Topic: Turkey may take part in a 'Lebanon force' after a cease- fire is reached

Saturday , 29 July 2006

“Turkey may take part in a Lebanon peace force only after a cease-fire is reached,” said Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish Prime Minister. Erdogan answered Larry King's questions on CNN. Asked about Turkey's contribution to a prospective peace force, Erdogan indicated that the United States urged Turkey to assign troops for a stability and peace force to be set up in Lebanon.

”We can serve in a peace force only after a cease-fire is established,” told Erdogan.

In reference to a question asking who is responsible for the recent crisis in the Middle East, Erdogan answered that “we should not seek for the guilty. What we have to do now is to secure a cease-fire and start a peace process. We should let historians decide what party is guilty,” underlined Erdogan.

When asked about a possible Turkish military operation into north of Iraq, Premier Erdogan stressed that terror is an international problem and should be defeated wherever it is seen.

”Turkey has lost over 30,000 people due to PKK terrorism. It is not enough to declare PKK as a terrorist organization. We must fight against terror just as we are doing in Afghanistan and elsewhere. As the Prime Minister of Turkey, I have an obligation to provide security for our citizens. We must find a solution to PKK (terror) in cooperation with the governments of the U.S. and Iraq,” added Erdogan.