Summit to Persuade Sezer

The government and the army agreed on the idea that, “We should be in Iraq if we want to recover our relations with U.S., not to be excluded from the new equation there, and to have a say in the new formation.” However, President Sezer insists that international legitimacy should be secured to send troops. The first step of persuasion activities is the “Iraq Summit” that will be held in the Kiosk on Thursday. Sezer will hold his regular meetings with Erdogan and Ozkok today, and he can turn the meetings into a tripartite summit. Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul and , MIT President Senkal Atasagun are also expected to attend the summit.

Erdogan and Ozkok will explain the importance to send troops and remind that UN Security Council could take a decision on August 21, which would relieve Turkey even though it would not bring a total legitimacy. Erdogan will voice the following view of the government that was concretized in the summit on Tuesday: “Turkey cannot remain indifferent to such a development that takes place in her immediate region. If you do not intervene, you will not have a word of say in the following developments. If Turkey wants to have a word in the restructuring of Iraq, she should be there.”

Erdogan will also convey the following comment of Gul regarding his U.S. visit: “I received the following message during my U.S. visit. We have to send troops to Iraq to recover the relations that were worsened after March 1. Otherwise, we would totally remain out of the equation regarding the new formation in Iraq. This will harm Turkey in both economic and strategic terms.”

In the summit in the Prime Ministry, the widespread view was that Turkey should go to Iraq together with Pakistan. The reason for this was that, Pakistan and Turkey, as Moslem and friend countries, could adapt more easily to the structure of Iraq and contribute more than