AMBASSADOR'S REMARKS AND PUBLIC EVENTS

Remarks by US Ambassador Ross Wilson
Scientific American Dinner

Istanbul, September 11, 2006

Thank you very much.  Good evening it’s a pleasure to be here.

Egeman, Professor Dogrumaci, Mr. Brighton.

It is an honor for me to be here this evening to support this launch event of Scientific American’s special supplement – “the Bridge.”

Before turning to that, I think it’s necessary for me just to note that we’re not meeting on any old day, but on September 11 – a day to paraphrase President Roosevelt, a day that will live in infamy.

The al-Qaida attacks of September 11, 2001 struck fear and awe in the hearts of men, women and children throughout the United States and the world.  We remember those attacks today.  We remember that they were followed by more – in Istanbul, in London, in Madrid, and Baghdad.  These were not the only attacks, al-Qaida was not the only group.  Most infamously for Turkey it has been the revival of PKK terrorism after a relative lull following the capture of Abdullah Ocalan, which was preceded by over a decade of bloodletting that still shocks us to read about.

Over the last five years, freedom-loving countries – including the United States, Turkey and many others – have launched an assault on terrorists and terrorism.  We have done so because we have agreed on the need to protect the freedoms we enjoy, the economies that sustain our people and provide hope for a better future, to protect the cities in which we live, the things of beauty that give life meaning and pleasure, the opportunity to live in tranquility – in short, our way of life.

There have been important gains.  Al-Qaida has been uprooted from Afghanistan and its totalitarian sponsors, the Taliban, were driven out of Kabul.  But the job is messy.  It has involved painful choices and unpleasant, often regrettable realities.  Most importantly, the task is incomplete.

Nowhere are these things more apparent than here in Turkey.  Terrorist bombings last month in Istanbul, Antalya, Marmaris, and Adana, as well as on-going PKK assaults on Turkish security forces in the southeast have claimed hundreds of lives already this year.  They deeply sadden and pain all of us.

The fifth anniversary reminds us of the challenge we as civilized people face to defend ourselves and our way of life against those who would destroy it and us.  They remind us that the United States can, must and will stand with Turkey in the struggle to defeat PKK and other terrorist groups and prevent the violence that they foment.

On this day, as we remember those lost and those families shattered by terrorism on September 11, 2001 and on too many other days to count, let us renew our commitment to defeat our common enemies and to build a better world for our children.

There are many non-security ways to build a better world, one of them is trade, investment and cooperation.  That is why I am so pleased with tonight’s initiative launched by Scientific American with the support of the Turkish government and Bilkent University.

Scientific American is a publication of unique influence and prestige in my country.  It reaches an elite global readership of three million, including decision makers in business, academia and government.  Since 1990, more than twenty countries or regions have used Scientific American to promote themselves as good places for investment, business, and innovation.

“Turkey: the Bridge” is an opportunity to showcase the progress this country has made, the quality of its research, academic and business achievements, and its aspirations to become a global center of technological innovation.  As one of the fastest growing large economies, with great potential ahead of it, Turkey is an exciting place to invest and do business. 

Scientific American has recognized these opportunities.  “Turkey: the Bridge” recognizes the role that this land has played for centuries as a bridge between and among important segments of the global community of nations.  The Silk Road after all ran through Constantinople and Anatolia for a reason.  Also representative of Turkey’s interconnecting role and potential are the BTC pipeline, the work that Turkish firms do around the world building American embassies for my government, and the innovation at firms like TAI and Havelsan that have made Turkey a growing defense industry partner for us and for others.

Turkey's success is also creating new opportunities to achieve the vision that the government here and I share on the strong and diverse relationship between Turkey and the United States.  This Scientific American initiative is an opportunity to promote mutually beneficial research and development and cooperation that will further accelerate Turkey’s rise as an innovation center.

I hope that Turkish and U.S. companies and institutions will consider supporting this initiative.  I encourage those of you here, I encourage the companies that were not here but perhaps will come later, and that Scientific American I know will be talking with later, to consider participating in this initiative to market and enhance Turkey’s image for dynamism, business, technology, and innovation.

Thank you very much.