Ambassador's Remarks and Public Events

Remarks by Ross Wilson American Ambassador to Turkey

Ankara, September 11, 2007

Most, if not all of us remember where we were six years ago today.  I recall my own astonishment – and then horror - as we figured out that the plane crash into the World Trade Center tower was not an accident, but the first attack among several attacks that day.

September 11, 2001, was unique in the history of the United States.  More Americans died than on any single day since the Civil War, including at Pearl Harbor.  It made tangible for Americans what too many others, including Turks, had faced for a long time.  We empathized with those victims.  In a typically American way, it made us newly curious about the countries that produced the 9/11 bombers, about their societies and about Islam, in whose name those terrorists falsely acted.

Ensuring against future attacks has become a principal aim of US foreign and defense policy.  Turkey is a key ally with us in that effort.

Every aspect of the struggle against of terrorism leaves us dissatisfied.  Today is an opportune time to reaffirm our readiness to work harder and more effectively to protect our free societies and to build a world of peace for our children.  Today is also a time to recall and honor those who lost their lives – six years ago, and before and after.  We mourn their loss.