Statements by U.S. offficials

Daniel Fried, Assistant Secretary of State with Yasemin Congar, CNN

February 5, 2007

CNN:  Secretary Fried, good afternoon.  Thank you for being with CNN Turk.

You were present at the memorial service at St. Mary’s church in Washington for [Haran Dink] and you made a very eloquent speech there.  As you know, [Dink] was convicted of denigrating Turkishness under Article 301 last year.  In light of what has happened, what’s the US government’s view of Article 301?

Secretary Fried:  I agree with Turks, including Foreign Minister Gül who have said that the time has come to change Article 301.  After all, Turkey is a democracy and that law looks like an anachronism.  It looks like a law suitable to another country in another time.  After all, who insulted Turkishness?  [Haran Dink] or the fool who killed him?  [Haran Dink] did not insult Turkishness.  He represented some of the best in Turkish culture and history -- its multinational past, its cosmopolitan ethos, the sense of great historic depth.  Those are things I’d associate with Turkey, not a kind of cheap murderous nationalism.  That’s not the product of a confident people.  Nationalism is the product of a little people.  I think a great people, and I think the Turks are a great people, don’t need articles like Article 301.

But it doesn’t matter what I think.  It doesn’t matter.  It matters what Turks think, and I agree with those Turks like Abdullah Gül who represent today’s Turkey and tomorrow’s Turkey.

CNN:  In that respect, after the assassination many writers, many prominent novelists including Turkey’s only Nobel Laureate Mr. [Ohan Pomulk] were put under police protection.  [Ohan Pomulk] shortly before he left Istanbul was directly threatened by one of the alleged collaborators of the murderer.

The US has had difficult times with the civil rights movement, you had assassinations in this country.

Secretary Fried:  Yes.

CNN:  What can Turkey do to overcome this nationalist hatred and fear?

Secretary Fried:  Turkey has no monopoly on nationalism.  All countries are infected with this disease at one time or another.  So the question is not whether nationalism exists, it’s what good leaders do about it.  It’s important that leaders stand up with a better vision.  That’s what we went through in our country during the civil rights movement. Great leaders -- Black, White -- all stood up and said this is not America. This cannot be America, and in time, after a generation, we changed and we became our best selves rather than our worst.

So it takes moral leadership, but I see that sort of leadership when I look at the crowds in Istanbul at the funeral who said we are all Armenians, we are all [Haran Dink].  What that means is there is a better way and we represent that better way.  It’s not an insult to Turkishness, that’s a great thing.  That speaks wonderful things about the potential of Turkishness.

CNN:  Minister Gül could not participate in that funeral, but as you know he invited people from the Armenian Diaspora and people from Yerevan to come and participate and some of them did.

Given the atmosphere in Turkey do you think it’s possible for Armenia and Turkey to normalize their relations?  And what’s your message to both Ankara and Yerevan?

Secretary Fried:  I think it is possible and I think it is imperative.  Turkey is a great nation and it is a much stronger, much larger nation that Armenia.  I think you should reach out to them.  That would be very much in the spirit of [Haran Dink] and what he stood for. He insisted that he was a Turk as well as an Armenian and he refused to accept those who said you must choose.  A proud citizen of Turkey and a son of the Armenian nation.

So I think it would be worthy if in his memory Turkey took extraordinary steps at this time to reach out to Armenia.

CNN:  Of course one end of this discussion goes back to Turkey’s own history and now we have a resolution before the Congress which is calling the US government to decide, to say that what happened was genocide.  I know the administration is against the resolution. I will ask you what the administration is prepared to do to stop it, but also what Turkey can do to stop it.

Secretary Fried:  This debate has come up before and it will come up again.  It’s obviously colored both by the change in our own country and unfortunately by the murder of [Haran Dink].  What we will do is explain to the Congress that in fact this resolution will not advance the reconciliation that we all hope for.

It’s up to Turkey and Armenia to look hard at their shared past and up to Turkey to take a very hard look at its own history.  This resolution won’t help that process.  But Turkey is doing this.  It needs encouragement to complete this process.

What can Turkey do?  I think it’s important for Turkey not for the sake of the US Congress, not for the sake of foreigners, but for its own sake to reach deep into itself and be honest about its own past, and to reach out to Armenia and offer a way forward.  Turkey can show leadership on this and I hope it does.

CNN:  Let’s move on to Iraq.  Recently General Ralston was at the [Inaudible] camp in Iraq and it looks like there are steps that are being taken towards the closure, toward the eventual closer of the camp.

Again I will ask you what turkey can do to persuade the residents of the camp to go back.

Secretary Fried:  There are some things that Turkey can do, and I expect this will come up.  But it is also true that a successful PKK strategy will involve, let us say, elements of pressure but also elements of outreach -- not to the PKK, never.  But to the Kurdish population.  It will require --

CNN:  You mean the Kurdish population in Turkey?

Secretary Fried:  In Turkey but also between Turkey and the Kurdish regional government.  They’re going to be your neighbors and they should be your friends and partners.  So this is going to take a serious strategy.

But you’re quite right, General Ralston has intensified his efforts as have we.  You remember, you’ve asked me about this before and I have said that we are taking steps, and I think you’re beginning to see those and you will see more.

CNN:  Our time is limited.  Let me ask you quickly about Kirkuk too.  The national intelligence estimate, the estimate on Iraq came out and it shows that the US intelligence organizations are very much aware of the risks in Kirkuk, that it could become the center of a regional conflict.  It could even pull Turkey into Iraq if Kurds develop complete control of Kirkuk.  What is the US prepared to do to prevent Turkey from becoming such a center of conflict?

Secretary Fried:  We want to work with the Iraqi government, with the Kurdish regional government, and with our Turkish friends to support a unified Iraq, federal perhaps, but unified Iraq and one country in which oil revenue, and that’s a lot of what Kirkuk is about, in which oil revenues is equitably distributed.  This is going to take a lot of work under very difficult circumstances.

But it isn’t as if Turkey will be pulled into anything.  Turkey is a great and strong nation.  Turkey will make decisions and needs to be responsible for those.  I think that Turkey can be a very good neighbor to Iraq and I think Turkey will not want to do something that’s destabilizing.

CNN:  In one sentence, should the referendum be postponed?

Secretary Fried:  We have to respect the Iraqi Constitution.  We have to respect the decision of the Iraqis and they have to wrestle with this one.

CNN:  My last question, under what conditions would a Turkish military intervention in Iraq, can be productive?

Secretary Fried:  I think it is easier to talk about a military intervention than it is to make one productive.  I think there are serious risks if Turkey moves in, and I hope that we’re able to work with Turkey so this choice can be avoided.

CNN:  Thanks very much for your time, Mr. Secretary.

Secretary Fried:  My pleasure.