Turkish PM Tayyip Erdogan responded to U.S. Secretary of State Rice’s warning that Turkey should not engage in an across the border intervention to Iraq, when he was in Bucharest, on an official visit to Romania. At a joint press conference with Romanian PM Calin Popescu, Erdogan was asked to comment on Condoleezza Rice’s remarks.
He said, “They may express hope or wish for us not to conduct an over the border operation, but whether to do it or not is only for us to decide. One would ask, ‘Why did America come to Iraq from tens of thousands of kilometers away? Why was America disturbed by Iraq?’ Now, as our strategic ally America is in a position to act with us. Turkey acted together with them in Afghanistan.”
Source: Hurriyet, Turkey, October 25, 2007
