Troop decision to be taken at Cabinet meeting

Prime Minister and AKP leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that final decision concerning sending troops would be made either at next Monday’s Cabinet meeting, or at Tuesday’s AKP parliamentary group meeting.

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said today that government proposal to send Turkish troops to Iraq would include no specific details, such as date of departure and area of operations, adding that all these would be determined by Foreign Ministry and Military experts.

Speaking in Kayseri, he said Turkey starting its membership negotiations with European Union at the end of 2004 was very likely, noting that serious implementation of laws and reforms passed was very important to realize this objective.

He also said that Turkey’s relations with United States was very good, adding that considerable distance had been taken concerning cooperation in combating terrorism.