Ambassador's remarks and public events

Remarks by United States Ambassador Ross Wilson
For the Presidents’ Day Reception
Hosted by the Turkish-American Association

Ankara, Turkey
February 20, 2007

As Prepared for Delivery

Mehmet Bey [TAA President Mehmet Buçukoğlu], Deputy Undersecretary Haydar Berk, distinguished guests.  Good evening and welcome.

It is a pleasure for me to be with you tonight and to commemorate with the Turkish American Association Presidents’ Day 2007.

When we talk about Presidents’ Day, most Americans probably think about two presidents in particular:  Washington and Lincoln.  (Maybe this is my generation in particular:  when I was a boy, there was no Presidents’ Day, and we got both Washington’s and Lincoln’s birthdays as school holidays.)  George Washington and Abraham Lincoln are certainly worthy of this distinction.  Both were key figures in the development of the United States.  They have inspired generations of Americans, and will continue to do so long into the future. 

But today, I’d like to talk about a president that rarely inspires speeches.  Of the forty-four men to hold that office, he is often skipped over.  Yet here in Turkey, he is perhaps the most important American president.  I’m talking about Harry Truman.

Truman was an unlikely president.  He was everything that his predecessor, Franklin Roosevelt, was not. 

Roosevelt was the president who led the United States out of economic crisis and through the most devastating war in the history of mankind.  Truman was an inexperienced senator from Missouri who became vice president and then president almost by accident. 

The warm voice of Roosevelt’s “fireside chats” brought the country together during the Great Depression and helped make the case for war.  Truman’s first address to the nation was read in a nasally, slow monotone – some critics said that even the new president seemed uninspired by his own speech. 

Roosevelt was a man of large ideas – an innovative leader who seemed destined to bring greatness to himself and his country.  In comparison, Truman was viewed by many as a political lightweight following in the footsteps of a great man.

Yet it was this man, this president, who became one of the critical figures in the development of the post-Cold War world. 

Harry Truman made the key decisions that shaped (and continue to shape) the way the world works – some of which were and still are controversial, and certainly were hard.  I’m thinking about the decision to seek funding for an unprecedented, large-scale economic assistance program – the Marshall Plan – to rebuild and remake Europe after the war, the decision to go to war in Korea, and especially the decision to drop atomic bombs on Japan to spur an end to the war in the Pacific.

Among these decisions is one that looms large for Turkey, and that is the Truman Doctrine.  March 12 will mark the sixtieth anniversary of the speech in which President Truman laid out his vision for peace and stability in this part of the world. 

On March 12, 1947, Truman spoke to the Congress and proposed $400 million in aid for Turkey and Greece.  I want to repeat to you some of the language he used at that time, because I believe that it holds continuing importance today.  In his speech to Congress, Truman said:

“Since the war, Turkey has sought financial assistance from Great Britain and the United States for the purpose of effecting that modernization necessary for the maintenance of its national integrity. That integrity is essential.”

Congress supported the call for aid to Turkey and the Truman Administration’s request to fund the Marshall Plan that was proposed in June 1947.  American aid and the pledge of support rested on the proposition that our interests were served by helping the people of Turkey develop and maintain – to paraphrase one US government report – the country’s economic well-being and to sustain their determination to resist the USSR’s demands upon the nation’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Ladies and gentlemen, it has become fashionable among some in Turkey to question the continuing commitment of the United States to Turkey’s well-being.  In the media, in private conversations, in coffee-house political debates across this country, Turks are debating whether America’s commitment to Turkey’s well-being, even to Turkey’s territorial integrity, has gone away.

I say that just as the United States was firm in its commitment to Turkey’s well-being and territorial integrity in 1947, we are just as firm in our commitment to Turkey’s well-being and territorial integrity in 2007.  As Truman called Turkey’s territorial integrity “essential”, we recognize the same thing today.  As Congress, in approving US aid to Turkey, said that this country’s territorial integrity was “of importance to the security of the United States and of all freedom-loving peoples”, we recognize the same thing today.

President Truman’s vision for an economically healthy, politically stable Turkey remains our vision today.  Back in 1947, isolationists in the United States had to be convinced that supporting Turkey was the right thing to do.  No such persuasion is necessary in 2007.  Everyone in the US government, no matter the political party or level of seniority, recognizes that just as in Truman’s time, Turkey’s well-being is directly related to the well-being of the United States.

So as we celebrate this Presidents’ Day, let me end by saying that no matter who is in the White House, no matter what political ideology that person adheres to, no matter what the political climate may be, the United States is committed to its long-standing and enduring friendship with Turkey.  We continue to stand at your side, and value the partnership that will take us far into the future.

Thank you.