ANKARA Ñ Iran has rejected Turkish offers to send humanitarian aid
to victims of the earthquake in central Iran over the weekend.
Turkish government sources said the reason is that Teheran does not want
Turkish military aircraft flying over closed military zones in the Qazin
province.
The province contains military facilities, including suspected chemical
weapons installations.
Instead, Iran has proposed that Turkish aid be sent by land in convoys
directed by Iranian troops. Turkey, which regards Iran as a key missile and
weapons of mass destruction threat, has not formally agreed.
Both Turkey and the United States have offered humanitarian help for up
to 80,000 people left homeless by the earthquake. At first, Iranian
officials rejected the offer, fearing that envoys from both countries would
use their stay in Iran to gather information on the nation's strategic
facilities.
The largest chemical weapons facility suspected of being damaged or
destroyed is located in Qazvin, about 150 kilometers west of Teheran and
which was hard-hit by
the earthquake. The plant was completed in 1988 and is presented as a
pesticide producing facility.
[In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher raised the
prospect that the United States might keep under wraps information
regarding the state of Iranian CW facilities in Qazvin. "I'm not sure it's
going to be the kind of things that we have information that we can share
with you on," Boucher said on Tuesday. "But if we do, I'll give it to you
right away."]
But amid increasing unrest from survivors in the affected region,
Teheran has accepted the offers. At one point, the convoy that contained
Iranian Interior Minister Abdolvahed Mussavi Lari was stoned by survivors,
angry over the slow pace of rescue efforts.
Turkey has offered to send blankets, food, medicine and tents to Iran. A
statement issued by the Turkish Red Crescent agreed with Teheran's demand
that the aid be delivered overland rather than sent by air.
U.S. officials suspect that one or more chemical weapons installations
might have been damaged or destroyed during the earthquakes in Qazvin. The
latest earthquake, which measured 4.0 on the Richter scale, was reported on
Tuesday.
