Statements by U.S. Officials

Deputy Spokesman Tom Casey
Department of State Daily Press Briefing Excerpt

Washington, DC, May 2, 2007

MR. CASEY: Turkey is a friend and NATO ally. We fully support the right of the Turkish people to determine who their leaders are going to be. We certainly reject any kind of external interference into Turkish domestic political affairs and we certainly also wish to see, just as the Prime Minister said the other day, that the Turkish people should be able to decide through the ballot box who their leaders are going to be and who’s going to be in charge.

We believe that a free and democratic Turkey in which the Turkish people decide for themselves who their leaders are is critical for that country. It is critical for Europe, and it’s critical for the world and we will continue to support and call for respect for the constitutional order and democratic process in that country.

We support the democratic order in Turkey. We wish to see the constitution, the ballot box rule in Turkey. And I think the Secretary and everyone else has made that quite clear. Certainly we don't want the military or anyone else interfering in the constitutional process or doing anything in an extra constitutional way.

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