July 14, 2002	Sunday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 3, 1423

WASHINGTON, July 13: US Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz will visit Turkey for talks on Iraq and other security issues despite political turmoil that has shaken the government of Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit, a senior US defence official said Friday.

Wolfowitz departed Saturday on a five-day trip that also will take him to Kabul for talks with Afghan leaders on, among other issues, last week’s “friendly fire” killings of civilians in an air strike in Uruzgan province, the official said.

Wolfowitz will stop first in Istanbul to deliver a speech on Sunday and then return to Ankara for meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday after a daylong trip to Afghanistan on Monday.

Marc Grossman, the State Department’s number three diplomat, and General Joseph Ralston, commander of US forces in Europe, will join Wolfowitz in Ankara for his meetings with Ecevit and other top Turkish leaders, he said.

“It’s hard to see how one would avoid the subject of Iraq,” the official said. “Turkey borders Iraq. We’ll be talking about national security. One can’t discuss that subject without discussing Iraq.”

US warplanes use Turkey’s Incirlik air base to enforce a no-fly zone over northern Iraq, and analysts regard Ankara’s support as crucial to any US military action aimed at toppling Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

The senior US official noted that President George Bush has not approved any war plans but has made it US policy to bring about “regime change” in Iraq.

“These consultations will of course be an opportunity for us to get Turkey’s thoughts on Iraq,” he said. “I’m sure the topic will come up and we’ll benefit from Turkey’s views.”

In Afghanistan, Wolfowitz will meet with President Hamid Karzai, Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah and Defense Minister Mohammad Qasim Fahim on US military operations, the training of an Afghan national army and the Turkish-led International Security Assistance Force in Kabul.

A sore point will be the killing of as many as 48 civilians on July 1 when a US special forces AC-130 gunship responded to what its gunners believed was anti-aircraft fire during an operation in Dherawad district in Uruzgan.—AFP