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Politics : Idea Of The Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: BubbaFred who wrote (41401)	11/2/2001 11:39:41 AM
From: BubbaFred	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50167

``Terrorism doesn't respect holy values, festivals or Ramadan,'' a spokesman for President Ahmet Necdet Sezer said at a press briefing. ``Of course the month of Ramadan, bearing in mind that the majority of Turkish people are Muslim, is a period we are sensitive to...(but) There is no need to observe a break in fighting terrorism because of values terrorism doesn't respect.'' dailynews.yahoo.com Friday November 2 8:43 AM ET Muslim Turkey Says No Ramadan Halt in Afghan War By Elif Unal ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey, the only Muslim country to have pledged troops to back U.S. military action in Afghanistan (news - web sites), said on Friday it did not see the Islamic holy month of Ramadan as an obstacle to military operations. ``Terrorism doesn't respect holy values, festivals or Ramadan,'' a spokesman for President Ahmet Necdet Sezer said at a press briefing. ``Of course the month of Ramadan, bearing in mind that the majority of Turkish people are Muslim, is a period we are sensitive to...(but) There is no need to observe a break in fighting terrorism because of values terrorism doesn't respect.'' The United States has indicated that it will not halt operations for Ramadan, which starts in mid-November. Turkish support on this issue would strengthen Washington's case. Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit was quoted by the Hurriyet daily newspaper on Friday as saying Turkey would do its best to ''keep distress to a minimum in such a sensitive month.'' Turkey announced on Thursday it would send around 90 special forces troops to Afghanistan as part of plans to help train opponents of the ruling Taliban government, set up a broad post-Taliban administration and provide humanitarian aid. Ecevit said government and the Armed Forces General Staff saw ground operations in Afghanistan as risky and difficult. ``We hope this problem will reach a positive result without any slide into a situation similar to the one in Vietnam or the Soviet Union's experience in Afghanistan,'' he said. Ecevit faced resistance, however, as two opposition Islamist parties said on Friday they were uniting to challenge Turkish troop deployment through the courts. Washington had asked countries for help in reconnaissance and ``combating terrorists,'' the Turkish government said, but it did not say explicitly whether Turkey would meet this request. FINAL ROLE NOT YET CLEAR Ankara said it would take all possible steps to avoid troops being drawn into fighting but acknowledged the units would have to respond if attacked. Some observers saw Turkish troops implicitly directed toward a potential combat role. Hurriyet columnist Sedat Ergin wrote on Friday, ``Concerns that a passive behind-the-lines position could lessen Turkey's weight within the coalition must have had a role in the government's change of stance.'' Asked if Turkish troops would take a frontline role, beyond training exercises away from the fighting, Ecevit was cautious. ``We did not announce a decision on that but used careful language. We said we can give priority to training. But for now it is not possible to say what circumstances will bring,'' Ecevit was quoted by Hurriyet as saying. Turkey, with NATO (news - web sites)'s second biggest standing army, is seen by Washington as a key regional ally, could be well placed to marshal a U.N.-backed Muslim peacekeeping force for Afghanistan. The United States is believed to have helped Turkey in the capture of Kurdish separatist guerrilla leader Abdullah Ocalan, snatched by Turkish special forces in Kenya in 1999. President Sezer will visit Afghan neighbor Tajikistan on Wednesday, officials said. Turkey has sought to increase its influence in Central Asia, playing on linguistic and ethnic ties to the region.