Turkey's Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said Wednesday that Turkey's direct dialogue with the regional administration in the north of Iraq was based on confidence building.

- 15 / 05 / 2008 08:03

Turkey's Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said Wednesday that Turkey's direct dialogue with the regional administration in the north of Iraq was based on confidence building.

Answering questions from reporters at a joint press conference with British Secretary of Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs David Miliband, Babacan said concrete steps rather than mere words were necessary for confidence building.

Babacan urged the regional administration in north of Iraq to take concrete steps in Turkey's fight against terrorist organization PKK.

He pointed out that this would contribute to the dialogue and cooperation between Turkey and the regional administration there.

Babacan said visits by Turkish officials to north of Iraq should be seen as routine.

Babacan said that he had ordered Turkey's Special Envoy to Iraq, Murat Ozcelik, to visit this country at least once a month.

When asked about his views on the situation in Lebanon, Babacan said Turkey watched with concern the latest developments in this country. Babacan referred to the last week's Foreign Ministers meeting of the Arab League states and said Turkey fully supported the decisions taken there.

"A delegation consisting of foreign ministers of 7 or 8 countries, headed by Qatari PM will go to Lebanon. We have also extended our support to that delegation. We hope that common sense will prevail in Lebanon and an outcome to which all parties can agree will be obtained," said Babacan.

Commenting on EU's stance on cooperation against terrorism, Babacan said freedoms of speech, movement and assembly were EU's basic values and pointed out that terrorists should not be allowed to enjoy these freedoms.

Babacan said they expected EU to cooperate in security issues while protecting freedoms.

"We believe that close cooperation in these matters is important for Britain, the EU and Turkey," said Babacan.

Following Babacan's remarks, Miliband also answered questions of reporters.

Upon a question on the closure case filed against Turkey's ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party, Miliband said Britain had a close cooperation with the Turkish government.

The British Foreign Secretary said the constitutional principles and rules of countries should be respected, however, his country also believed that the governments, which are elected by the public, should be supported.

Miliband said Turkey had made progress in its EU accession process and added that this should continue.

Commenting on the fight against terrorism as well, Miliband said Britain accepted PKK as a terrorist organization.

He said countries should fight against terrorist organization PKK's activities in Europe to the extent that laws permit. He said the British government supported such idea and acted parallel to that.

Miliband also said that both Turkey and Britain constituted good examples showing that different religions and cultures could live together.