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Turkey to Conditionally Support "Smart Sanctions" on Iraq
Turkey is to conditionally support the so-called "smart sanctions" against Iraq, proposed by the United States, the Turkish Daily News reported on Wednesday.
"If this plan will help normalize the situation in the region, we welcome it with pleasure," the English-language newspaper quoted a Turkish Foreign Ministry official as saying.
He said that Turkey has been complying with the resolutions adopted by the United Nations Security Council concerning Iraq.
"We have been in regular contact with US and British officials, and also officials from neighboring states. The Jordanian foreign minister is to visit Ankara as part of this," he said.
US officials have presented to Turkish Foreign Undersecretary Faruk Logoglu a draft of the plan, which was discussed at the UN Tuesday morning.
"The exchange of information with Turkish officials on the 'smart sanctions' has been going on," a US official said.
Under the US plan, restrictions would be lifted on all goods entering Iraq except for those that may be used for military purposes.
Iraq has rejected the plan and warned that it would suspend oil-for-food program if the US interferes in its renewal.
Turkey says that it has lost at least 30 billion US dollars because of the economic sanctions the UN Security Council imposed on Iraq after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Ankara does not see eye to eye with the US on the Iraq issue.
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