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CNN LIVE EVENT/SPECIAL

Annan Press Conference

Aired November 20, 2003 - 10:56   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Right now we want to go live now to the United Nations where the secretary-general of the U.N. is talking about the attacks in Istanbul.
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KOFI ANNAN, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: .. Turkey and the United Kingdom. And I also offer my condolences and of course I grieve with the loved ones of those who lost friends, relatives and also those who have been injured.

But, of course, those who carried out these attacks have no respect for human life and we should condemn utterly their actions.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary-General, did these attacks even though it's not located in Iraq (OFF-MIKE) do they play a roll in your thinking od returning the U.N. operations to full force in both of those countries?

ANNAN: Obviously, we live in a very dangerous world. And as I have indicated to you earlier, we are monitoring the security situation on a daily basis and we'll determine what we do with our staff depending on the evolution of the situation.

In the meantime, we are carrying out our work, doing as much as we can with our staff within Iraq and as much from our side as possible.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary-General, there has been a suggestion that perhaps there should be an Afghan-style conference for the Iraqi parties to help form an interim national assembly. And I wonder if you could comment on that.

While I have you, whether you could comment on one other thing. The al Qaeda and Taliban Sanctions Committee raises the serious issue that there are a lot of countries that are not complying and that this whole international process has a lot of leaks and isn't being very effective.

LIN: All right, we are listening to a news conference that the U.N. secretary-general is holding with reporters as he just condemns the attacks, the twin attacks in Istanbul this morning against the British consulate and a British bank in Istanbul.

Also, saying that the United Nations is reassessing the situation in Iraq to determine whether the staff would be returning, depending on the security situation on the ground. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com