution is clear: Article 92 of the Constitution gave the authority to declare war, to send Turkish Armed Forces to foreign countries and to permit deployment of foreign soldiers in Turkey in situations which are considered legitimate by the international law… We believe that there should be a new decision other than the U.N. Security Council Resolution No. 1441 for us to accept that the developments are legitimate in line with the international law. In the meantime, we have to take all sorts of measures for our national security in case of a possible intervention. The authority to decide on this issue, on the issue of sending soldiers abroad and deployment of foreign soldiers belongs to the parliament.”
”Can there be a problem between Turkey and the U.S. at that point?” asked a journalist to Sezer who said ”there is no such possibility.”
When asked if he planned to hold a meeting on the Iraqi issue in Presidential Palace, President Sezer said, ”it can be, due to the developments.”
Mongolian Ambassador Khaliun submitted his letter of confidence to President Sezer during the meeting in which Foreign Ministry Deputy Undersecretary Ahmet Ertay was also present.