Statements by U.S. Officials

Press Conference by Congressmen Ed Whitfield (R-Ky) and Robert Wexler (D-Fl) Following Meetings in Cyprus and Ankara

At the Turkish Parliament - June 1, 2005

CONGRESSMAN WHITFIELD: Thank you very much once again, Egemen, for your involvement in helping make this trip a success. I also want to thank you three members of the Turkish Parliament who have been with us the whole way. We really appreciate your involvement, your commitment to this friendship. It is hard to believe that until just about five years ago there was no Turkish Caucus in the US Congress, and there was no US-Turkish Study Group. But since then we have grown, as Egemen said, to about 70 members in the Caucus. The Turkish Study Group is now formalized, and it is one of only four, which I think does reflect on the importance of the US-Turkish relationship. This has been a successful trip. It is not over yet, but we have been very fortunate to meet with just about all the leaders of the Turkish Government. We are also looking forward, I might add, to Mr. Erdogan and others visiting with President Bush, Vice President Cheney, and other government leaders in Washington in the first week of June. We recognize that we, as nations, have had significant differences. We also recognize that we will have differences in the future. But we also acknowledge that these bonds of personal friendships that are being formed through this US-Turkish Study Group and the Caucus can make a big difference when you get down the road and do have these differences. So whatever happens in the future, we know that the ties that bind Turkey and the US are strong and will continue to be strong as we work together to solve the many issues facing our country.

I’ll make one comment about the trip to Cyprus. We did have some great meetings. We do hope that the gesture of flying into Ercan Airport will send a message to the President of the Greek Cypriots, Mr. Papadopoulos, that the international community is not going to sit by idly while northern Cyprus is isolated. We are going back to Washington with some specific proposals and some specific goals. One, I will tell you, relates to the possibility of airline flights from Ercan into Washington DC by Turkish Cypriot Airlines. Whether or not we’ll be successful in this, I don’t know. But we are going to revisit the issue, and we are hopeful that some success will come from that. Because I think the only way that Mr. Papadopoulos will be changing his views on including all of Cyprus in its economic growth, tourism, and everything else will be when he sees that his maintaining the status quo is not going to have benefits for him. So we are going to try to change that. With that, I want to thank all of you for being here. We look forward to answering questions if you have any. At this time, I will turn the floor over to my colleague, Robert Wexler of Florida.

CONGRESSMAN WEXLER: Thank you very much. I, too, want to reiterate how thankful our delegation is to Egemen. Egemen Bagis has been a real force in reinvigorating and creating a very strong bond between the American and Turkish Parliaments. For that, he serves not only his country very well, but also the United States. Without belaboring the point, after 9/11 America suffered our greatest modern tragedy. Once again, when there was a call of duty in Afghanistan in the months that followed, our Turkish allies, our Turkish friends were there to answer that call. As it turns out, not just once but twice, Turkey as a nation led the security forces in Afghanistan which, from the American people’s point of view, is an extremely worthy act of friendship. While the media and elected officials will often tend to dwell on those differences that create controversy between two friends, the fact remains that there is much more that binds the United States and Turkey together than differentiates between us. We share common goals in terms of Middle East peace and in developing economic relations between our two countries. This trip, I think, will further that cause. Ed and I have been in Turkey on many occasions. For our colleagues, this is their first exposure to Turkey. We are old friends. They are fast becoming new friends. We share a great passion for the relationship between the American and Turkish people, and to see Turkey and experience Turkey is the beginning of the process of loving Turkey. That’s how I feel, and I thank you very much for having us here.

QUESTION: You mentioned the effort to break the isolation of the Turkish Cypriots. Do you intend to continue these efforts and take additional steps?

CONGRESSMAN WHITFIELD: Yes, we certainly do intend to continue our efforts. As I mentioned, when we go back, one specific thing that we want to be involved in is to pursue this possibility of opening direct air flights from Ercan to Washington, DC. I would also say that Egemen introduced two representatives in our association -- former members of the US Congress. They have a project involving the universities in Northern Cyprus. Nathan Deal of Georgia has a program that he is going to explore regarding college students and an exchange with the State of Georgia through the Rotary Club and Northern Cyprus. We are hoping that these small steps, as we take them, will lead to greater benefits and hopefully to reunification sooner rather than later.