Turkey Refutes French Newspaper Report on Iraqi Issue

The Turkish Foreign Ministry on Wednesday dismissed as "unfounded and baseless" a report published by the French newspaper Le Figaro on the Iraqi issue.

The report said that "Ankara is bargaining with Bush for supporting an operation on Iraq," according to Turkish officials.

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Huseyin Dirioz bluntly refuted the report that indicated that Turkey was interested in Iraqi oil.

Dirioz told reporters that similar news stories had appeared in the press from time to time, noting that they were all "unfounded and baseless."

In recent months, certain circles in the US have suggested that Washington should give some "gifts" to Turkey in return for its support of a military operation against Iraq.

James Woolsey, the director of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from 1993 to 1995, wrote in Washington Post, saying that the Turkish government fears a split-up of Iraq and worries that a separate Kurdistan in what is now northern Iraq would exert a gravitational pull on Turkey's Kurds.

The former CIA chief also claimed that the problem "should be manageable by working with the Iraqi opposition to guarantee stability in the north" while "obtaining access to the oil fields there."

(Xinhua News Agency March 21, 2002)