Members of the assembly of WEU visit Turkish parliament

Robert Walter, the rapporteur of the political committee of the assembly, had a meeting with Hasan Kemal Yardimci, the chairman of the Turkish Parliament's National Defense Committee, in the capital Ankara.

Walter said they were visiting Turkey to discuss the terrorist organization PKK and problems related with the terrorist organization.

The rapporteur said that they were in an effort to explain different dimensions of the problem in a report to be presented to the assembly.

Walter said the committee prepared an initial report regarding the issue in December 2007, which was later debated at the assembly and also said the committee had talks with the regional government in north of Iraq in July.

The rapporteur said the delegation would visit Turkey's southeastern Anatolia after completing talks in Ankara, and it would try to understand better the issue and the efforts aiming at a solution.

"As your European friends, we are working to explain better the problem Turkey is facing and see how we can help a settlement," he also said.

Yardimci said the outcome of voting in the Turkish parliament on a motion regarding a cross-border operation would be the same even if last weekend's incidents had never happened.

The terrorist organization, PKK, Friday attacked on a military post in Aktutun region in the southeastern province of Hakkari, leaving 17 soldiers dead and wounding 20 others. The Turkish parliament is set to vote on Wednesday a motion extending the authorization of the military to stage a cross-border operation, for one more year.

Yardimci also said Turkey attached importance to Iraq's territorial integrity; however, there had been terrorist attacks against Turkey due to the authority vacuum in the region.

The delegation later had a meeting with Mevlut Cavusoglu, the head of the Turkish Group in the WEU Assembly.

Founded in 1954, the Assembly examines and supports intergovernmental activities at the European level in all areas of European security and defense, including cooperation on defense equipment.

Following the transfer of WEU's operational activities to the EU, the Assembly's main focus is to scrutinize the EU's European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP) while continuing to monitor the implications of WEU's collective defense commitment under Article V of the modified Brussels Treaty, as well as cooperation with NATO under Article IV, which establishes an organic link with the Atlantic Alliance. The Assembly pays particular attention to issues such as peacekeeping operations in the Balkans, the Middle East and Africa.