Over the past few days Turkish Prime Minister Abdullah Gul has been on a tour of regional countries in his attempt to avert the danger of war in the region. In the continuation of his efforts to find a peaceful solution to the Iraqi crisis, he is due to arrive in Iran today. Gul has very valuable ideas and believes that the outbreak of a war would indeed be to the detriment of all regional countries. The Saudi Arabian daily **Okaz** quoted him as saying his visit "aims at reviewing the Iraqi crisis and ways of resolving it through peaceful means and sparing Iraq and the region the woes of war."

At the same time one must keep in mind that the Turkish army plays an active role in Turkish politics. On Friday, Turkey, a key NATO and U.S. ally, gave permission for U.S. specialists to inspect military facilities in the country as part of their preparations for war.

Gul is aware of the dire consequences of any military action by the U.S. against Iraq and will be using his deep insight into the vagaries of regional affairs during his tour of regional countries in attempt to prevent war.

Most of the countries of our region are multiethnic. The ethnic communities of one country have relatives in other neighboring countries.

That is to say, there are very large families who live in more than one country in our region.

Therefore, any military action against Iraq would have devastating consequences on its neighbors.

However, it does not mean that Saddam Hussain can or should hide himself behind the complexities of the region. If this happened, it would be another disaster for the Iraqi people and the region.

Saddam has committed many atrocities against his people and the peoples of the region. Today, millions of Iraqi children are unnecessarily suffering from all kinds of diseases because sanctions have limited Iraq's access to medicine and medical equipment. Saddam and no one else is to blame for the suffering of the Iraqi children.

At the same time we do not mean to suggest that a bullying power like the United States has any right to carry out a regime change in Iraq. It is exclusively the right of the Iraqi people, who are represented by the opposition groups. However, the situation in Iraq is very complicated.

The best way to bring about democratic changes in Iraq would be to get rid of Saddam, either by encouraging him to step down or forcing him to abdicate. Gul is welcome to explore avenues to find a peaceful solution for the removal of Saddam from power. However, it should be borne in mind that there can be no compromise on the issue of the territorial integrity of Iraq.