AMBASSADOR'S REMARKS AND PUBLIC EVENTS

Ambassador Ross Wilson Interview With Milliyet

March 1, 2006

QUESTION:  How would you characterize Turkey with respect to the Greater Middle East Project? There is a common perception in Turkey that while the U.S. declares Turkey an example for the Middle Eastern countries, the bottom line is that the U.S. considers Turkey a moderate Islamic country.  Do you characterize Turkey as a moderate Islamic country or as a secular democratic republic?

AMBASSADOR WILSON:  That’s several questions at the same time.  The way I like to phrase it is that Turkey is an inspiration to people in a variety of different parts of the world, including in the Islamic world, of what a people can accomplish with democratic institutions and with an open market economy in building a prosperous and secure future  for themselves.  At one level democracy is kind of easy. You have elections, you have open political institutions, you have decisions that get made by some level of consensus. At another level it’s very hard. It is difficult in a democracy to make decisions, to accomplish them.  I think that Turkey has shown and shows to people who are looking to move from autocratic pasts the way in which democracy can function with freedom and also producing results. And, for me, that aspect -- Turkey as a democracy that attaches a high priority to freedom and liberty -- is the most important thing, more important than any other labels I would attach. In the broader Middle East North Africa Initiative Turkey has taken upon itself the leadership in working with other countries in the region to help them understand what some of the institutions that have worked here are, that have made Turkish democracy a success and how these can be developed. And frankly the fact that Turkey has the history that it has, that it exists in this part of the world and that it has a predominantly Muslim population gives Turkey a different kind of credibility in the region that’s different from what we may have or the credibility that others may have.

QUESTION:  Do you consider this credibility vis-à-vis the Muslim countries or in a broader sense?

AMBASSADOR WILSON:  I would say both in a broader sense and vis-à-vis Muslim countries.

QUESTION:   There is also one more point which I believe makes Turkey more important. It’s not only Muslim but it’s a secular democracy.  Do you consider this as a value?

AMBASSADOR WILSON:  I consider it a value that Turkey has found a way to strike a balance – a balance that has changed over time -- between individual rights and community rights, between the responsibilities of government and people’s personal lives, including their religious convictions.  So of course Turkey’s success as a secular democracy adds to the credibility that it has in showing how democracy and freedom can advance the society’s interests throughout this part of the world and throughout the world.

QUESTION:  Can we move to Iran and Iraq? How do you see the future of the Iranian nuclear program debate?  There are growing speculations about the U.S. and Israel conducting a strike against Iran.  Do you believe in that respect diplomacy will prevail?

AMBASSADOR WILSON:  First, the United States is not planning any military activities vis-à-vis Iran. The President has very carefully not taken any action off the table. But he has also made it clear that we are working and will continue to work through diplomatic channels to deal with this problem. So we have worked very hard over the last number of months to build a broad international consensus that Iran’s nuclear weapons programs are unacceptable, that Iran needs to fulfill its obligations under the non-proliferation treaty and its obligations to the IAEA, and that we all want to work together to persuade Iran to do those things.

QUESTION:  In that respect do you think Turkey can play a mediator role?

AMBASSADOR WILSON:  Well, we are not looking for and I don’t think the Europeans are looking for Turkey or some other country to play a mediator role. What we are looking for in the immediate term is for Iran to re-suspend its uranium enrichment activities, to resume its cooperation with the IAEA, and to resume negotiations with the so-called EU-3.  Turkey can deliver that message. We believe it has delivered that message. And those are good points.

QUESTION:   When it comes to Iraq, unfortunately sectarian violence is prevailing. Do you see a way out for Iraq before it’s pulled into a civil war? And do you see any kind of Kurdish state after all this turmoil?

AMBASSADOR WILSON:  I think Prime Minister Jafari before he came here put it very well. He said Iraq is not on the verge of civil war. Clearly the events of last week and the weekend were very dramatic events. They have raised a lot of concerns in the west, in the United States and most importantly in Iraq about where the country is headed, or where the country could be headed. Over the weekend a very, very broad collection of Iraqi leaders from all of the main communities there came together. They condemned violence. They appealed for calm. They blamed the terrorists. And they recommitted themselves quickly to form a national unity government. And this is important because it included some political leaders who have had a lot of difficulty talking with one another. And I think as they are determined to succeed in forming a broad national unity government. We are determined to support them.  We think that Turkey is determined also to support those Iraqi efforts to form a strong, united and democratic government. As to your last question, I think the most important answer is that all of Iraq’s leaders, including the Kurdish leaders in Iraq, have committed themselves to the Iraqi constitution. And they are working hard right now to form this broad national unity government. That’s the focus of their efforts -- not something else.

QUESTION:  On the PKK and the disarming of the PKK, can we expect certain things from the US?

AMBASSADOR WILSON:   We have been working in the last number of months very hard with the Turkish authorities and independently on our own to try to find ways to deal comprehensively with the PKK problem that has existed and has been a thorn in Turkey’s side for twenty years. There is deep understanding at very high levels of the United States government of how important this problem is. We regard the fight against the PKK as an integral part of the overall fight against international terrorism. We’re determined to do everything we can do.

QUESTION:  I recall U.S. Ambassadors used to mention a political solution as well as a military solution to the PKK problem, saying that the Kurdish issue in Turkey cannot be eliminated only via a military solution. There should also be political steps. How do you view the issue especially the problem in Turkey, not northern Iraq?

AMBASSADOR WILSON:   Well, clearly there are very separate issues here. There is the problem of PKK terrorism which is a terrorism issue.  And it's best understood and dealt with in that context.  Ultimately to be able to deal with that, you have to deal with the support that it gets including the support that it gets from Europe and other countries outside this region. And you have to cut out the head and you have to really eliminate this as a terrorist problem.

Within Turkey, this country faces lots of different problems and challenges and meeting the aspirations of the citizens in the southeastern part of the country, including the Kurdish residents of that part of the country, is one of those challenges. Prime Minister Erdogan spoke about this last August. Other political leaders going back many years have said similar things.

QUESTION:  I think you were referring to Erdogan’s remarks that the democratic republic can be a solution to the PKK problem in Turkey.

AMBASSADOR WILSON:   I am referring to the remarks he made in August, I think it was August 2005.

QUESTION:  Do you share Prime Minister Erdogan’s view on that issue -- that that will be a solution?

AMBASSADOR WILSON:   I share Prime Minister Erdogan’s view on the importance of expanding and further perfecting Turkey’s democracy is a way to accommodate the aspirations of all its people. I also think and I believe that the Prime Minister shares this perception that the fight against terrorism is different and separate from that and one must keep these issues separate.

QUESTION:  Since March 2003 anti-Americanism has grown in Turkey. Although you are new in this job, do you see a problem with anti-Americanism? And if you do, is there a way to handle it?

AMBASSADOR WILSON:   The issue you raise is an important one. It’s not unique to Turkey. It’s not unique to 2006. The problem of anti-Americanism is one I remember talking about in western Europe twenty plus years ago when the United States deployed intermediate range ballistic missiles to Germany and other countries to counter threats from the Soviet Union.  At that time, it seemed to me that there were two somewhat separate matters. One was opposition to the policies that the United States government was carrying out. But that was not the same thing as anti-Americanism. In 2006, in Turkey, it’s clear that there are many people here who dislike the policies of the Bush Administration -- dislike the policies that we are turning out, whether it’s here or in Iraq, or elsewhere in the world. Our way of dealing with that is to try to work harder at explaining what it is that we are doing, what we’re trying to do; and work hard at listening to what people have to say; and --- my specific responsibility -- conveying to Washington what it is that Turks think, what it is that the Turkish government thinks. And I don’t think that Kurtlar Vadisi is a sign of new anti-Americanism. I think it’s a movie. In some respects, it’s not a very attractive movie, but I don’t think it has such broad implications for the future.

QUESTION:  Some of the scenes in the movie are re-enactments of scenes of Abu Graib prison photos. And I think that’s one of the reasons the movie has that anti-Americanism point.  Actually, I dedicated one of my columns to this movie and in my column I said this movie is anti-American as well as anti-Turkey. I don’t know if you have seen it.

AMBASSADOR WILSON:   I did see that article. I thought you had a lot of good things to say. The film is fiction. It does not reflect the reality of the way Turkey and the United States interact with one another. And it’s not, certainly not, the direction in which the United States government and the Turkish government together are trying to go in the future.

QUESTION:  I completely agree with you. Have you seen the movie?

AMBASSADOR WILSON:   I have not. I don’t generally go to the movies.  In the last ten years I think I have been to two or three movies.  The only ones that I see are on airplanes. 

QUESTION:  Currently there is a debate or controversy on forming transparency in government finances and personal finances as well.  In one of our headline stories, we highlighted how transparent the American system is.  We also emphasized that President Bush’s financial disclosure is just one Internet click away.  A good diplomat friend of mine was telling me that there are “three Ts” -- three basic pillars of the American system -- tax, transparency and trust.  How do you see the current situation in Turkey? 

AMBASSADOR WILSON:  I don’t think it is appropriate for me to comment on it very much.  Clearly it is a lively debate.  It is an important set of issues.  How they are resolved is important to the kind of democracy that Turkey is going to be.  Here as in most countries people are very interested in good governance and in clean governance.  There is also an element of course of politics in these discussions that are going on. 

QUESTION:  Thank you very much for giving your time to us.

AMBASSADOR WILSON: Thank you very much.