Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammad Askeri Friday publicized proposals made to Turkey in a bid to solve the Iraqi-Turkish border crisis, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported.
"We should strengthen Iraqi security outposts under the coordination of coalition forces in Iraq and establish new outposts," Askeri said, adding that meetings should be held between militaries of Turkey and Iraq and a Turkey-U.S.-Iraq trilateral coordination mechanism should be reactivated.
But the spokesman noted that "we have not received any response from the Turkish side yet in regard to our proposals."
Concerning eight missing Turkish soldiers, Askeri said that "the Iraqi government will send these soldiers back to Turkey" once they were found.
The Iraqi government understands the pressure under which the Turkish government is in regard to terror acts of the banned Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK), Askeri said.
He underlined that "we want to resolve the PKK problem through diplomacy rather than military ways."
However, Askeri did not reply to a question on whether Iraq will extradite PKK terrorists to Turkey.
Turkish and Iraqi officials, including Iraqi Defense Minister Abdel Qader Jassim al-Obeidi and National Security Minister Shirwan al-Waeli and Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan and Interior Minister Besir Atalay held hours of hard talks here on Friday, seeking to avert a Turkish incursion against PKK in northern Iraq.
Source: Xinhua
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