Turkey warns US against Iraq attack

Ecevit: End war between Israel and Palestinians first

Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit has urged the United States to focus on resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict instead of tackling Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

He said there was no need for US military strikes on Iraq, even if Baghdad did not allow UN arms inspectors back, arguing that the country posed little threat.

Mr Ecevit says Iraq does not pose a threat

Mr Ecevit was speaking as UN Secretary General Kofi Annan prepared to meet the Iraqi foreign minister in New York.

Turkey, a key US ally in the region, has suffered from the economic sanctions on its Iraqi neighbour and is wary of the effect of a potential conflict on its Kurdish minority.

"Rather than opening an unnecessary war against Iraq, the rapidly escalating war between Israel and Palestine should be ended," Mr Ecevit said.

"Even if the Iraqi administration does not give permission [for the inspectors' return], I don't think a war is absolutely necessary."

Iraq, Mr Ecevit said, did not "have the power to cause a new disturbance in the region".

But the Turkish premier stressed that his government was "very insistent" on the return of the inspectors, who withdrew in 1998 amid Iraqi hostility to their presence.

Turkish interests

The BBC correspondent in Istanbul, Jonny Dymond, reports that Turkey is closely following the US stance on Iraq.

Turkey believes it has lost $80bn in trade because of the decade-long trade embargo against Iraq.

Turkey would be a key ally in any US attack

It is also deeply concerned about the impact on the Kurdish population of south-east Turkey, where the recent civil war has cost over 30,000 lives.

Washington needs Turkey both for its air base at Incirlik to patrol Iraq, and for the moral support provided by Nato's sole Muslim member state.

Turkey's enthusiastic backing of war on terror after 11 September was gratefully received, our correspondent says.

But Bulent Ecevit is now serving notice that that support was not unqualified.

The Turkish premier's call to concentrate on the Middle East also holds weight in that Turkey is one of the few Muslim states to have close ties with Israel.