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Iraq Willing to Develop Ties with Turkey: Ramadan
Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan said on Monday that Iraq is willing to develop relations with Turkey in various fields.
To develop "strategic ties" with Turkey, based on mutual respect, will contribute to peace and stability in the region, Ramadan said while meeting with visiting Turkish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Faruk Logoglu.
Iraq favors "an open and constructive dialog" with Iraq, said the vice president.
However, he expressed concern over the facilities which Turkey provides to the U.S. and British warplanes in their almost daily aggressions over northern Iraq.
U.S. and British warplanes have been patrolling the so-called no-fly zone in northern Iraq from an airbase in Turkey, allegedly aimed at protecting the Kurdish population in the region.
A similar air exclusion zone was also imposed in southern Iraq by the U.S.-led Western allies to protect Shiite Muslims there after the 1991 Gulf war which was triggered by Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
Ramadan demanded the Turkish government take into consideration of its own interests and not pursue a foreign policy which creates problems and instability in the region, the official Iraqi News Agency reported.
On his part, Logoglu said that Turkey desires to develop relations with Iraq, adding that he hopes for more cooperation between Turkey and Iraq in the near future.
Political relations between the two countries have been cool. Iraq has long criticized Turkey for allowing the U.S. and British planes to take off from its bases to enforce the no-fly zone in northern Iraq.
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