STATEMENTS BY U.S. OFFICIALS
Assistant Secretary Daniel Fried Interview with NTV
Ankara, October 13, 2007
QUESTION: Welcome, Mr. Fried
ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRIED: Thank you very much.
QUESTION: You had a meeting at the Turkish Foreign Ministry today with Turkish officials. First of all, I would like to ask you about your messages. Can you give us some information about the messages you have given to Turkish officials?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRIED: Certainly. My colleague, Eric Edelman, who is Under Secretary of Defense and former Ambassador to Turkey, and I came here at the request of Secretary Rice and U.S. Defense Secretary Gates to convey some messages to the Turkish Government and the Turkish people. First of all, we regret very much that the House Foreign Affairs Committee voted narrowly to pass HR 106. The Administration opposed this. President Bush, Secretary Rice, Secretary Gates, every former living Secretary of State of the United States also opposed it. So, our first message: was we regret it. Our second message is: we are determined to keep fighting this and to see that it doesn’t pass in the full House. Our third message is that the United States is committed to good relations with Turkey, to fight this problem. The administration wants to see good relations with Turkey. we want to see our partnership grow.
QUESTION: What do you as an administration do exactly to prevent these allegations?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRIED: As you know, President Bush and Secretary Rice, Secretary Gates personally were calling, were telephoning Members of Congress and meeting with them, urging them not to vote for this resolution. We will continue our efforts, we have made clear, President Bush made clear, Secretary Rice, Secretary Gates have all spoken up publicly against this. And it is remarkable that every former Secretary of State, former Secretary Albright, Christopher, Collin Powell and others have all come our in writing in opposition to HR 106. We will continue our efforts.
QUESTION: How were the messages from the Turkish side? After your meetings, some have concerns about the future of Turkish-American relations.
ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRIED: Our interlocutors are serious people who approached our meetings in a very constructive spirit. I can’t characterize their views, but I would say that they were very clear in expressing their concerns about HR 106. Very clear in expressing their concerns about how it will affect our relations; and we agreed that we have to do everything we can to protect our partnership, but also to work together to defeat this resolution. These were good and constructive meetings.
QUESTION: There are actually a lot of discussions going on in Turkey at the moment. Do you think, for example, Turkey may close Incirlik Air Base? Did you get such a message from your Turkish counterparts?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRIED: Our Turkish counterparts were serious and constructive. They were not engaging, I would say, in threats. They were speaking to us as concerned friends and partners, very clear about their opposition to this bill. Very strong messages, but this was not the language of threats. Friends don’t speak to each other in such a way and our discussions were constructive. The Turkish message was very clear.
QUESTION: Did you talk about Incirlik during the discussion?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRIED: We talked about the need to do everything we can to try to prevent HR 106 from passing. We also talked about and agreed that Turkey and the United States have common interests and these interests are strong, these interests are rooted in our national interests, not just sentimental, that we have to keep our eye on our long-term interests, important to both countries.
QUESTION: I will like to ask you a question about Iraq as well. How do you evaluate the discussions in Turkey at the moment on a cross border operation into Iraq? How will be the reaction by the United States to such developments?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRIED: It is perfectly understandable that the Turkish people are angry about these PKK terrorist attacks. We’ve seen on CNN the latest cross border shootings. It’s understandable the Turks would be angry. We ourselves have suffered from terrorist attacks, and it’s not an easy problem to solve. I noticed when I came to Ankara I read some summaries of the Turkish press, and I was impressed by some very sophisticated arguments that have appeared in the Turkish press noting that the PKK may try to lay a trap for Turkey, entice them to come in so when they come into northern Iraq they can make things difficult. So I have the sense that the Turkish Government and Turkish public are thinking through the options in a very serious way. And thinking through all the risks, not just reacting emotionally, but really thinking strategically; and this is all to the good. Now, my colleague, Eric Edelman, is on his way to Iraq right now, and he will convey to the Iraqi authorities a very strong message from Turkey that more has to be done to combat the PKK. We also note and were very pleased that progress between Turkey and Iraq on the recent agreement on cooperation to fight terrorism; and we hope that this can be implemented even it hasn’t been ratified yet.
QUESTION: Mr. Edelman, will he just go to Baghdad to talk to Iraqi officials or will he go to northern Iraq to talk to, for example, Mr. Barzani as well?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRIED: I do not want to talk about his specific agenda, but he will certainly convey very strong messages to the Iraqi authorities.
QUESTION: The Turkish Ambassador in Washington, Mr. Nabi Sensoy, he is now in Istanbul for consultations and he will come to Ankara tomorrow. How do you evaluate this? Is this a protest, a reaction of Turkey in your opinion?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRIED: We understand that if this resolution passes there will be a Turkish reaction. We understand this. Ambassador Sensoy is very well respected in Washington. He is a serious person, he tried hard and worked hard to defeat this resolution and we know he is back for consultations. We look forward to working with him in the future and in better days to come.
QUESTION: Thank you very much.
ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRIED: It is my pleasure, I especially appreciate the opportunity coming here this Saturday, it’s the end of Bayram; and the Turkish hospitality, even in these difficult times, is greatly appreciated.