RIYADH, Jan 11: Turkish Prime Minister Abdullah Gul arrived in the the Saudi capital on Saturday on the latest leg of a Middle East tour aimed at preventing a US-led invasion of Iraq, the embassy here said.

Welcomed at the airport by Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdel Aziz, Gul was due to hold talks “on the situation in Iraq and its implications for the region, as well as the efforts under way to settle the crisis peacefully”, an embassy spokesman said.

Before leaving Ankara, the Turkish premier defended his government’s efforts to head off military action by its key US ally.

“We are the country that would be most affected by a war. As the country which paid the highest price for the first Gulf war, it is perfectly natural for Turkey” to act in this way, he said.

Ankara estimated its losses from the 1991 conflict at 40 billion dollars, including trade lost with Iraq as a result of the UN sanctions.

Amid the mounting threats of military action, a 400-strong Turkish business delegation headed to Iraq on Friday to discuss ways of boosting trade.

During his one-day visit, Gul was due to hold talks with King Fahd and Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal as well as Crown Prince Abdullah.

The Turkish premier told Saudi Arabia’s Okaz newspaper that he was keen to hear the views of the kingdom’s leaders, who have so far steadfastly refused to make any public commitment to assist a war on Iraq by their US ally.—AFP