Ambassador's remarks and public events

Remarks by Ambassador Ross Wilson Peace Onyx IV Loa Signing Ceremony

Ankara, May 11, 2007

AMBASSADOR WILSON:  Thank you Mr. Minister, Undersecretary Bayar, Major General Atman, Jim Jamerson, and Gerry Jones from Lockheed Martin, General Sutton. 

It’s a great pleasure and an honor for me to be here to mark the signing of the Peace Onyx IV agreement, the latest example of a long history of close collaboration between the United States and Turkey on the F-16 which has been a backbone of Turkey’s air force and air defense since the 1980s.

Just two years ago, my predecessor, Eric Edelman, witnessed the signing of Peace Onyx III that provided for the modernization of Turkey’s existing F-16 fleet with 21^st century technology and state-of-the-art equipment.  Peace Onyx IV will complement and strengthen that program by adding to the fleet new F-16 Block 50 aircraft, the most advanced F-16 ever built. 

Together these agreements will ensure that Turkey has the advanced military aircraft required to defend itself and maintains a high degree of inner interoperability with NATO, with American and other allied forces in NATO. 

Peace Onyx IV also marks Turkey’s return to the production of F-16s, on which it has a proud history of collaboration with the United States, having produced 278 of these aircraft, including 40 for the Government of Egypt.  Peace Onyx IV also provides an ideal transition for Turkey as it prepares for the Joint Strike Fighter Program that we commemorated just a few months ago.

This program and others of its type demonstrate what our alliance and US-Turkish collaboration mean in very practical terms.  Through this work together Turkey obtains advanced equipment necessary for its defense.  Jobs are created, and there are useful exchanges of technologies that will help propel Turkey forward as a competitive manufacturer of sophisticated defense and security equipment.  Our countries together advance their operational ability to work together for their common defense. 

We look forward to our continuing close collaboration with Turkey well into the future.  And I’m very grateful, and we’re all very grateful, to Minister Gonul, to Undersecretary Bayar, to the Turkish Air Force of course, the consumer of these aircraft, to Lockheed Martin, General Electric, the many other Turkish firms who would be part of this project, for your work and your perseverance in getting us to this stage, and we will look forward, I hope soon, to signing the final contract, and then on to the delivery of these aircraft to help protect our two countries.

Thank you very much.