Senior Iraqi visits Turkey

The head of the Iraqi foreign ministry, Riyadh al-Qaysi, arrived in Ankara yesterday as Turkey renewed its attempts to bridge differences between Baghdad and the Gulf war-era alliance ranged against it, Hugh Pope reports from Istanbul. The Turkish Foreign Minister, Hikmet Cetin, said he would probably meet Mr Qaysi. But Turkish officials stressed they would not step out of line with the allies and that they would not be ganging up against the Kurds.

'We agree that a permanent solution for Iraq is unlikely until Saddam goes. But the fundamental difference is that the Americans believe Saddam will go soon and that we believe he is solid,' one senior Turkish official said.