Ambassador's Remarks
Remarks by Ambassador Ross Wilson
Iftar Dinner hosted by the Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists of Turkey (TUSKON)
(Remarks as prepared for delivery)
October 3, 2007
Istanbul, Turkey
President Meral, dear friends. Good evening.
Ramazanınız mübarek olsun.
Bu akşam iftarda sizlerle beraber olmak ve büyük bir inanca, büyük bir ülkeye ve ABD ile Türkiye arasındaki çok önemli ilişkiye saygı göstermek benim için bir ayrıcalıktır.
[It is a privilege to be invited to join you in this Iftar dinner and to honor here tonight a great faith, a great and a critically important relationship between the United States and Turkey.]
Let me begin with a confession. Like most Americans of my generation, I grew up knowing little – nothing really – of Islam except that its believers called God Allah and that Muslims worshiped in mosques, not churches. My first iftar took place in Baku only six or seven years ago. I was uncertain and asked questions of my staff. What exactly happens at an iftar? Is there special food? How am I supposed to behave? What are the ceremonies, and what do I do? My overwhelming thought was that as a non-Muslim American, I would be seen as a stranger where I did not belong.
Your brethren in Azerbaijan made me feel at home, as have so many people here. I quickly understood that there is nothing mysterious about an iftar. I learned what a wonderful thing it is to share in the breaking of the Ramazan fast, whose observance is one of the key pillars of Islam, and to commemorate a time of prayer, reflection, sharing and compassion with fellow believers in God. Digging a little further, I found out that Ramazan iftar customs vary among countries – from illuminating lanterns in Egypt and lighting firecrackers in Pakistan, to the banging of drums that I have enjoyed here in Turkey.
To confess again, I still do not believe that I fully understand what Ramadan means to you. Of course, I know that this month commemorates the revelation of God’s word to the Prophet Mohammed in the form of the Koran. I know that for more than a billion Muslims, Ramazan is a time of heartfelt prayer, togetherness, celebration and sharing. It is a month of fasting and personal sacrifice and an opportunity to give thanks for God’s blessings through works of charity. The spirit of this holiday is a reminder that Islam brings hope and comfort to more than a billion people around the world.
Islam, Christianity and Judaism share a very central common ground. All three of these religions have at their core a profound realization that man lives under ethical authority created by God. This is how our lives make sense, and it is an important thing that American Muslims, Christians and Jews share with Turkish Moslems, Christians and Jews, and with believers in countries all over the world. I am proud to recognize that tonight and to share this evening with you.
Today’s world is messy, conflict ridden and uncertain. We face many problems. In the last several weeks, world attention has focused on the brutal dictatorship in Burma and on the imperative for rapid action to address global warming. Bitter ethnic and religious strife still hobbles the Balkans. Iraq is being brutalized by “al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia,” which just started an assassination campaign against tribal leaders, police chiefs and other local figures throughout the country doing the hard, day-to-day reconciliation and rebuilding work that country so desperately needs. Drug runners threaten Mexico’s prosperity, Lebanese parliamentarians face murder, and the horror of Darfur just seems to go on and on.
The world has seen problems before. I am by nature an optimist about the world despite that. I believe that solutions can be found to these and other issues through hard work, creativity, and collaboration among those who believe that the world’s diversity and the differences among us must be sources of strength, not drivers of fear and division. Through compassion for one another, through charity toward those in need, and through reflection and clear thinking about the world around us, solutions can be found by people of goodwill. We all know that sometimes a tough stance is called for in life and among nations, but that vision of peace and dialogue through charity and compassion is one of the reasons I was called to diplomacy almost thirty years ago.
Our two countries built an alliance by helping one another, working effectively together with others, and being clear-eyed about the world. In 1947, as the Soviet Union demanded Turkish territory and Communist insurgents threatened Greece, President Harry Truman declared it American policy to support this country and other “free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.” He said that we “must assist free peoples to work out their own destinies in their own way.”
In 2007, sixty years later, our alliance remains the defining pillar of American policy in this region. I believe that whatever differences or problems may arise between us, our work together is and will remain vital for the Turkish and American peoples.
Iraq is one of hardest issues our countries have faced together. We all know that things didn’t get off to a good start. Now we have exactly the same goals and support the same approaches for achieving those goals. We both want a united democratic Iraq that can govern, defend and sustain itself. We both believe that attempts to partition or divide Iraq by intimidation, force or other means into separate states would produce extraordinary suffering and bloodshed. We both support the Maliki government, we both are pressing for reconciliation among Iraq’s various communities, and we are working together to help the Iraqis achieve this. Our partnership on Iraq and with Iraq will be put on display in a month’s time when Secretary Rice joins Turkish leaders and foreign ministers from many countries to discuss Iraq here in Istanbul.
Similarly, we need each other and are working together to help the Middle East move away from conflict and toward dialogue. We both want to achieve this year real progress toward realizing the vision of two democratic states, Israeli and Palestinian, living side by side in peace and security.
Both our countries abhor the idea of a nuclear armed Iran. We are both disappointed that Iran has not accepted the proposal for negotiations on this problem put forward by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany. We both want that effort to succeed. More broadly, Turkey stands for freedom, democracy and international cooperation, whereas Iran stands for tyranny, rule by an unelected theocracy, and unilateral defiance of the world. For the sake of our children, we must do all we can to resolve the Iran nuclear issue peacefully.
Turkey’s approach toward the people of Afghanistan has been marked by charity and compassion. Its $100 million aid program is transforming education and health for hundreds of thousands of Afghans, especially women. Turkey has shown similar resolve in the Balkans and in Africa. Having been to Darfur three times, I was moved when Prime Minister Erdogan visited Darfur last year and delivered a planeload of help – and hope, and I drew it to President Bush’s attention last October when I was with Mr. Erdogan at the White House.
There are so many other ways in which Turkey is doing good work and where US-Turkish cooperation is making the world a better place and advancing vital interests of our countries: Kosovo, Bosnia, the Black Sea, the Caucasus and Central Asia, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories.
Since most of you are businesspeople, I would like to note my optimism about trade and investment ties between our countries. I have given this special attention in the nearly two years I have served here. I know that TUSKON has worked on this, too, as part of a broader effort to help Turkish firms make their way more successfully in the broader world economy. The offices that TUSKON opened in the United States will create new opportunities for business collaboration, and I excited about that. To reinforce these efforts, we developed a project last year with TOBB and the US Chamber of Commerce to help Turkish firms better access the American market. I hope that all of you have the “how to” booklet produced as an outcome of this work.
Our bilateral Economic Partnership Commission held its first meeting in years last February. Its Turkish and American co-chairs wisely decided not just to talk, but to develop an action plan, which is available on the websites of my embassy and the Turkish Foreign Ministry. It lays out concrete steps to address trade and investment issues, resolve regulatory problems, and expand scientific, technological and academic contacts and collaboration. We are implementing that plan, and I have tasked my staff to develop a next set of actions we might agree upon, including a roadmap for strengthening intellectual property rights, working on a new and stronger bilateral investment treaty, and looking at how we can enhance regional trade.
Our two economies are among the world’s fastest growing. The synergies are obvious, and we have to develop them. One area where we have had great success is energy and pipelines. Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan is a project I was involved in from the start, and both our countries should be proud of it. Our work now to develop Caspian Basin and Iraqi gas and the pipelines to carry that gas to Turkey and other markets beyond will be important for the economic well-being and national security of Turkey and Europe as a whole. This work is the counterpart to Turkey’s efforts to promote dialogue and regional cooperation throughout Central Asia and the Caucasus, which we support and would like to see broaden in the years to come.
Before I close, let me touch briefly on two difficult topics.
First, the PKK. Just as combating al-Qaeda together is a central element of US-Turkish relations, so is combating PKK terrorism. I am proud of the support that the United States has provided over many years on this issue. I mourn for all the victims of terror here, including those brutally murdered last weekend in Sirnak and this week in Izmir. I condemn those attacks and other terrorist attacks that are occurring on a daily basis throughout the world. They are reminders that none of us is doing enough or working as effectively as we should to combat terrorism. I am saddened that Turkey’s allies, including the United States, are not doing, or are not seen as doing, all they should now on the PKK. I am determined, and President Bush is determined, that we will be more effective in the future with our Turkish allies in preventing terrorism here and elsewhere.
The struggle against terrorism is a defining issue of the 21st Century. Whether we are talking about terrorists in northern Iraq, Afghanistan, the Philippines, central Africa, Colombia, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, the United States, northern Iraq or Turkey itself, what is required to better protect our people are vigilance, determination, cooperation among friends and neighbors, and a recognition that the battle will be long. We must not let terrorists and our other enemies divide us; that is their objective. We must stand together, and we must prevail.
Second, Armenia. Everyone knows about the resolution that is before the US House of Representatives. The Bush Administration strongly opposes this resolution, and we are working against it with speed and energy. President Bush has repeatedly recognized that among the terrible tragedies of the 20th Century was the forced exile of many, many Armenian Ottoman citizens during World War I that resulted in countless deaths. We can be deeply saddened about those tragedies while also understanding and regretting the context of war and chaos in which they took place. Political determinations on these events do no honor to the past as much as dialogue, mutual understanding and reconciliation among Turks and Armenians will. We can also honor and respect the past by continuing work together on behalf of peace and freedom and no more wars for our future and our children’s future.
Whatever happens, and I hope and believe this resolution will not pass in the House, it will have no effect on the policy of the United States government, and the imperative for the United States and Turkey to work together on our many vital common interests will not change.
Let me close with some final thoughts. As some of you know, among my family are strong American Indian roots. In thinking over how to conclude tonight, I found the words of Chief Seattle, a great Indian warrior and leader of reconciliation in the American West. Chief Seattle, after whom the American city of Seattle was named, said,
Mankind did not weave the web of life. We are but one strand in it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together.
Our great nations are bound together. Here in this region and together on the front lines of peace and freedom, our two countries need one another – to protect our liberty, to ensure our security, and to build prosperity for ourselves and for others.
I am told that in the Koran in it written that, “God is the Lord of the East and the West.” What can this mean except that God embraces the entire earth. He is the God of all – of Christians, Muslims, Jews and even atheists. And He is the God of people in Turkey and the God of people in America. We gather here tonight, and we will leave tonight, as people who practice different faiths, but are embraced by God and bound together by friendship, respect, partnership, alliance, and common interest.
Thank you.