| | | | Addressing a meeting of his party’s deputies, Recip Tayyip Erdoğan said that Turkey would neither accept a threat to its own security or to the territorial integrity of neighbouring Iraq.
“Turkey will not remain silent against developments for its security and Iraq’s territorial integrity. It will determine its attitude in the coming days.”
He also said that Turkey faced difficulties, similar to those experienced in the aftermath of the 1990-91 Gulf War, should another conflict break out, warning of a possible wave of refugees flooding into Turkey.
“When Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, whole world mobilised to save Kuwait,” Erdoğan said. “The same world did not make anything for hundreds of thousands of refugees, who migrated to Turkey. Therefore, we cannot asses the Iraq issue in the same way with Australia and Norway. Because they do not have any idea about history and peoples of this geography. They will not be affected by a possible military action of the United States and Britain against Iraq. However, we will be affected seriously.”
| |
