Demirel: I Would Have Won Referendum - Hürriyet

There are 8 million villagers living in the near vicinity of forests, 3 million others are living right in the forests. You should nourish affection for the people of this country as well as for the forests. I do not see any reason to veto it.”

On the Iraqi war Demirel said, “Here is the Bush doctrine: “I should hit him before he hits me. All nations of the world are either with us or against us.” Then he looked for the convicts of the September 11 incident, but he could not find them. This made him to strive for showing his strength. However he could not find Osama Bin Laden. This did not satisfy both himself and the U.S. administration. He should have found someone to blame; he found Iraq. The Americans invaded the country but they could not find mass destruction weapons, which were shown as the pretext for the war. For the first time in world history the reason for a war is being sought after the war ended.

“Hitting Iraq is a part of a greater plan, which is this: Terrorism will continue to be a big problem, it is impossible to totally remove it. According to them, the source of terrorism is radical Islam and fundamentalism. Therefore they say that the Middle East should be reformed. Then, their aim is citing Iraq as an example and making the region democratic in 20-30 years. When implementing this plan, they will establish good relations even with Iran. However U.S. is a strange country, after an election they may give up this plan.”

On Turco-American relations Demirel said, “It will take at least 30 years for U.S. to leave this region. If she is to remain here for 30 years, having good relations with U.S. is to the advantage of Turkey. However this does not necessitate for us to be the 53rd state of her.”