Statements by U.S. Officilas

Chairman of The US Joint Chiefs of Staff General Peter Pace Responds to Press Questions  Esenboga Airport

Ankara, March 24, 2006

GENERAL PACE:  Let me just say thank you to all for taking time to give me the opportunity to talk to you, and through you to talk to all the wonderful people here in Turkey.  I do want to answer your questions, but I also want to thank the Turkish Government for the hospitality shown me for the last few days, to thank General Ozkok for his support, and for the wonderful conference that he is hosting here on counterterrorism, and to certainly thank Turkey for all your leadership in the world starting with Afghanistan and all that you have done for that country, and your neighboring country here in Iraq and all that you are doing to help them to get on their feet.  Turkey is a great friend for your neighbors.  And you have certainly been a longstanding friend of the United States.  We have had decades of working together in friendship.  We have had times where we have had misunderstandings, but the critical importance of Turkey to the United States, and of the United States to Turkey, and our shared values have always meant that we will find the right way to find solutions to problems.  And I pledge to you that during the time I have the privilege of being the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff that I will do all that I can in our military-to-military relationships to ensure that we do good, both for Turkey and the United States.  So thank you and I’ll be happy to answer your questions for a couple of minutes.

Let me just say thank you to all for taking time to give me the opportunity to talk to you, and through you to talk to all the wonderful people here in Turkey.  I do want to answer your questions, but I also want to thank the Turkish Government for the hospitality shown me for the last few days, to thank General Ozkok for his support, and for the wonderful conference that he is hosting here on counterterrorism, and to certainly thank Turkey for all your leadership in the world starting with Afghanistan and all that you have done for that country, and your neighboring country here in Iraq and all that you are doing to help them to get on their feet.  Turkey is a great friend for your neighbors.  And you have certainly been a longstanding friend of the United States.  We have had decades of working together in friendship.  We have had times where we have had misunderstandings, but the critical importance of Turkey to the United States, and of the United States to Turkey, and our shared values have always meant that we will find the right way to find solutions to problems.  And I pledge to you that during the time I have the privilege of being the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff that I will do all that I can in our military-to-military relationships to ensure that we do good, both for Turkey and the United States.  So thank you and I’ll be happy to answer your questions for a couple of minutes.

QUESTION:  General Pace, I have two questions on Iraq.  One of them is after the bombings of the Golden Mosque in Iraq, there is a rise in sectarian actions.  I wonder about your views on the civil war.  How close is Iraq to civil war?  And my second question is Defense Secretary Rumsfeld said that US may increase its troops to provide more security for an upcoming Shiite holiday.  So what are the US military’s plans?

 

GENERAL PACE:  First of all, the bombing of the Golden Dome, which was a hideous terrorist act against a very holy shrine, was designed by the people who did it to start a civil war if they could.  The Iraqi people looked at that, walked up and took a look at what civil war would look like, and I believe have made the decision that they do not want civil war.  The Iraqi Government, all the elected leaders from Shiite, and Sunni, and Kurd have all called for calm.  The religious leaders have all called for calm.  The military and police have been a source of security and calm on the streets, the Iraqi military, the Iraqi police.  So although the ingredients for civil war were present, the Iraqi people clearly have chosen the path of peace, and prosperity in the future as opposed to fighting each other.  That does not mean that the future is going to be easy.  There is a lot of work to do.  But I know that they are looking to the formation of a unifying government to take them into the future. 

With regard to what Secretary Rumsfeld said about increased troop levels, we did increase troop levels about a week to ten days ago.  We brought in one extra battalion of about 700 troops.  They specifically went into some portions of Baghdad so that some Iraqi troops could be freed up to provide additional security for the 2 to 2.5 million pilgrims who are making the trek to the holy sites.  That number, that battalion will probably be going back out of Iraq within the next week or two.  I am not sure exactly when, but it will be relatively soon.  And we will continue to monitor the situation as we need to in the future.  We will increase troop strength and, as we can in the future, as Iraqi armed forces take on more and more responsibilities, we’ll be able to take some of our troops out, as will the other countries helping there.  Other questions?

QUESTION:  During your speech in the symposium you emphasized the partnership in the fight against terrorism.  But when the subject is PKK, the Turkish people are not very much convinced that there is really an existing partnership there.  Could you tell us a new single element of cooperation against the PKK rather than exchange of intelligence or activities in Europe, finance and the other things?  Beside these, is there a single new element?

GENERAL PACE:  I smile, because all the new things are of a nature such that I cannot talk about them in public.  But my smile does not mean that I do not recognize the critical importance of the PKK to Turkey.  It is a fact that the PKK is a terrorist organization.  It is a fact that thousands of Turks have lost their lives to PKK terrorist acts in Turkey.  We are committed alongside of your government to addressing the PKK problem.  It is not an easy problem that has a simple solution.  If it was easy, or had a simple solution, your government would not have been fighting them for the last thirty years.  In northern Iraq, before we can tackle that problem, we must have stability for the government in Iraq.  That means the Iraqi armed forces, the Iraqi police providing security for their own government, for their own people so that a sovereign Iraqi Government, a sovereign Turkish Government, and my government can work together to address the PKK problem once and for all. 

Having said that, there have been, and continue to be, new initiatives between our governments, and between other governments in Europe.  The fact that we cannot talk about them publicly does not mean they are not happening.  But there are certain things that are classified that are going on that are aimed at weakening the PKK.  They are not as television-worthy as attacks, but they are equally effective against the PKK organization.  And as I said, as the security situation in Iraq as a whole stabilizes, then your government, my government, and the Iraqi government will be able to continue to collaborate on doing more physically against the PKK.

QUESTION:  There is a movie called “Valley of the Wolves” which is attracting quite an amount of interest in Turkey and outside Turkey.  In your talks yesterday and today, did you touch on this issue, because it portrays the Americans, especially the American military in a very negative manner? What are your views on the movie and did you make it an issue with the people you met with? 

GENERAL PACE:  I have not raised it as an issue, because it is a film of fiction.  It has nothing to do with reality.  As I understand, although I have not seen it, it depicts Turkey and the United States fighting each other.  We have never fought each other.  We have always fought side by side. For decades we have fought side by side.  As I look to the future, our military-to-military cooperation, we are going to continue to stand side by side.  So the movie is pure fiction, and it has nothing to do with the desires of your government or mine to take the decades of freedom that have held us in good stead all these years and carry that forward into the future.  So there was no reason for me to raise with my friends here in Turkey something that is an entertainment fictional account that has nothing to do with reality and certainly nothing to do with the wonderful relationship between your country and mine. 

Thank you all very much.