There’re provacations and mispractices in Syria

KONYA (AA) – Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul said on Wednesday regarding the incidents in Syria that there had been several provocations and mispractices on territories of the region in recent years, adding, "people living the region should not destroy their will of co-existence by taking their future into consideration."

Replying to a question about developments in Syria at Bera Hotel in central province of Konya, Gul said that such incidents would not benefit anybody. "We have lived together in peace in the region for centuries. These are territories of all of us. There have been several provocations and mispractices in Syria and on the soils in its region in recent years. And there has been lack of tranquility due to these."

Noting that he supposed incidents would not escalate, Gul said, "I believe that the Syrian government would show the necessary careful attention. People living in the region should not destroy their will of co-existence by taking their future into consideration."

Replying to a question about the new Spanish government’s decision on withdrawal of Spanish troops in Iraq after recent acts of terrorism in Spain, Gul said that the new government of Spain had announced its decision but they did not know how much it would put it into practice.

Noting that a new order was about to be established in Iraq and invader forces would withdraw after sovereignty was partially transferred to the newly formed government on June 30, Gul said that Turkey wanted Iraq to gain a democratic structure and take its place in the region as a country of which territorial integrity would not be destroyed, without any act of terrorism and quarrel during this process.

Stressing that it would not be easy and the process would produce griping pains, Gul said, "Turkey has always defended that Iraq’s unity should be preserved and held meetings with neighboring countries. All countries in the region including Iraq will convene in Cairo in April. Every possible thing will be done to have this process function properly."

When reminded of complaints of Turkmens in Iraq about consideration of themselves as a minority and asked about Turkey’s initiative about the issue, Gul said, "in the 1932 document, it says that Iraq is composed of Arabs, Kurds and Turkmens. However, in the latest constitution, Arabs and Kurds are considered as main factors. We very much insisted on a census in the region. They told us that it could not be a healthy census on such conditions. If the United Nations had maintained its influential role in Iraq, then a census could have been held. Census will be held next year, revealing the numbers of peoples."

Stressing that concepts of war had changed and terrorism and fight against terrorism had caused new concepts to appear, Gul said, "each political platform starts its job by firstly saying, ‘how can I fight against terrorism? How can forces join in fight against terrorism?’ Terrorism has become the prior issue also in Europe. Now, terrorism is no more an extraordinary situation, it has become an issue that is talked about continuously."