Ankara, Turkey ? Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit warned Iraq on Wednesday to abandon claims that U.N. inspectors are spies and allow them back for weapons inspections.

The Turkish leader’s remarks came a day after he said U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney had told him military action against Iraq was not imminent. Ecevit said Cheney’s assurances were an opportunity for Iraq to reduce tensions and avoid military action.

“Claims that the inspectors are spies are just empty words,” Ecevit said in an interview on NTV television. “Instead of its suspicions, Iraq should open its doors to inspections and refrain from actions that threaten regional countries.”

Cheney met with Ecevit on Tuesday at the end of an 11-nation visit that many said was aimed at drumming up support for a possible campaign to overthrow Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. The United States accuses Iraq of developing weapons of mass destruction.

Iraq says it has dismantled its weapons of mass destruction, but has refused to let U.N. inspectors return since their 1998 departure, accusing some of the inspectors of espionage.

“I want to seriously warn the Iraqi administration: this is a very important opportunity given to them. If they seriously accept U.N. inspections … then we can expect the United States to adopt a more positive attitude,” Ecevit said.

Ecevit said the U.S. administration was intent on toppling Saddam, but had not made any decisions on how to proceed.

He reiterated that a war in Iraq would have devastating effects on Turkey’s crisis-striken economy.

Turkey was a staging point for U.S. attacks during the 1991 Gulf War and U.S. planes continue to be based at Incirlik air base, from which they patrol a no-fly zone over northern Iraq.

Ecevit said Turkey was willing to replace Britain in leading the international peacekeeping force in Afghanistan. But he said Turkey still had some conditions that had to be met before it would accept taking over the force.

Turkey has reservations over the cost of the force and wants assurances that other leading nations will back it up.

Cheney told Turkish leaders that the U.S. administration was sending Congress a dlrs 228 million aid package to help Turkey defray peacekeeping costs.

“This will to some extent meet our costs,” Ecevit said.