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CNN SHOWDOWN: IRAQ
Interview with Egyptian Foreign Minister
Aired March 5, 2003 - 12:10 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: The Bush administration had offered the Turks up to $15 billion in grants and loans, maybe as much as 20- 25 billion dollars for the right to station more than 60,000 U.S. troops on Turkish bases. It's not clear whether last weekend's no vote is Turkey's final word.
Let's check in with Jane Arraf, joining us live from Ankara.
Jane, what's going on in Turkey? It seems like such a muddled, muddled situation.
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, it doesn't seem to be the final word today, especially after that statement from the chief of general staff, General Helmey Ozcock (ph). As you mentioned, he was urging implicitly parliament to take up that vote again. He indicated he was doing this reluctantly. He said, Turkey's military did not want to interfere in the Democratic process, which is why they've been silent on the matter so far.
But just after saying that, he pulled out of his uniform quite a long statement and detailed exactly why the military believes Turkey has to get on board, that it should not be left on the sidelines, that it had to cooperate to be able to have a say in the war and what comes after.
Now this has given the push to prospects of another vote going to parliament. Members of the ruling party, the Justice and Development Party, tell us that they could see another vote as early as next week. They have suffered a huge rebellion within their ranks in parliament leading to that no vote, and this could change the minds of some of those members to vote the other way -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Jane, do you know if those U.S. ships are still off shore, off the ports in turkey waiting for that vote, or have they basically left and are beginning to go down plan b with no Turkish involvement?
ARRAF: No, this is just the latest of a series of deadlines that seems to have been extended. They are still off shore. Now, there are a lot of ships out there with equipment for the 4th Infanty Division, but on the port, in the Scandaroon (ph), on the Mediterranean port, things are at a standstill. There has been equipment off loaded to renovate the bases, and when Turkey's parliament voted know, that essentially stopped.
Now, everybody's waiting, but the U.S. has not made the decision to go to plan b. What we may be looking at is a revised motion going to parliament, one that may, in fact, ask for fewer numbers of troops. It may ask for a slightly different configuration, or it may ask for just the use of Turkish air bases, according to some party members.
But in any case, what it seems to be the case now, especially after that statement from the military, is it looks very likely that parliament will be asked to vote again on allowing the U.S. troops to get off those ships and come on to bases here -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Jane Arraf in Turkey.
Thanks very much for joining us, Jane, joining us with the latest on the situation involving Turkey.
A gathering meant to unite Islamic countries against war instead erupted in insults.
The Iraqi representative called the Kuwaiti representative a -- quote -- "monkey," and told him to shut up. He denounced Kuwait as a servant of the United States and a traitor to the Muslim faith. Only a quarter of the member states were represented at the Organization of the Islamic Conference. Closing statements ignored the Iraqi crisis entirely.
Joining us now from Qatar with more on this very heated debate is the Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher, who's joining us now live.
Mr. Foreign Minister, thanks very much for joining us.
Have you ever seen such an angry exchange at an Islamic or Arab summit as we've seen over these past several days?
AHMED MAHER, EGYPTIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: I've seen angry exchanges before, but not to this degree. I think the intervention of the Iraqi representative is very unfortunate. I think it is not becoming of a representative of a country in a conference like this.
BLITZER: How divided is the Islamic world? Well, let's narrow it down to the Arab world right now. You have countries like Kuwait and Qatar, which are pretty supportive of the Bush administration right now, cooperating militarily with the U.S. war plans. On the other hand, you're much more in the middle, Egypt, and on the other side Syria, Libya are totally supporting effectively Iraq right now in trying to avoid war. Have you ever seen the Arab world so divide on a critical issue like this?
MAHER: There may be different opinions, and there certainly are different opinions, but we did come out with a unanimous agreement on the necessity to work to avoid war, and on the necessity to see the respect and implementation of Security Council resolutions by all parties.
So despite the fact that there were many opinions, they all agreed on the necessity to work together for peace. This is a very important achievement, I believe. All the more so since, as you say, there are many different analyses, many different opinions.
But the search for peace, for a peaceful solution on the basis of Security Council resolutions has united everybody.
BLITZER: If Egypt were a member of the U.N. Security Council, I know you're not, but if you were, where would your government stand right now, closer let's say to France and Germany, or closer to the United States?
MAHER: This is a question that I will not answer. I mean this is very speculative, and if I were a member -- if Egypt were a member of the Security Council, it would look very, very thoroughly and very deeply into what would help reaching a peaceful solution to this very important and serious problem.
BLITZER: But Egypt does not have a problem allowing the Suez Canal to be used by U.S. military forces going on its way toward the Persian Gulf to prepare for the possibility of war. I assume that's right?
MAHER: Traffic in the Suez Canal is regulated by international conventions. We do not have the right to prevent any ship from going through the Suez Canal, unless it belongs to a country that is at war with Egypt. So we are respecting the international conventions that regulate traffic through the Suez Canal.
BLITZER: Do you believe, Mr. Foreign Minister, a war with Iraq can be avoided, even at this late moment?
MAHER: Let me tell you, I believe that we should try to avoid war, because it will have negative effects on everybody, the Americans, the Iraqis, the whole region, stability in the region, and that is why we believe that it is our duty to continue to try to avoid war until the last minute of the last hour of the 24 hours.
So it is very important for us to continue to do our best, whether we will succeed or not depends on many factors. But at least we will continue to try to do our best with those who believe, like us, that war should be avoided as much as we can.
BLITZER: Foreign minister, thanks so much for joining us. Good luck to you at this conference. We'll be speaking with you hopefully soon, appreciate your joining us very much.
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