Turkey Down Plays Deal With US Regarding Air Strikes Against Iran

Turkeys Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul dismissed reports about an alleged US offer to permit Turkey to take out PKK bases in Iran in exchange for Turkeys support of US military strikes against Iran. The reports had been circulated earlier by German news outlets referring to CIA director Peter Goss' visit to Ankara in search for Turkeys support for US air strikes, as well as to an earlier visit regarding the same issue from FBI director Robert Mueller. In a press conference in Bursa Abdullah Gul strongly denied that the Turkish governments talks with Peter Goss were related to foreign countries. According to the report of the German ddp Nachrichtenagentur, the United States requested Turkey to keep its armed land forces ready to back the US airforce against Iran, but Abdullah Gul defined these reports as phantasy and fiction, stressing that Turkey has recently achieve significant improvements in its relations to both Iran and Syria.