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March 22, 2003
 
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Iraq's Sabri Warns Turkey Against War Moves

Reuters


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— By Inal Ersan

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - 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 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 Churayv."

The town is about 12 miles west of Baghdad.

The United States has not reported losing any warplanes in the Iraq campaign.

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.

SEEKS "TRUE ARAB STAND"

"(Iraq) wants a true stand. The Arab people took that stand but we hope the regimes (will) take this stance," he said.

Sabri also vowed his country would continue fighting.

"Thank God we have enough faith and enough will to fight and live and enough men, arms and supplies to fight for 13 more years," he said.

He earlier told Syrian television: "The Iraqi people will fight...from border to border. All of the Iraqi population is armed. There are seven million civilians with weapons apart from the armed forces."

"The Zionist invaders thought that the Iraqi people, government and troops would surrender, but they are mistaken," he said.

"We will defeat the invaders and teach them a lesson they will never forget....God willing, we will turn the deserts of Iraq into graveyards for the invaders."

He also said in the television interview, the U.S. and British reports of victories in southern Iraq amounted to psychological warfare. Iraqi forces aided by civilians were resisting, he said.

"They have taken civilians prisoners claiming that they are soldiers, which they are not."

Copyright 2003 Reuters News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

 
 
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