Ambassador's remarks & public events

Remarks by Ambassador Ross Wilson Following His Meeting With Agriculture & Rural Affairs Minister Mehdi Eker at The Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Affairs

Ankara, January 13, 2006

AMBASSADOR WILSON:  Iyi aksamlar.  Iyi bayramlar.  I have just finished a very good meeting with Minister Eker.  And as a number of you probably are aware I have just come back from a week in the United States where the topic of avian influenza and the avian influenza outbreak in Turkey was a subject of conversation in a number of meetings that I had there.

I have conveyed to the Minister on behalf of the United States the sympathy of the United States for the victims of avian influenza for their families, and for those who are now losing property as a result of this problem.  I conveyed our appreciation to the Government for its very good work in handling this problem and the transparency with which it has acted in keeping the international communities and the international organizations that are involved in this issue well informed of what is taking place here.  I also expressed appreciation for Turkey’s good cooperation with the World Health Organization, with the Food and Agriculture Organization, with the European Center for Disease Control, and other groups that have come here to monitor developments, and to try to be supportive and helpful to Turkey as it copes with this. 

I discussed with the Minister our interest in looking to see what the United States can do.  The United States of course is a long-term, longtime ally and friend of Turkey, and this is a global threat that affects all of us.  It is important to the United States to do everything we can to be sure that our friends and our allies are able to deal as effectively as humanly possible with his problem.

I advised the Minister that two specialists from the United States Centers for Disease Control are on their way to Turkey at the request of the international organizations who are here to assist in their work.  In addition, the Minister and I discussed the further steps that the United States may take to be helpful.  Some plans and ideas are being developed in Washington.  I think there will be an announcement out of Washington about that soon.

Based on the results of this meeting today, we very, very much want to be helpful and supportive of Turkey.  The threat, of course, of avian flu is a global one.  It must be dealt with both globally and also locally, here in Turkey and everywhere where we see this problem if we are to deal with it effectively. 

I will be happy to take a couple of questions.

QUESTION:  Ambassador, have you offered any financial aid?

AMBASSADOR WILSON:  We have not been asked by the Turkish Government for financial aid.  There is a package of measures that I believe Turkey worked out in conjunction with the World Bank team that was here some number of weeks ago -- part of an effort that is supported by the United States Government.  We will of course be looking at what we can do and that was part of the subject of my conversation here today, and will be an important part of work that I hope we get underway here in the course of coming days.

QUESTION:  (inaudible)

AMBASSADOR WILSON:  Well, one of the things that Minster and I discussed was the fact that particularly in the far eastern part of the country you are dealing with a thinly populated area.  The population is widely dispersed.  You have a number of -- many, many thousands -- of small family holdings of poultry and people living in areas where access to modern communications maybe limited.  The Government describes steps that have been taken to try to inform people of this problem and advise them on the cautions that need to be taken. It seems to me that the steps that the Government has taken are exactly those that need to be taken.  The World Health Organization, FAO and others have commended the Government, especially in the area of informing the public. 

QUESTION:  Have you issued a travel warning to Turkey?

AMBASSADOR WILSON:  We have put out, I believe today, a notice to the American citizens who are in Turkey that is – will be – on our Embassy’s Web site that essentially provides an update on the facts as they were reported to us by the Turkish authorities and advises on the precautions that people need to take in particular that the disease is transmitted by poultry, birds and not transmitted human to human. (inaudible) We are not issuing a travel advisory for Turkey.