Embassy of the United States

NTV:  Welcome to NTV studio. 

GENERAL RALSTON:  Thank you.

NTV:  General Ralston, today you had talks with some Turkish authorities.  Have there been any decisions taken up to now? The Turkish public is expecting concrete steps from the US as soon as possible.  Can we expect such steps as soon as possible?

GENERAL RALSTON:  First of all, let me express my deepest sympathies to the families of the victims of this absolutely senseless terrorism and to all of the Turkish people.  Secondly, my government is very concerned with this issue and has made a major effort to come forward with a set of concrete measure that can be taken to counter the PKK.  I look forward to working with my counterpart General Baser as we come up with a whole range of issues that we think can in fact counter the PKK.  They need to be visible measures; some will be visible, some will not be visible.  But we want to put this on the very top of the list.

NTV:  The visible measures – do they also include military options, that is, a military operation against the PKK in Iraq?

GENERAL RALSTON:  First of all, as a former military officer, you would like the military operations to always be the last resort.  You want to do all you can on the diplomatic front, on the police front, interrupt financial flows, and have the government of Iraq do those things that they should be doing as a government.  So I will be leaving here, going to Baghdad where I will be meeting with the Iraqi Government officials as well as with the American military officials there.  And let’s look and see what is it that we can do to be more effective in countering the PKK. 

NTV:  When can we see the first concrete step according to your idea?  Can we see the results of your work in one month, six months, one year?

GENERAL RALSTON:  I’m not going to put a time limit on it.  It needs to be measures that are effective, that are efficient, and urgent.  And this is something that we want to do as quickly as we can. 

NTV:  General Ralston, everyday, as you mentioned at the beginning of the interview, innocent people are losing their lives including small children, and security forces are also have lost their lives. If Turkey decides to make an operation in northern Iraq against PKK terror, how would you comment?

GENERAL RALSTON:  First of all, Turkey is a sovereign nation, and Turkey will have to take whatever measures they feel are in their interest.  Once again, as a military officer, I would like for the use of force to be the last resort, not the first resort.  And I think there are several measures that we can take that will be effective.

NTV:  General Ralston, there are some concerns, some comments, some doubts about the frame of your mission.  What will your mission be exactly?

GENERAL RALSTON:  My mission will be to work with Turkish authorities, with General Baser, to work with Iraqi authorities and with US authorities to come up with a full range of measures that we can take that will be effective in countering the PKK. 

NTV:  General Ralston some people claim that your mission may help the PKK terrorist organization to get more ground for their political ambitions.  How would you comment?  And a follow up question – are you planning direct or indirect talks with the PKK?

GENERAL RALSTON:  Let me answer the last question first, and let me say unequivocally, no, I will not meet with any terrorist organization.  The PKK is a terrorist organization.  It has been declared such by the United States Government, by the Turkish Government, by the European Union.  I know that there are speculations about that, but let me put that to rest -- I will not meet with the PKK.  Secondly, we are interested in getting rid of the PKK and terrorist organizations.  So, I have no agenda behind that.

NTV:  You are talking about direct talks.  How about indirect talks, because it is also the doubt of many people in Turkey?  Can you have some indirect talks with the PKK through some envoys or whatever?

GENERAL RALSTON:  My intent is to work with the Turkish Government and with the Iraqi Government and with the US Government to come up with a series of measures that can get rid of the PKK -- that can counter them.

NTV:  You were just talking about the EU and so something came to my mind.  Do you believe that Turkey gets enough support from the international audience in the frame of its fight against the PKK?  How would you comment on that?

GENERAL RALSTON:  Every country has a terrorist problem of some kind.  And people always tend to concentrate on the terrorist organization that is affecting them most directly.  In the case of Turkey, it clearly is the PKK.  So I think that raising this issue in the appropriate arenas can be very helpful in making other people understand what Turkey is going through.  You know last night the example of the terrorists in Diyarbakir and the loss of life of all the citizens but particularly the children -- that is just something that is so horrific that we have got to put an end to that.

NTV:  You have said that you will go from Ankara to Baghdad to have talks with the Iraqi officials.  My question is do you have any idea or do you have any information when the Baghdad Government will have a special envoy for fighting against the PKK?  Do you have any idea about it?

GENERAL RALSTON:  That’s one of the items of discussion that I will have with the Iraqi Government tomorrow. 

NTV:  So in this case there is no schedule yet when you’ll have your first meeting with the Turkish envoy, General Baser, and your Iraqi counterpart.

GENERAL RALSTON:  Well, I have already met with General Baser today.

NTV: The three of you together.

GENERAL RALSTON:  Those are measures to be determined yet.

NTV:  Sir, another question.  Some people in Iraq claim, actually the Kurds in Iraq, that there should be also an envoy of the Iraqi Kurds.  Is there going to be such a situation?  Are you going to have an Iraqi Kurd counterpart?

GENERAL RALSTON:  I am looking for a representative of the Iraqi Government.  That’s who I am interested in working with.

NTV:  The same people, the same observers claim that in case there is no Iraqi Kurdish counterpart for you, there is not going to be an efficient process.  How would you evaluate that?

GENERAL RALSTON:  Well, that’s the type of thing that we need to discuss with the Iraqi Government.  This is something that has to be done government to government to government.  It has to be the Iraqi Government, the Turkish Government and the US Government.

NTV:  Turkey is not the only country fighting against the PKK at the moment.  Iran is also fighting and actually attacking at the moment the PKK position in Iraq.  How do you evaluate Iran's fight against the PKK?

GENERAL RALSTON:  That’s something that is not within my particular mandate and I don’t have a comment on that.

NTV:  If Turkey decides to cooperate with Iran against the PKK, how would you comment about it?

GENERAL RALSTON:  Once again, I would comment that Turkey is a sovereign nation, and Turkey will have to make those decisions that they feel are in their best interest.  And I am very confident after my meetings with the Turkish Government today that they will be very cooperative.  We are all in this together.  We all want to come up with a set of effective measures against the PKK, and that’s what I’m interested in.

NTV:  What were your specific demands, requests from the Turkish authorities in your talks today?

GENERAL RALSTON:  We had very broad-ranging talks today -- from broad-range to specifics, but none of us are ready to make specific recommendations at this point.

NTV:  Let me ask you a question, because you are an ex-general of the US Army at a very high rank.  The Turkish public always expects an operation against the PKK from the US in northern Iraq.  Why can't or don't US forces make an operation against the PKK in northern Iraq?

GENERAL RALSTON:  These are the types of discussions that I will have.  I am meeting with General Casey tomorrow in Baghdad and we will see as we go thorough those discussions. 

NTV:  Some people claim that if it is not possible to make a large scale operation against the PKK, maybe a small type of operation can be made by the US forces against some leaders of the PKK.  Would you consider it?  How do you evaluate that?

GENERAL RALSTON:  Once again, I would like to see the use of force as a last resort, and I think there are a lot of effective measures that we all need to take prior to that time.

NTV:  What are those measures?  Can you elaborate on it? For example can you stop in the near future the financial sources of the PKK? Or can you stop their relations with European countries?  What are these measures?

GENERAL RALSTON:  Certainly, disrupting financial networks is very, very important.  Certainly closing PKK offices is important.  Certainly arresting known terrorists and criminals is important.  There are a whole series of measures that we need to look at. 

NTV:  How about the territorial integrity of Iraq?  Do you believe that Baghdad can keep the territorial integrity of Iraq in the long term?

GENERAL RALSTON:  Certainly the US Government’s position is that we strongly support the territorial integrity of Iraq and that we are all working towards that as an end.

NTV:  Some people claim that in one way or another there will be an independent Kurdish state in the northern part of Iraq and this will be against the interests of Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria.  How would you comment on this allegation?

GENERAL RALSTON:  Once again, we support the territorial integrity of Iraq - period.

NTV:  Sir, the special envoy of the Iraqi Government concerning your work, what will be his or her background?  Shiite, Sunni Arab or do you have any idea?

GENERAL RALSTON:  I don’t know that.  That’s a decision for the Iraqi Government

NTV:  After Baghdad I suppose you are going to go back to Washington.  What is going to be your first step?

GENERAL RALSTON:  I will go back to Washington.  And we will stay in contact with the appropriate Iraqi and Turkish authorities, and we’ll continue to work toward coming up with a series of effective measures that we can implement.

NTV:  Where will the large part of your work be?  In Washington?

GENERAL RALSTON:  Wherever it needs to be.  I don’t know that.

NTV:  So at the moment there is no agenda regarding how often you are going to talk with the Turkish authorities and Iraqi authorities.

GENERAL RALSTON:  No.  (Inaudible) wherever is necessary in order to carry out this mission.

NTV:  Let me ask you a question, in fact we have very limited time.  There are also some talks between Turkey, Iraq and the United States of America.  But these talks were not organized for a very long time.  Now because of your position, are they also going to continue with these meetings?

GENERAL RALSTON:  It’s my understanding that one of the reasons that I was appointed to do this was that the timing is critical.  We need to get on with it.  I certainly anticipate that there will be meetings among the three nations.  But we want to make sure that they are properly organized, that we have effective measures that we can implement, and that we can do something that in fact the Turkish people can see that we are serious about this issue. 

NTV:  Let me ask you a last question.  What’s your message to the Turkish people

GENERAL RALSTON:  Again, my message to the Turkish people is that I certainly understand and the United States certainly understands this absolutely tragic era that you are going through.  Once again, my deepest sympathies to the families of the victims and to all Turkish citizens.

NTV:  I hope your activities, your work, will contribute to stopping PKK terrorism against Turkey.

GENERAL RALSTON:  Thank you.