RIYADH, January 11 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – U.S. allies Saudi Arabia and Turkey held talks Saturday, January 11, aimed at warding off any U.S.-led war on Iraq, amid strong domestic opposition to such a conflict in both countries.

The first Turkish Premier to visit the kingdom in a decade, Abdullah Gul discussed with Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz “the entirety of the situation in the Middle East,” the official Saudi Press Agency said.

The agenda covered the “situation in Iraq and its implications for the region, as well as the efforts under way to settle the crisis peacefully,” a Turkish embassy spokesman said, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

Gul has already visited Syria, Egypt and Jordan as part of his diplomatic offensive to avoid a war. He is set to go on to Iran Sunday, the final stop on his regional tour.

Before leaving Ankara, the Turkish premier defended his government’s efforts to head off military action by its U.S. ally.

“We are the country that would be most affected by a war. As the country which paid the highest price for the first Gulf war, it is perfectly natural for Turkey” to act in this way,” he said.

Ankara estimated its losses from the 1991 conflict at 40 billion dollars, including trade lost with Iraq as a result of the U.N. sanctions imposed on its southern neighbor following Baghdad’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

Amid the mounting threats of military action, a 400-strong Turkish business delegation headed to Iraq Friday to discuss ways of boosting trade.

The delegation’s head, Foreign Trade Minister Kursat Tuzmen, held talks with Iraqi ministers Saturday, the official INA news agency said.

The Turkish premier told Saudi Arabia’s Okaz newspaper that he was keen to hear the views of the kingdom’s leaders, who have so far steadfastly refused to make any public commitment to assist a war on Iraq by their U.S. ally.

On Friday, Turkey, a key NATO ally of the United States, gave permission for U.S. specialists to inspect military facilities in the country as part of preparations for war. However, the country is waiting for a decision from the U.N. Security Council before taking any decision to participate in a conflict.

Gul is the first Turkish premier to visit Saudi Arabia since 1993. Turkey’s growing links with Israel, particularly a defense pact signed in 1996, sparked a sharp cooling of relations.

Iraqi Forces Train to Fight off Attack

On the military level, a British aircraft carrier, the Ark Royal, set sail for the Gulf Saturday as Washington ordered another 35,000 troops to the region while thousands of Iraqi militia forces trained to fight off an attack.

With war clouds hanging over the Middle East, Arab and Western leaders were still hoping a military strike on Baghdad could be averted although a former U.N. humanitarian chief said Washington was determined to hit Iraq.

On the ground, military contingents from four sections of Iraq’s ruling Baath party in Baghdad’s Al-Karakh district were involved “in implementation of a plan to bring down any aggression,” the government daily Al-Jumhuriya said.

“These exercises are part of active military preparations to consolidate national resistance in various regions and to fight the Americans,” the Baghdad daily said.

Reports of the drills came as the British carrier, Ark Royal, headed off for the Gulf as part of the Royal Navy’s biggest deployment in 20 years and was due to be followed by 15 other ships in coming days, the general staff said, AFP reported.

The British deployment was officially aimed at taking part in joint naval exercises with key allies in the Far East this summer, but its Gulf destination heightened speculation that it was being readied for operations against Iraq.

Earlier this week, British Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon announced plans to deploy a force of 3,000 marine commandos and called up 1,500 reservists in readiness for possible war against Iraq.

On Friday, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld signed orders to deploy another 35,000 troops over the coming weeks, pushing U.S. force levels in the region to more than 120,000.

Secretary of State Colin Powell reiterated that the United States was resolved to disarm Iraq through military means if necessary, with or without U.N. approval.

But on Saturday, the Times of London said British Prime Minister Tony Blair would hold talks with U.S. President George W. Bush and chief U.N. arms inspector Hans Blix “to prevent early military action in Iraq becoming inevitable.”

Blair would fly to Washington towards the end of January to deliver a message that the United Nations should be given “time and space” to deal with Saddam, and hopes to speak with Blix before he delivers his assessment of Iraq’s compliance with U.N. disarmament demands on January 27.