Turkey's prime minister discussed the Iraqi-U.S. standoff with Egypt's president Sunday in a bid to avert another Gulf War and urge Baghdad to comply with U.N. weapons inspections. Abdullah Gul told reporters after meeting with President Hosni Mubarak that their talks focused on preventing a war against Iraq. America has threatened military action against Iraq unless it cooperates fully with the U.N. disarmament process.

Turkey is opposed to military action in Iraq, its southeastern neighbor. But it also depends on Washington's support for massive IMF loans and has not ruled out allowing U.S. forces to use Turkish bases to attack Iraq, as the United States did in the 1991 Gulf War.

Ankara is sending an envoy to Baghdad on Tuesday. Gul said that mission did not aim to persuade Saddam to step aside as an alternative to war, but instead to "talk peace."

Gul's diplomatic initiative, which included a meeting with Syria's president Saturday and planned talks with Jordanian and Saudi officials, is seen as a bid to show the Turkish public that Ankara has done all it can to prevent war. Turkey, NATO's sole Muslim member, fears being alienated in the Islamic world if it backs the United States in a war with Iraq.

"We're engaged in active diplomacy. We shouldn't sit and wait," Gul said before leaving for Egypt. "It is certain that the results of a war in the Middle East will very seriously affect all the countries of the Middle East."

Gul urged Baghdad to cooperate with U.N. arms inspectors, who have said Iraq's accounting of its arms program fails to provide enough evidence to support Baghdad's claims that it has destroyed missiles, warheads and chemical agents such as VX nerve gas.

Turkey fears a U.S.-led invasion aimed at toppling Iraqi President Saddam Hussein could lead to Kurds in northern Iraq promoting secessionist aspirations among Kurds in southeastern Turkey.

Turkish troops have battled the Kurds since 1984, frequently crossing into northern Iraq, in a war that has killed some 37,000 people, mostly Kurds.

Gul said Iraq should not be "fragmented" and must maintain its full territorial integrity.

After meeting Mubarak at this Red Sea resort, Gul returned to the Egyptian capital, Cairo, where he held similar talks with Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa.

On Saturday, Gul met Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus, with both agreeing to coordinate efforts to bring a peaceful solution to the Iraqi crisis. Gul is scheduled to visit Jordan on Monday and possibly Iran. He is expected to be in Saudi Arabia on Jan. 11.

Gul said the Turkish parliament would make any final decision on whether to let Turkish bases be used in case of an attack, but he stressed his hope that war could be averted.

"I mean, we are a democratic country, of course," he said in an interview with CNN. "According to our constitution, there are certain things that only parliament decides."

"But I think, before that, we have to exhaust all the diplomatic ways, because the question of the war will be very dangerous and very wide in the region," he added.

PHOTO CAPTION

Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, right, and Turkish Prime Minister Abdullah Gul address reporters Sunday, Jan. 5, 2003, at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, after their discussions on how to avert a U.S.-led war against Iraq and to work toward a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian crisis. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali)