While Baghdad and Washington continued their war of words, the prospects of real fighting got the cold shoulder from Turkey, home to strategic US air bases, which said it wanted UN approval for war before any action.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, leader of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) party, said on Friday "we and government officials say Turkey will not clarify its decision (on possible military action against Iraq) without a UN Security Council resolution."

He signaled that Turkey, home to NATO air bases, was not convinced by US allegations that Iraq holds weapons of mass destruction.

"The report of the UN inspectors on weapons of mass destruction is important to us," Erdogan said, referring to a report due to be submitted to the UN Security Council on January 27.

Turkey is facing intense pressure from key ally Washington to provide support for a possible operation to topple the regime in Baghdad.

Government leaders and top brass were due to hold a security meeting Friday to discuss whether to give that support, amid fears in Ankara that a war would hurt the Turkish economy and spark possible unrest on both Kurdish-populated sides of the Turkish-Iraqi border.

In a bid to allay those concerns, US Under-Secretary of State for Political Affairs Marc Grossman and Treasury Undersecretary John Taylor kicked off talks with Turkish officials Friday on an economic aid package.

While officials were tight-lipped on the amount, press reports said Ankara was seeking some 28 billion dollars in compensation for estimated damages a war would cause to its vital economic sectors.

The only Muslim member of NATO, Turkey has long called for a peaceful resolution to the Iraqi crisis.

Meanwhile, UN arms experts carried on with their search for Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction as new tensions simmered over the nuts and bolts of their work.

Three convoys of all-terrain vehicles belonging to the UN Monitoring, Control and Inspections Commission (UNMOVIC) left their base at Baghdad's former Canal Hotel at 8:30 am (0530 GMT), an AFP correspondent witnessed.

Iraqi officials said one team, consisting of chemical and missile specialists, went to a site on the southern outskirts of Baghdad, while a group of biological experts visited an alcohol manufacturing plant in the capital.

A group of support specialists traveled 400 kilometers (248 miles) north to Mossul, to arrange lodgings for a branch office that is to be set up there.

On Thursday, General Hossam Mohammad Amin, head of the Iraqi body that liaises with the United Nations, said inspectors had "found no direct or indirect proof" that Iraq possesses weapons prohibited by the United Nations.

Amin also hinted at a possible clash between Iraq and inspectors over scientists now or formerly involved in chemical, biological, nuclear and ballistic missile programs and associated research, development and production facilities.

UN Security Council Resolution 1441, which tightened the inspections regime, requires "immediate, unimpeded, unrestricted, and private access to all officials and other persons" whom UNMOVIC or the International Atomic Energy Agency wish to interview.

The United States has insisted that the inspectors exercise what it considers their power under the resolution and bring the scientists -- with their families -- out of Iraq to be interviewed without fear of retribution or intimidation.

Questioned about the US demand, Amin, who chairs the National Monitoring Directorate that liases with inspectors, said: "We do not think it is necessary. People are free to accept these interviews or to refuse them.

"Not the National Monitoring Directorate, the Iraqi government, UNMOVIC (the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspections Commission) or the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) can constrain anyone to be interviewed.

"We leave (the scientists) the choice to accept or refuse," he said.

Amin added a list of scientists who could be interviewed "will be ready in two or three days, probably Sunday."

For its part, Ath-Thawra, mouthpiece of Iraq's ruling Baath party, said Friday US allegations on weapons of mass destruction were "part of its strategy of lies, but Baghdad has succeeded in unmasking these deceptions by accepting the return of (UN arms) inspectors."

Elsewhere, the head of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Ruud Lubbers warned Friday a war in Iraq would be a humanitarian disaster.

"A war in Iraq will be a disaster from the humanitarian perspective," Ruud Lubbers told BBC radio, adding everything must be done to avoid the outbreak of a military conflict.

The UNHCR is preparing to cope with a wave of tens of thousands of refugees in case of a war, Lubbers warned in October.

Heightening tension still more, Iraq's INA news agency reported Thursday three Iraqi civilians were killed and another 16 wounded in a raid early Thursday by US and British warplanes enforcing the Iraqi southern no-fly zone.

The attack was in retaliation for Monday's downing of a Predator spy drone by Iraqi anti-aircraft fire and warplanes which entered the "no-fly" zone over the southern part of the country, the command said.

Copyright © 2002 AFP

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