Ambassador's remarks and public events

Ambassador Ross Wilson Interview With “Radyo ODTU”

November 3, 2006

QUESTION:  First of all, let me say that it is a great opportunity for me to be able to speak to you; I am very happy about it. I’d like to start with asking about your assignment as US Ambassador to Turkey.  After Eric Edelman there were three names being mentioned for this work as the Turkish Ambassador – Alexander Vershbow, Anthony Wayne and you.  Now I am here interviewing you.  So I’d like to ask your comments about this.  What were your distinctions, and what distinguished you among these people, and have you ever shown eagerness for this duty?

AMBASSADOR WILSON:  Thank you and good afternoon.  It’s a pleasure to have an opportunity to talk.  There is not a whole lot that I can say really about the selection process that I went through for this position.  The end result of it was that Secretary Rice asked if I would be willing to take on this job.  And I was extremely pleased to be able to.  I think she…I certainly hope that she believed that I had the right kind of experience both in general as a diplomat, and in the region, including through my time as American Ambassador in Baku, to do a good job in representing the United States here and I am delighted to be here in this country.

QUESTION:  We are also.  And my next question is one that I believe you have come across often after your comments that there is a constant cacophony in Turkish domestic politics and media.  There were loads of contrary thoughts that have been expressed from the world as well as from Turkey, like from the main opposition party.  And one important response a few days later on October 6 came from Namik Tan, the Foreign Ministry Spokesman of Turkey, and he said that it is necessary to say that if diplomatic representatives in Turkey do not make evaluations on developments in the domestic affairs of Turkey, they can avoid being misunderstood.  And after that comment I wonder have you contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs about that and what I wonder exactly is how this subject is closed between you and the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs especially after that sentence?  Have you been able to talk to Namik Tan or someone from the Foreign Ministry? 

AMBASSADOR WILSON:  On the last part of your question, I have had a number of contacts with a number of officials at the Foreign Ministry and I believe my relationship with them is just fine.  On the first part of the question or the broader issues that you raised I think that I was misreported and therefore somewhat misunderstood in terms of what I said in Washington.  And I’d characterize my views in the following way.  First, I have and the United States certainly has the deepest possible respect for President Sezer, for Chief of Staff Buyukanit, for the other military leaders, for all of Turkey’s leaders and for Turkey’s institutions.  It is an immense privilege for me to be able to work with them on the agenda that the United States and Turkey have.  It’s a great honor to serve in this country.  Second, what I was trying to say was that there is a very vibrant debate going on in this country over the widest possible range of issues.  That’s a wonderful thing.  It reflects the freedom and the democracy that has developed here in accordance with the principles and the goals that were set forward for Turkey by Ataturk 83 years ago.  Third, I have, and the United States has, a great deal of confidence in the ability of Turkey’s citizens and its institutions to work through these issues – work through issues that are properly the providence of Turks and the citizens of this country to work through and to figure out, not for foreign diplomats to comment on.

QUESTION:  Thank you.  Here's another popular question: the PKK existence in northern Iraq.  There is progress about this subject, of course, like the assignment of Special Envoy for Countering the PKK General Joseph Ralston.  And in fact he made a speech on October 19 titled “Myths About the PKK and the United States” and he answered a lot of questions there, but still I believe Turkey wants to see US make concrete and visible progress and maybe even some military action against the PKK.  What’s your opinion about that?  Will the US ever take a military act against the PKK or let Turkey do that?

AMBASSADOR WILSON:  Let me say a couple of things.  First, it is our position that has been stated at very senior levels of my government that northern Iraq shall not be a base from which terrorist attacks on Turkey are organized or funded or supplied or launched.  In order to advance that goal, the administration in Washington named General Ralston to be our Special Envoy for Countering the PKK.  His mission is first to work with Turkey and work with Iraq on a number of steps that will help to bring about that condition that northern Iraq is not a base for attacks on Turkey, and second to organize the United States government and the things that we specifically will need to do and ought to do.  He is charged by Secretary Rice and Secretary Rumsfeld with coming up with some clear recommendations to him about what we should do, what the United States and Turkey can or might do, what the United States and Iraq might do, perhaps in some measure what our three countries might do together collaboratively.  I don’t want to speculate about what he is going to recommend.  He has been very clear in saying that the use of military force is not off the table, that it is, and it should be, a last resort. But it is out there and at such time as he has made his recommendations and we are ready to discuss them with the Turkish authorities, we will do that and we will proceed from there.

QUESTION:  And here is a question about elections in Turkey, the Presidential election to be more precise.  According to the USA, what will be the effect of Prime Minister Erdogan’s possible election as President?

AMBASSADOR WILSON:  Well I’ll come back to the answer I gave in one of your earlier questions.  There is a range of issues on which it is really not appropriate for me as a foreign diplomat to comment.  And I think this is one of those.

QUESTION:  I believe this is a short and direct question.  What is Turkey for America?  A strategic partner or a country which USA is getting along well with?  Could you talk a little bit about that strategic partnership? 

AMBASSADOR WILSON:  We regard Turkey as an ally of the United States.  It’s been an ally for 50 years.  It is a close partner in the work that we do in the region, in the work that we do all around the world in fighting terrorism, in advancing democracy, in protecting this region from all manner of threats -- historically from the Soviet Union, today, from a much more diverse set of threats that NATO exists to combat and to advance our common defense against.  In July, I am sure you’re aware, Secretary Rice and Foreign Minister Gul issued a paper called the Shared Vision and Structured Dialogue Paper.  It had an awkward name.  It talked abut the common vision that we have, the common interest that we have around the world, the values for which our countries stand, and to which we are committed.  It identified about a dozen specific areas in which our countries pledged to work.  By and large, there are areas in which we have been working.  But it was useful to put that down on a piece of paper.  And it talked about a more structured, regular dialogue among the relevant people in our respective governments to work on those issues and not only talk about those issues but also work on them and achieve tangible results in all those different areas.  Our relationship is very close.  It means a lot to the United States.  I think it means a lot to the Republic of Turkey as well.

QUESTION:  You came to the Middle East Technical University for a speech some time ago, but came across some protests.  In fact for some time, after Iraq, to be more precise, Turkish people are not approaching the US in friendly terms.  And in fact there is a last incident in September.  There is a 142-year old map published in the Journal of American Forces.  This map was showing east and southeastern Anatolia as a part of Kurdistan.  And in September an American colonel had a presentation in Naples, Italy in a NATO College showing this map.  He made his presentation on this map.  This map again caused some huge intellectual reaction among Turkish people.  So the question is does the USA have plans to improve its image in Turkey?  There is a strategy for this? Do you think there is something to be improved?

AMBASSADOR WILSON:   I think you touched on at least three things.  First, with respect to my visit to METU earlier in the year, I was very honored to have been asked to meet with students.  I like to do that, because I learn a lot in every country I have served in.  And I was frankly a little disappointed.  For those students who wanted to have a conversation, who were interested in having a conversation with me as a representative of the United States, they were prevented from doing so by the actions of a small group.  That’s regrettable.  Second, with respect to this map.  The map was drawn up by a retired American army colonel.  He in no way represents or speaks for the United States government.  The journal in which this was published, Armed Forces Journal is not in any kind an official publication that gets any backing or support from the United States government.   It is a private publication.  They can publish anything they want of course.  The specifics of the map is that it has no relationship whatsoever to US policy in Turkey or in the region as a whole.  We recognize the borders that exist.  We like the borders that exist, and we want to maintain the borders as they exist including in particular with respect to Turkey, a country with which we have a treaty obligation to defend one another and to defend those borders.  I frankly cannot entirely account for the use of this map by an active duty military officer at one of our military schools.  We regret that.  I can only repeat -- it in no way corresponds in any respect to American policy with respect to Turkey or with respect to the borders in this region. 

On the broader issue of America’s image in this county, obviously I see polls, and I’m concerned about that.  I think that one of the most important ways in which we can get that problem or that issue handled a little bit better is through success in US policy with respect to Iraq.  As Iraq succeeds as a strong prosperous, stable, unified democracy on Turkey’s southern border, that will be good.  And I think people will come to recognize that what they saw as unpleasant images or things that they did not like, it ended up bringing about a better result in Iraq and I think that may be the most important thing that we can do.  The other things we try to do frankly are to try to talk to people.  That’s one of the reasons why I wanted to go to METU.  It’s one of the reasons why I try to go to other universities, talk to people like you, others, to do the best I can at explaining what it is that we are trying to do in the world.  Clearly the success of our policies whether it is in Iraq or in other places, I think, in the long term can address some of these concerns.

QUESTION: Thank you.

AMBASSADOR WILSON:  Thank you very much.  I appreciate it.