Turkish Daily News - FM G�l dismisses common policy with US on Iran, Syria - Dec 28, 2005

Turkish Daily News - FM G�l dismisses common policy with US on Iran, Syria - Dec 28, 2005


FM Gül dismisses common policy with US on Iran, Syria
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
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ANKARA - Turkish Daily News
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül has once again dismissed comments that Ankara and Washington have been developing a common policy towards Syria and Iran, describing such notions as “fictitious.”
Speaking to reporters in Cairo following a meeting with his Egyptian counterpart, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, late on Monday, Gül was reminded of press reports concerning back-to-back visits by CIA Director Porter Goss and FBI Director Robert Mueller. The visits coincided with an official visit by Land Forces Commander Gen. Yaşar Büyükanıt to Washington this month and paved the way for speculation both inside and outside the country that Turkey and the United States were taking sides against Syria and Iran in the region.
“Such allegations are fictitious,” Gül was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency.
“Such news reports were published in some newspapers. I clarified this issue both at a press conference and in a speech I delivered in Parliament. Turkey and the United States are two close allies. Therefore, such top-level visits normally take place. These are routine visits,” Gül added.
In an earlier response to foreign media reports that Goss sought Turkish officials' support to attack Iran in 2006, Gül said the visits that took place in recent days have nothing to do with Iran and Syria and added they (the visits) contributed towards strengthening bilateral relations between Turkey and the United States.
“It does not have any relation whatsoever to other countries. Reports written here and abroad are entirely fictitious,” Gül said over the weekend in reference to a report by a German news agency.
The second largest German news agency, ddp Nachrichtenagentur, reported last week that “U.S. plans to attack Iran next year were on the agenda of both Goss and Mueller's talks in Ankara.”
Citing sources from Western intelligence services, the agency reported that Goss presented three files to Turkish officials, one of which concerned Iran's cooperation with the al-Qaeda terrorist organization.
According to the report, the United States requested Turkey's support in attacking Iran and offered to allow Turkey to launch a military operation against outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) camps based in Iran.
The agency also claimed that the United States had asked Gen. Büyükanıt during his Washington visit to keep the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) primed for possible attacks on Iran.