REMARKS WITH TURKISH FM DAVUTOGLU
US Fed News
September 2, 2009 Wednesday 8:31 PM EST
WASHINGTON, June 5 — The U.S. Department of State’s Under Secretary
for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs issued the following press
release:
Date: 06/05/2009 Description: Secretary Clinton meets with Turkish
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. (c) State Dept Photo by Michael
Gross SECRETARY CLINTON: Good afternoon. Minister Davutoglu and I just
had a very productive, broad-ranging, comprehensive discussion. And
it is a great privilege to welcome him here to the State Department
within the very first weeks of his having been appointed foreign
minister. Of course, I was very honored to have gone to Turkey very
early in my term as Secretary of State, and President Obama had a
wonderful visit to Turkey.
And all of that is to confirm the strength and importance of o ur
partnership and alliance. We have a lot of work to do together. Turkey,
the United States, and the entire global community certainly face
a great number of challenges, but we also see opportunities. So
our message coming out of the meeting today and our prior meetings
is that we’re going to deepen and strengthen our cooperation on an
ongoing basis, because we believe that both Turkey and the United
States have unique roles to play.
Now, we obviously already collaborate. Not only are we both members
of NATO, but we are working with the G-20 to respond to the global
economic crisis, we’re exploring ways to enhance our trade and commerce
between our two countries, we’re working to develop new energy sources,
including resources from the Caucasus and Central Asia. We’re partners
in the fight against global terrorism. We share the goal of a stable
Pakistan and Afghanistan, and to deny al-Qaida safe haven that can
threaten our countries and many others. We support Turkey in its
fight against the terrorist activities of the PKK, which has been a
very important cooperation.
And I underscored again today the United States’ strong support for
Turkey’s bid to become a member of the European Union. Turkey has
made significant progress toward membership. It’s been in a process
of reform that is generated by its own internal decisions but which
has certainly responded to many of the concerns regarding the strength
of the bid that Turkey had. And so we applaud what Turkey has already
done and pledge our efforts to continue working with Turkey.
And so we ranged across a broad number of issues, and I want to just
make a special note. As President Obama said yesterday in Cairo, the
United States is committed to broad engagement with Muslims everywhere
across the globe based on mutual interests and mutual respect. We
believe strongly in the freedom of religion and expression, in vibrant
civil societies, and we know that those are values that Turkey shares.
And I want to thank the minister and his government for the role that
Turkey plays as a force for peace and stability. This is important,
and it’s already been demonstrated in the work that Turkey has done for
a number of years and continues with respect to comprehensive peace in
the Middle East. And we are strongly supportive of the Turkish efforts
to normalize relations with Armenia, and we are also very strongly
supportive of the efforts to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
We discussed Cyprus, which is an issue that the President also
addressed when he was in Turkey in April. The two Cypriot leaders
have an opportunity through their commitment to negotiations under
the United Nations Good Offices Missions, and the United States is
willing to help the parties. We want to work toward a settlement that
reunifies Cyprus into a bi-zonal and bi-communal federation.
We discussed many, many concerns, and I’m just grateful for the
commitment by the minister and by his government to play an active
role in our dynamic world. Our relationship is not just about security;
it is about seizing these opportunities, and I look forward to working
with you.
FOREIGN MINISTER DAVUTOGLU: Thank you very much, Secretary
Clinton. It’s a great honor and pleasure for me to meet with Secretary
Clinton today in a very historic time after the speech of President
Obama yesterday and the new commitment of United States for regional
and global peace everywhere. We know of her wisdom, her approach,
and we always appreciate and admire her approach to all the issues
regarding to our bilateral, regional, and global issues.
Basically, the purpose of my visit was to follow up her historic
visit to Turkey immediately after the new Administration in March and
President Obama’s historic visit in April. So these historic visits
showed the strength of our bilateral relations. So I came here in
my first month of my duty in this – as minister to follow up all
the contents, all the issues regarding our relations. We had a very
constructive meeting. I am grateful for that. And we went through all
the issues regarding the depth and scope of our agenda. We decided
to have a much more broader comprehensive approach in our bilateral
relations, not only security issues but economy, energy security,
cultural issues. Also on the main regional issues like Middle East,
Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Caucasia, (inaudible) and all the relevant
issues we have as common agenda we went through. And I am very happy
to see that we have very identical, similar approaches to many of
these issues.
On global affairs also, we agreed together that our cooperation should
not be limited only by regional efforts, but there is a big potential
between Turkey and the United States to work together on global issues
like relations between civilizations, Alliance of Civilizations,
like G-20 and economic – the situation after economic crisis, like
our cooperation in United Nations Security Council. As you know,
Turkey took over the presidency a few days ago. And I was in New York
yesterday for the first formal meeting of UN Security Council.
As Turkey – as minister of foreign affairs of Turkey, and as the
Government of Turkey, we are ready to cooperate with the United
States in all these significant issues for achieving regional and
global peace. That is our contribution to the (inaudible). Thank you
very much.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Very well said, Minister.
MR. WOOD: The first question will be from Jill Dougherty of CNN.
QUESTION: Thank you. Madame Secretary, what is the U.S. doing to free
the journalists being held in North Korea? And how open are you to
using a special negotiator/envoy, perhaps former Vice President Gore?
And also, if I could, just one very quick question. Any update on
the situation of the Goldman boy in Brazil?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, Jill, the concern that we feel for these
two young women who are in prison in North Korea has been driving our
efforts. We want to strike the right balance between expressing our
deep concerns, our belief that these two young women should be released
immediately. The trial which is going on right now we consider to be
a step toward the release and the return home of these two young women.
I personally have spoken with a number of foreign officials who have
influence through various channels with the North Koreans. The State
Department has had direct contact with the North Koreans through
the channel by which we communicate. The Swedish ambassador has been
extremely helpful. He has actually met with the two young women on
three occasions. He’s helped to facilitate the delivery of materials
and the passing of messages. So we are incredibly concerned on both
a diplomatic and, on my behalf, a personal basis. I have met with
their families, and I share the grave anxiety that they feel about
the safety and security of these two young women.
We call again on the North Korean Government to release them and
enable them to come home as soon as possible. We have explored other
approaches, including the use of special representatives strictly
for this humanitarian mission. But as things stand now, we know that
they’re in the middle of a trial in Pyongyang, and we hope that the
trial is resolved quickly and that the young women are released.
With respect to Sean Goldman, we were very pleased when the Brazilian
courts reached the conclusion they reached earlier this week. And we
were very disappointed when a hold was placed on the release of this
young boy and his return with his father to the United States. We
will continue to support Mr. Goldman in his efforts to speak out on
behalf of the family relations that is at the core of this legal case,
and to urge the Brazilian Government and judiciary to release Sean
and enable him to return to his father now that the legal decision
has been rendered.
QUESTION: This is Umit Enginsoy with Turkish NTV television. Madame
Secretary, since the release in April of Turkish, Armenian, and Swiss
statements about joint intention for normalization of ties, have you
observed any progress toward that end, and also toward resolution of
the Nagorno-Karabakh problem? And are you hopeful that these could
be resolved in the not-too-distant future? Thank you.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, I have been very encouraged by the progress
that has been made and by the commitment of the governments
involved. Certainly, Turkey and Armenia, with the assistance of
the Swiss Government, have committed themselves to a process of
normalization. We’re well aware that this is difficult. It requires
patience and perseverance. But we have seen no flagging of commitment.
The minister and I discussed this at length. He brought me up to date
on developments. And we are continuing to encourage the parties to
proceed on the path which they themselves have set. We are supportive,
but it is up to the Turkish and Armenian governments and people
to realize the great opportunity this poses. The normalization of
relations not only continues what I have seen from the Turkish
Government, which is a desire to actually solve problems, and I
applaud that, but we think it will bring great benefits to the region.
Similarly, with the ongoing negotiations over Nagorno-Karabakh, the
Government of Azerbaijan and of Armenia are proceeding and working
together. They were just in a recent meeting in St. Petersburg. So
we believe that a lot of progress has been made in a relatively short
period of time to resolve issues that are of long standing.
What’s important is the commitment to get to a point of resolution
of these conflicts, and I see that commitment. Now are there problems
along the way? Of course. There is in any difficult undertaking. But
I do not doubt the commitment, and I certainly appreciate the very
strong position that the Turkish Government has taken. And perhaps,
Minister, you would like to add to that?
FOREIGN MINISTER DAVUTOGLU: I would like to express also my thanks to
Secretary Clinton because of her personal and American Government’s
support for these two processes. We are very optimistic. We want
to achieve a prosperous, peaceful Caucasia. And in that sense, we
are fully committed to our normalization process with Armenia, and
also, we are fully committed and we are ready to work together with
United States and other co-chairs of Minsk Group for the resolution
of Armenian-Azeri issues.
And I was very impressed and I want to repeat my thanks for the
commitment of Madame Secretary Clinton in this sense, and we will be
working together. There is a strong will politically by Turkish side
to continue all the efforts to achieve our common goal of creating
a prosperous, peaceful Caucasia together.
MR. WOOD: Next question will be from Arshad Mohammed of Reuters.
QUESTION: Secretary Clinton, how seriously is the United States
considering imposing either multilateral or unilateral financial
sanctions on North Korea and its banks? And what makes you confident
that such a step wouldn’t be counterproductive? When the sanctions
were imposed on BDA, it essentially froze the process for months on
end until the United States effectively removed them and returned
the money.
And a small – well, a separate thing, maybe not small. Dov Weissglas,
the former Israeli chief of staff to former Prime Minister Sharon,
argues publicly this week that Israel had understandings with
the Bush Administration, under which it was permitted to continue
so-called natural growth under the Roadmap, that it could continue
building within the construction line. Do you believe that there
were such understandings or agreements between Israel and the Bush
Administration? Do you feel bound by them?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, Arshad, let me start with North Korea. As
you know, the United States is working very hard in the Security
Council, now chaired by Turkey, to come up with a resolution that
would represent the will of the international community with respect
to North Korea’s actions that are viewed with considerable concern
on the part of not just the United States or South Korea or Japan,
but also China, Russia, and many other countries internationally.
We’ve made considerable progress in devising the kinds of actions
that would represent consequences imposed upon the North Koreans by
the international community. I have personally spoken with a number
of the foreign ministers, our ambassador to the United Nations Susan
Rice and her team are involved on a hour-by-hour basis, because we
want to come up with the strongest possible resolution.
And I think we’ve learned a lesson. One of the lessons we’ve learned
is that with the North Koreans, it’s never over till it’s over, that
if there are effective sanctions that we believe can be imposed,
an arms embargo and other steps to be taken, we need to see real
results. We, along with other neighbors in Northeast Asia as well as
the international community, stand ready to resume negotiations with
the North Koreans over their nuclear program. Our goal remains to
have a denuclearized Korean Peninsula. So I am quite heartened by the
progress that we’re seeing in the United Nation Security Council. And
when we believe we’ve gotten the strongest possible resolution we
can get, we will table it and then proceed.
With respect to the conditions regarding understandings between
the United States and the former Israeli government and the former
government of the United States, we have the negotiating record. That
is the official record that was turned over to the Obama Administration
by the outgoing Bush Administration. There is no memorialization of
any informal and oral agreements. If they did occur, which, of course,
people say they did, they did not become part of the official position
of the United States Government. And there are contrary documents that
suggest that they were not to be viewed as in any way contradicting
the obligations that Israel undertook pursuant to the Roadmap. And
those obligations are very clear.
QUESTION: Foreign Minister Davutoglu, how do you evaluate President
Obama’s speech to the Muslim world in Cairo? And Secretary Clinton,
after President Obama’s visit to Turkey, what is the state of
Turkish-American relations?
FOREIGN MINISTER DAVUTOGLU: Thank you very much. President Obama’s
speech yesterday in Cairo is a speech of wisdom, a speech of vision,
and a speech of peace. And we share the insight with Secretary Clinton
as well. We share this vision and we are ready to cooperate. I am
sure you remember President Obama’s visit and his speech in Turkish
parliament. And when you look at the substance of two speeches, you
can see an integrated approach, the continuation and follow-up of many
issues that are very important principles for regional issues as well
as global order in general. And it is a good message, clear message to
the Muslim world that the future relations between the United States
and the Muslim world, as well as between different cultures will
be bright, based on a mutual understanding of coexistence, living
together, sharing all human values in all fronts. And therefore,
we share that vision and we will continue to work to realize this
vision as a program and project together.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, I appreciate the minister’s perceptive remarks
about President Obama’s speech yesterday. Clearly, the President
is laying out a vision, and it is a vision that invites all people
of good faith to come together, to work together, to recognize that
we may have differences of experience, differences of background, of
religion and race, but that we are all part of common humanity. And we
have an opportunity in the 21st century to work toward realizing that
vision. And I applaud the Turkish Government for taking a practical,
hands-on approach to solving problems, to clear away the obstacles
that prevent people from living up to their own God-given potential,
of countries breaking the bounds of the past so that they can have
a better future.
And I think the relationship between Turkey and the United States is
extremely strong. We have a durable bond that goes back many decades,
but we’re exploring new ways of expanding and deepening that strong
relationship. And that was the purpose of our meeting today is to
begin to look at how we can take our shared vision of what Turkey and
the United States can do to further humanity’s quest for peace and
prosperity and progress, recognizing and respecting our legitimate
differences of culture and religion, but making it clear that we’re
going to share this increasingly interdependent world. And we can
either have positive or negative interdependence. And Turkey and the
United States believe in a positive future.
So I could not be happier and more optimistic about the relationships
and what we together can do for the future.
Thank you all very much.
FOREIGN MINISTER DAVUTOGLU: Thank you.