Speeches

Remarks by Ambassador Eric S. Edelman after his meeting with Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan

At the Prime Ministry

Ankara, Turkey, December 31, 2003

Ambassador Eric Edelman: Good morning and "mutlu yillar" to all of you. I just had an opportunity to have a very good, lengthy discussion with the Prime Minister. I conveyed to him a letter from President Bush wishing him a happy new year and laying out a little bit about his visit. I noted some speculation about the visit in the Turkish press this morning. But it's not correct, either with regard to the time of the meeting, the length of the meeting or the program in Washington. I told the Prime Minister that President Bush and everyone else in Washington is very much looking forward to a very intense and very constructive visit. We had a lot of discussion about exactly how that will work today. That's really all I have to say at this point. More details will be available as we get further into the planning. Thank you all very much.