Ankara to Washington: Any indiscriminate retaliation will be the end of Turkish support

SAADET ORUC

As part of evaluations on the options of retaliation for the terrorist strike against the United States, U.S. officials in Ankara tried to gauge how the Turkish public would feel in the case of a U.S. attack against Pakistan, senior government officials briefing the Turkish Daily News stated on Tuesday.

Any indiscriminate retaliation as an option of responding to the attacks against the United States, which put the whole strategies of the world powers into a melting pot, will not be supported either by the Turkish people or by the Turkish government, officials reportedly told their American counterparts.

"Never ever will any attack targeting Pakistan as a whole or declaring Pakistanis as the enemy be supported by the Turkish government or the Turkish people," was the answer of Turkish government officials to top American officials, reliable Turkish Daily News sources said.

Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, James Jeffrey, met with acting Turkish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ugur Ziyal and made broad evaluations on the issue.

Ambassador Aydemir Erman, Ankara's expert on Afghanistan, is also the focus of attention for U.S. officials.

Rashid Dostum not being considered as a perfect card in Afghanistan

Turkish officials have been commenting that Uzbek General Rashid Dostum was not the perfect playing card in Afghanistan politically, but he could be a good partner for special military operations.

The shoes of assassinated Afghan leader Ahmed Shah Massoud are not for Dostum, analysts commented.

The "rockets" mistakenly falling on the garden of the Turkish Embassy in Afghanistan in the last years have made the Turkish government think twice about the loyalty of Dostum.

"No American or British soldier can be aware of the caves and rocks on the Afghan mountains, but Dostum can," experts said, arguing that Dostum could have a practical role for the special operations in Afghanistan.

Pakistani opposition as a card for Taliban

The Pakistani opposition, which is seen to be supportive of the Taliban, has been labelled the Taliban's sole playing card.

Analysts do not foresee a major reaction to be staged by the Pakistani opposition against Pakistani support for the U.S. operation against Afghanistan.

And no destabilization of the country has been predicted by Turkish experts, who believe that Pakistani leader Perwez Musharraf is fully in control of the country.

No nuclear arms possessed by Osama bin Laden

Despite widespread belief, Turkish officials claimed that Osama bin Laden does not have nuclear weapons or chemicals.

Same officials have commented that the Taliban has already taken a defensive posture in the country.

Ankara - Turkish Daily News

Denktas: Greeks are treacherous cut-throats

Denktas sticks firmly to his guns

Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) President Rauf Denktas stated Cyprus should not be a criteria for Turkey's EU membership process.

During the "Cyprus and the European Union" conference organized by Adana City Council, Denktas stated that the KKTC did not constitute an obstacle in Turkey's failure so far to enter the European Union. Denktas said the criteria for EU membership is certain and well-defined, and added, "We condemn the people who present the KKTC as the obstacle for Turkey becoming an EU member in spite of this fact."

Denktas continued: "Cypriot Archbishop Makarios used to say 13 is a lucky number for them, for Cyprus will be the 13th island of Greece. We have always been presented and ignored as a minority government. They burnt our 103 villages and killed our children. They destroyed our 107 mosques. In spite of all this, we always tried to compromise and establish the circumstances of harmony."

Greek Cypriots are treacherous cut-throats

"There are two peoples and two republics in Cyprus at the moment. We always call the other party for compromise. However, we observe that their attitude to embargo, despise and ignore us is still continuing. Europe knows the truth, too, but the very same Europe welcomes the Greek Cypriots as potential EU members."

"EU officials only consider that the Greek Cypriot economy is good and they are perfect at democracy, education and other issues. They don't know that the very same people massacred us 40 years ago. They ignore human rights, they are treacherous cut-throats. They pretend to be the only legitimate party, and ignore our presence on the island. How can we share the same grounds for compromise? Even the Italian Foreign Minister needed to address us by proposing to apply to our views on the issue."

The passport story is a Greek plot

Denktas also vowed that the Turkish flag will never leave the island, and added: "They would have chased us into the sea, removed our flag and burnt our mosques and villages like they did in the past, if they were able to. However, they need to kill us all first."

Mentioning the alleged scandal that some Cypriot Turks had applied for a Greek passport, Denktas said: "This is a Greek plot. There are only a few people, who are businessmen. Greek newspapers wrote about it a lot. I held a meeting, in which I told this would damage our case. Then people who got Greek passports came and submitted them to me. We are busy preparing a law on this issue."

Foreign minister meets Denktas

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Ismail Cem met Denktas in Adana. During the meeting, Cem told reporters that this was a periodical meeting which was postponed from Saturday because of the recent terrorist attack in the United States.

Ankara - Turkish Daily News

DIB defends Islam in sermon

The Religious Affairs Directorate (DIB) has prepared a sermon referring to the attack in the United States. The sermon will state that in whatever name, terrorism and violence have nothing to do with Islam.

The sermon named "There is no terror in Islam" will be read this Friday in all mosques in Turkey. The sermon says that Islam etymologically means peace, compromise and tolerance; orders unity, love and brotherhood and prohibits violence and evil. The sermon follows: "It is impossible to relate any act of violence with any religion, Islam in particular. On the contrary, our religion prohibits any sort of evil, torture, violence or terror. It is absolutely out of question for our religion, which orders a merciful approach to all the creatures of the world, even to tolerate terrorism."

The last part of the sermon will be a call to humanity, which stresses that terrorism is a plague for all humanity. The sermon concludes: "Our task is to absorb and apply the orders of our religion, and to pray for humanity, always keeping in mind that Islam absolutely defies terror. As a matter of fact, our Allah orders the believers to seek for peace, not to be followers of Devil."