Speeches

Remarks by Ambassador Eric Edelman Independence Day Reception

Ankara - June 16, 2005

Minister Gul, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen:

Thank you all for taking the time to celebrate with us today the 229th anniversary of the independence of the United States of America. On this day, we commemorate the Declaration of Independence, which was approved by the Continental Congress in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776.

The Declaration is at once a justification for the final break with the British Crown, and a statement of principles on which the new American Republic was to be established. At the heart of the document lies the simple, but at the time startling, even revolutionary proposition “that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” The Declaration stated that these natural rights cannot be denied or abridged by governments.

It is no accident that Abraham Lincoln returned to the principles of natural right and universal equality enshrined in the Declaration in arguing for the elimination of the stain of slavery from the United States on the eve of the Civil War. Lincoln argued forcefully that slavery in America was unjust precisely because it violated the principle of natural right embodied in the Declaration. In a debate during his 1858 campaign for the U.S. Senate, Lincoln charged that “when (my opponent) says that the black man has no place in the Declaration, he is blowing out the moral lights around us…eradicating the light of reason and the love of liberty of this American people.”

Lincoln understood the power of the principle of universal equality. He recognized that it was impossible for men to enjoy liberty in New York and Connecticut while other men were enslaved in Georgia and South Carolina. In the words of the historian Harry Jaffa, “only when the rights of man are secured everywhere will they attain their maximum security anywhere.”

When al-Qaeda terrorists flew airplanes into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, the United States came face to face with one of the most serious foreign threats in its history. After a great deal of reflection about the nature of that threat, President Bush chose the path followed by previous U.S. Presidents in times of peril. As John Lewis Gaddis has written, President Bush “broadened the agenda” beyond the immediate security threat to include the social, political, and economic factors that had allowed groups like al-Qaeda to flourish.

Not surprisingly, the President’s response was inspired by the same idea that animated Lincoln’s approach to the slavery issue. The President reasoned that the United States could not be secure in its freedom while other nations were oppressed. In effect, the President was returning to the principle of natural right set forth in the Declaration and expounded by Lincoln 150 years ago, and placing it at the heart of U.S. foreign policy.

This linkage was clearly illustrated in the President’s inaugural address in January, when he said this: “The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world. For as long as whole regions of the world simmer in resentment and tyranny, prone to ideologies that feed hatred and excuse murder, violence will gather and multiply in destructive power, and cross the most defended borders, and raise a mortal threat. So it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.”
Of course, change will not come easily. There will be setbacks along the way. But as President Bush has said: “The great objective of ending tyranny is the concentrated work of generations. The difficulty of the task is no excuse for avoiding it.”
I believe that Turkey can also inspire those willing to embark on the path of change. From the ashes of a war-shattered and impoverished empire, Kemal Ataturk, motivated by some of the same principles as the American founders, placed Turkey resolutely on its path to the West. In 80 short years, the people of Anatolia have, with great determination, worked to fulfill Ataturk’s vision of a Turkey planted firmly and finally in the West. Their achievement has been remarkable, and their work continues.

US support for Turkey’s democracy has been, and will continue to be, a basic tenet of American foreign policy. For in the end, what brings Americans and Turks together goes beyond political interest and strategic necessity. We are bound together by our shared commitment to liberty, equality, and the dignity of all men and women. It is these common values that give purpose and vitality to our alliance.

It has been a great privilege for me to serve my country in this beautiful land. As a trusted ally of the United States, Turkey can be certain that we will continue to honor your friendship, to rely on your counsel, and to depend on your help in advancing the cause of freedom.

 

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Türkçe >> Büyükelçi Eric Edelman’ın Bağımsızlık Günü Resepsiyonunda Yaptığı Konuşma / Ankara - 16 Haziran 2005