STATEMENTS BY U.S. OFFICIALS

Congressman Eliot Engel’s Remarks at The Prime Ministry

ANKARA
December 26, 2007

Congressman Engel:   Good Afternoon. I am Congressman Eliot Engel. I am joined by my colleagues Congresswoman Shelly Berkley and Congresswoman Boyda and we are here in Turkey for the first time. We just had an excellent meeting with the Prime Minister and we discussed US-Turkish relations and we had a very very good meeting, meeting of the minds.  We realized that the strategic relationship between Turkey and the US is a very important relationship. We realized that we have many many common interests, and we see things very very much the same in many ways. And we and the US Congress would like to do everything we can to strengthen the ties between our two countries. We have a lot in common, dialogue is very very important and as the PM told us he thinks it’s very important that American Congressmen and women come to Turkey to meet with Turkish officials first hand and to see Turkey first hand. We are both US and Turkey, two very important democracies. Turkey of course plays a very very important and major role not only in this area, in the world.

And let me say in conclusion that after our meeting with the PM, I’m more convinced than ever that Turkey and the US share common values and common outlook. We’re both very concerned about the war on terrorism and we both agree that the war on terrorism has to be fought and coordinated.

The US and Turkey have been allies and friends for a long time and I know that our friendship and our alliance will continue for many many years to come. Thank you.

Question:  Did the latest operations come up in your meeting with the PM?

Yes, we spoke and agreed about the need to combat terrorism. And we and the US share the concerns that Turkey has in fighting terrorism.