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Turkey's condition for accepting Rasmussen
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan  
press tv
Sun, 05 Apr 2009 09:00:23 GMT
The Turkish Premier says his country accepted his Danish counterpart
as the NATO head after the US vowed to address Ankara's reservations.
"We explained our reservations on (Danish Prime minister) Dane Anders
Fogh Rasmussen to (US President Barack) Obama and he gave us
guarantees on our reservations. Then our president accepted
Rasmussen's candidacy," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
Turkey had earlier threatened to veto Rasmussen over his poor handling
of a 2006 crisis over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad in a Danish
newspaper.
Erdogan said that Turkey dropped its abjections against Rasmussen
after US President Barack Obama offered promises that one of
Rasmussen's deputies would be a Turk, Reuters reported on Saturday.
"One of the issues is to have a Turk as one of his (Rasmussen)
deputies and to have our commanders in NATO command," Erdogan told
reporters in Ankara.
Obama had also given Turkey guarantees that Turkish commanders would
be present at the alliance's command, Erdogan said.
NATO leaders agreed unanimously on Saturday to appoint the Danish
prime minister as the next head of the alliance after Turkey dropped
its objections.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan  
press tv
Sun, 05 Apr 2009 09:00:23 GMT
The Turkish Premier says his country accepted his Danish counterpart
as the NATO head after the US vowed to address Ankara's reservations.
"We explained our reservations on (Danish Prime minister) Dane Anders
Fogh Rasmussen to (US President Barack) Obama and he gave us
guarantees on our reservations. Then our president accepted
Rasmussen's candidacy," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
Turkey had earlier threatened to veto Rasmussen over his poor handling
of a 2006 crisis over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad in a Danish
newspaper.
Erdogan said that Turkey dropped its abjections against Rasmussen
after US President Barack Obama offered promises that one of
Rasmussen's deputies would be a Turk, Reuters reported on Saturday.
"One of the issues is to have a Turk as one of his (Rasmussen)
deputies and to have our commanders in NATO command," Erdogan told
reporters in Ankara.
Obama had also given Turkey guarantees that Turkish commanders would
be present at the alliance's command, Erdogan said.
NATO leaders agreed unanimously on Saturday to appoint the Danish
prime minister as the next head of the alliance after Turkey dropped
its objections.