ISTANBUL - ''Last night, it was told in a news program that 100 thousand civilians have been killed in Iraq so far. This is a huge tragedy,'' Turkish Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc said on Monday.
Replying to questions of journalists about the motion which was rejected by the Turkish parliament on March 1st, 2003 (not allowing US troops to cross into Iraq to start the war) Arinc said, ''everybody should respect decisions of the parliament since it reflect the will of our people.''
''It is quite natural that Turkey was closely interested in developments in Iraq. Therefore, we emphasized that Iraq's territorial integrity was of great importance, and that if Iraq was ripped up, it will play havoc with the whole region. Also, we urged that measures should be taken to prevent ethnic and religious diversities from turning into a reason of clash,'' he said.
''Last night, in a news program it was announced that 100 thousand civilians have been killed in Iraq so far. It shows that Iraq turned into a hell. It also shows that our concerns before March 1st (2003) were totally rightful. We had talks with American officials before and after March 1st. We conveyed our recommendations to them. However, they did not take them seriously. Continuing image of occupation in Iraq and approaches to different ethnic and religious groups have caused severe damage. We hope that Iraq will become a democratic country. All diversities will be included in a newly developing democracy as richness of the country,'' he added.