Iraq statement condemns military manoeuvres

Text of report by Iraqi TV on 1st January

In a statement to the Iraqi News Agency, Foreign Minister Muhammad Sa'id al-Sahhaf has said that Iraq condemns strongly the US-Turkish-Israeli military exercise to be conducted east of the Mediterranean opposite the Arab coasts from 5th to 9th January 1998, adding that Iraq considers this manoeuvre as a provocative act against the Arab nation.

Sahhaf noted that this exercise showed that the US-Zionist scheme sought to activate regional mechanisms to drag some neighbourly countries of the Arab homeland into regional arrangements. He added that these arrangements were aimed at making these countries adopt gradually - contrary to the interests of their people - stances that were hostile to the rights and vital interests of the Arab nation.

The foreign minister said: We believe that all Arab countries are called on - not only not to participate in this manoeuvre - but also to adopt a unified stand that expresses strong concern over and resentment against the US-Zionist-Turkish military exercise. The concern and resentment should be translated into a practical stance to force the three parties to go back on the exercise and to cancel them.

We also call on the Turkish government to withdraw from, and not take part in, the military exercise with the Americans and Zionists.

Source: Iraqi TV, Baghdad, in Arabic 2000 gmt 1 Jan 98

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