25 January 2004	Sunday	02 Zilhaj 1424

DAVOS, Jan 24: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan came out on Saturday against direct elections for an interim government in Iraq before US occupation forces hand over power by July 1.

Mr Erdogan spoke at the World Economic Forum a day before travelling to the United States for talks with US officials, whose plans to restore self-rule in Iraq have run into demands by Shias for early direct polls.

He said of the election proposal: "I don't think that's correct. There should be first of all something that will embrace the whole of Iraq. They should have a constitution that will be well prepared.

"After the constitution, an international organisation should be the sponsor to carry out a healthy population count and a healthy census, and after that then general elections and local elections can be held in Iraq."

The US had planned to choose an interim administration through caucuses and has sought help from the United Nations to resolve the objections of Grand Ayatollah Ali al Sistani, Iraq's leading Shia figure.

Mr Erdogan, whose government is concerned that expanded self-rule for Iraqi Kurds could give ideas to Turkey's own restive Kurdish population, reiterated his opposition to an ethnically based federal structure for Iraq.

US officials have signalled their intention to create a sort of federation in the country of 25 million people that is a potentially volatile mix of Shias, Sunnis and Kurds.-AFP