HC Deb 26 March 2001 vol 365 c528W
Mr. Hilary Benn

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on how many occasions in the last two years military aircraft from the Turkish air force have entered the no-fly zone in northern Iraq. [155064]

Mr. Hoon

The northern no-fly zone was established on humanitarian grounds in an effort to prevent Saddam Hussein from repressing the Kurdish civilian population from the air. The zone was not established to monitor the activity of our NATO allies. We therefore routinely collect information only on the activity of Iraqi aircraft.