"Inspection teams are present here and our cooperation with them is continuing, but if America wants to find a pretext for aggression, only the neighboring countries in the region can prevent it," Saddam told visiting Turkish State Minister of Trade Kursat Tuzmen.

"Through clarity, seriousness and brotherly dialogue, we can reach a better bilateral cooperation which would lead to a high degree of stability in the region," Saddam said in his meeting with Tuzmen.

Official Iraq News Agency INA said Tuzmen was carrying a letter from Turkish Prime Minister Abdullah Gul, which "conveyed Turkey's stance towards Iraq and the unity of Iraqi people and explained Turkey's efforts in this respect."

The United states has repeatedly accused Iraq of secretly pursuing weapons of mass destruction programs and threatened to take military actions preemptively if Iraq fails to disarm itself.

As the US military buildup in the Gulf region gets ready for a war against Iraq, Washington is growing more and more impatient over Ankara's reluctance to give a prompt reply to its request for an active contribution to a likely operation against Iraq.

Turkey, the only Muslim member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), has made it clear that it would rather wait for another UN Security Council resolution on Iraq at the end of this month before giving a definite reply to the Americans.

(Xinhua News Agency January 13, 2003)