News On Turkey

Remarks by General John Abizaid,  Commander, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) Following a Meeting with Foreign Minister Gül

Ankara, January 11, 2005

GENERAL JOHN ABIZAID: Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. We had a good series of meetings today with the Secretary General of the National Security Council and also with the Foreign Minister. As you know, I am the Commander of the United States Central Command. Both Iraq and Afghanistan happen to be in my area of responsibility. We have mutual interests of great importance, both to the United States and to the Republic of Turkey. We are very, very satisfied, in particular with our cooperation in Afghanistan, and we look forward to continue cooperation for our mutual interests in Iraq. I am prepared to take a question or two.

Q: Excuse me, did you talk about the issue of Incirlik in terms of using the logistic resources of Turkey, or maybe extending those logistic resources from Turkey to Iraq?

GENERAL ABIZAID: The question was whether or not we talked about Incirlik and logistic support from there. Yes, we did mention it. Of course, it’s a Turkish base, it’s not an American base. We look forward to using the facilities there as an ally. It’s good for us, it’s good for Turkey if we can use those facilities, and we did discuss it.

Q: General, we know that the Turkish side has been demanding an operation against the PKK in northern Iraq. Did you talk about that issue?

GENERAL ABIZAID: We certainly talked about the PKK. We talked about the security situation inside Iraq. We talked about elections inside Iraq. We, like the Republic of Turkey, recognize the PKK as a terrorist organization. We also understand – all of us understand -- that our troops have a lot of work to do there along with the Iraqi security forces, and we agree that, over time, we must deal with the PKK.

Q: Can you elaborate a bit on that?

GENERAL ABIZAID: No. But I will take one more question.

Q: How about the security situation in Iraq ahead of the elections? How bad is it, and is it getting worse?

GENERAL ABIZAID: The security situation in Iraq is certainly serious in 4 of the 18 provinces. The Sunni Arab provinces of Nineva, Selahaddin, El-Anbar, and Western Baghdad are difficult areas as far as the insurgency is concerned. There is a great degree of intimidation going on against the moderate Sunni Arab community. We want to assure everyone that we are interested in the moderate Sunni Arab community participating in the elections in Iraq. The elections in Iraq are the enemy of the terrorists and the extremists. If elections in Iraq take place with all sides participating to the extent possible, we will be able to move forward in a way that’s good for peace and prosperity in the entire region. We welcome the opportunity of the Sunni Arabs to participate in any way that they can, and we are very mindful of the fact that the intimidation efforts against them are pretty severe. We also want to assure everyone that, even after the elections, even if people are forced not to vote because of the terrorists, we will ensure that the Sunni Arab moderate community participates in the future of Iraq. Thanks very much.