Turkish Daily News - �US visits to Turkey have nothing to do with third countries�

Turkish Daily News - �US visits to Turkey have nothing to do with third countries�

Blogger Thoughts: Or perhaps visits have EVERYTHING to do with 3rd Countries...?


‘US visits to Turkey have nothing to do with third countries’
Monday, December 26, 2005
ANKARA - Turkish Daily News
A recent official visit to Turkey by CIA Director Porter Goss took place as a manifestation of the mutual will and effort by Ankara and Washington to strengthen bilateral relations between Turkey and the United States, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül said in an effort to head off speculation over the agenda underlying recent visits by U.S. officials.
Gül's remarks came in apparent response to foreign media reports that Goss, during his visit earlier this month, sought Turkish officials' support to attack Iran in 2006.
“Visits that took place in recent days have nothing to do with Iran and Syria. These visits are [contributions] towards strengthening bilateral relations [between Turkey and the United States],” Gül was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency over the weekend while speaking to reporters at a meeting in Bursa, in reference to a report by a German news agency.
“Those [visits] do not have any relation whatsoever to other countries. Reports written here and abroad are entirely fictitious,” Gül said, referring not only to the visit by Goss but also to an earlier working visit by FBI Director Robert Mueller in the same month. Talks with both Goss and Mueller touched on the issue of fighting members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) sheltering at a safe haven in northern Iraq, although no details were made public.
“Turkey and the United States are jointly fighting the PKK terror,” Gül was quoted as saying by CNN-Türk, reiterating, in response to claims, the focus of talks for Turkish officials. The PKK is listed as terror organization by the United States and the European Union as well as by Turkey.
The second largest German news agency, ddp Nachrichtenagentur, reported on Friday 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 for attacking Iran and offered to allow Turkey to launch a military operation against PKK camps based in Iran.
The agency also claimed that the United States had asked Land Forces Commander Gen Yaşar Büyükanıt -- who paid an official visit to Washington earlier this month -- to keep the Turkish Armed Forces primed for possible attacks on Iran.
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