Iraq's Sabri Warns Turkey Against War Moves

23/03/2003| IslamWeb

Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri on Sunday warned neighboring Turkey against supporting a U.S.-led war against Baghdad, vowing "multiple harm" for Iraq's enemies. "We hope that our Turk neighbors would realize their true interest...Who seeks to harm Iraq, multiple harm would be inflicted on him," Sabri told reporters on arriving in Damascus, en route to an Arab ministerial meeting in Cairo.

Turkey's parliament agreed to allow U.S. aircraft to fly through Turkish airspace to attack Iraq, but it denied Washington's request to station 62,000 U.S. troops in Turkey.

Commenting on whether Iraq had captured any U.S. troops, Sabri said, "Today when I left Baghdad, Iraqi fighters downed an American aircraft...You know that on board there is one pilot or more. Details about that will be announced later."

In an interview with Syrian television on Saturday, Sabri had said: "Today, on my way here from Baghdad, we heard the sound of explosions. We looked to the sky and we saw an American plane falling from the sky after being hit by an Iraqi rocket. It fell in front of us in the area of Abu Churayb."

The town is about 12 miles west of Baghdad.

The United States has not reported losing any warplanes in the Iraq campaign to topple the government of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Sabri said his country would not need financial aid from fellow Arabs after the stoppage of the U.N.-administered oil-for-food program but it wanted Arab governments to take a stand alongside Iraq.

PHOTO CAPTION

Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri arrives in Damascus, March 23, 2003. (Khaled Al-Hariri/Reuters)