Turkish news agency Anatolia
October 22
urkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem said on Monday [22
October] that incidents which occurred in the world in the recent
period closely concerned Turkey and Uzbekistan, noting that "recent incidents
deeply influence our countries and geography".
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Foreign Minister Cem met his Uzbek counterpart Abdulaziz Kamilov in this country, which is the last stop of his tour to Central Asia. Speaking before the meeting, Cem said Turkey and Uzbekistan have close relations and noted that they met from time to time as the foreign ministers of the two countries. Cem said: "Of course, we will exchange views whenever we have problems. The recent incidents affected our countries and our geography." Noting that views of Uzbekistan were important for Turkey after the recent incidents, Cem said: "We want to listen to your recommendations. We started to set up a thought mechanism between Organization for Islamic Conference (OIC) and the European Union (EU) on the issue. It is very important for us to listen to the views of Uzbekistan which thinks of the stability of both Afghanistan and the region." |
Kamilov in his part said they would discuss Afghanistan issue, noting that views of the two countries about terrorism were the same. Kamilov said Turkey and Uzbekistan would think what could be done in this respect." Kamilov said they closely covered the efforts of Turkey and the views and evaluations of Turkey from televisions, noting that views of Turkey and Uzbekistan regarding terrorism and incidents in Afghanistan are the same. Kamilov said: "Efforts in this respect should meet our strategic situation. This is very important for our security." Kamilov also said, "we should negotiate with a big country like Turkey following the incident which occurred recently. This is appropriate to our strategic interests."
Foreign Minister Ismail Cem said on Monday that Turkey welcomed participation in a possible peace force planned to be formed in Afghanistan. Asked about Turkey's views regarding a peace force in Afghanistan, Cem said: "When conditions occur, we will evaluate the conditions." Cem noted that they would make their evaluations after taking into consideration the developments not only in Afghanistan but also in all geography where there was fight against terrorism. Foreign Minister Cem added: "We will consider the reality in Afghanistan. If Turkey's contributions are requested, we will approach to this issue positively and express our views."