THE FUTURE OF U.S.-TURKEY RELATIONSHIP
States News Service
September 13, 2007 Thursday
USA
WASHINGTON
The following information was released by the U.S. Department of State:
I am pleased to be back at the Atlantic Council to discuss what is one
of the most critical relationships for America in the world today —
the relationship between the United States and Turkey. Fred, thank
you for hosting me tonight. I appreciate the invitation by Fred Kempe
and the Atlantic Council Board to be here. Thank you to Henry Catto,
Chairman emeritus of the Atlantic Council. Thanks to Ambassador
Marc Grossman for his warm introduction. It is a pleasure to see
the Ambassador of Turkey, Nabi Sensoy, the Ambassador of Armenia,
Tatoul Markarian, Ambassador Mark Parris and Jim Holmes here tonight.
This is an important moment for the relationship between the United
States and Turkey. Turkey has just elected a new government. Our
countries now need to enter into a new era of our relationship and
to commit to a revival of our very close friendship and alliance.
I will visit Ankara and Istanbul soon to bring a strong and clear
message from our leadership — the United States is committed to
revitalize this critical partnership. Restoring a sense of strategic
partnership in the broad range of U.S.-Turkish relations — extending
beyond government-to-government cooperation to a flowering of private
sector ties between our people — will be a major priority for the
United States in the coming months. It is indeed time to rejuvenate
and restore America’s relationship with Turkey.
The Turkish people have just concluded important, even historic
elections. These elections demonstrated the strong health of Turkey’s
democracy, the most impressive in the Moslem world. The result was
a decisive and Turkey can now expect a period of renewal and growth
at home and responsibility and challenge in its foreign policy. The
United States government looks forward to a very close relationship
with President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Erdogan. President
Bush and Secretary Rice respect both of these men. We have worked
very well and productively with them in years past and know that
will continue in the years to come. We would like to agree with the
newly-elected Turkish leadership on a period in the coming months of
high-level visits, discussions and joint commitment to face together
the challenges of stability and peace in the Middle East.
Turkey, after all, has been one of our closest friends for over 50
years, dating back to the Truman Doctrine and the Korean War, and
anchored by our Alliance in NATO. Throughout this long period, Turkey
has always been among the United States’ most dependable and important
allies in an otherwise turbulent region. We look to Turkey, with its
160-year legacy of modernizing reform, as the most successful example
in the world today of a secular democracy within a Muslim society
that can inspire reformers in the greater Middle East and beyond.
Turkey’s importance to the United States is even more pronounced at
a time when the Middle East in the 21st century has replaced Europe
in the 20th century as the most critical region for America’s core
national security interests. Turkey is the only country in the region
that can work effectively with all of the others in the Middle East.
Turkey’s influence is substantial and unique. In this very important
sense, Turkey is an indispensable partner to the United States in
the Middle East.
Our history of close relations, shared interests, and common values
makes Turkey one of the most important Allies of the United States
anywhere in the world. That is not to say that our relationship has
been perfect: we have certainly endured our share of difficulties,
misunderstandings, and miscommunications in recent years. From our
perspective, 2002-2005 were particularly difficult, but we believe
we have turned the corner together with the Turkish leadership. We
now have a moment of opportunity to build stronger ties at all
levels between our governments. For the past two years, especially,
our leaders have worked with considerable energy to revive the
relationship and to address more effectively the common challenges
and opportunities before us.
One glance at the map demonstrates why it is so important to strengthen
the ties between our two countries. Turkey is influential in the
Balkans, in the Black Sea, the Caucasus, and in the greater Middle
East. In this vitally important arc of countries where so much of our
foreign policy attention now lies, Turkey is the vital link for the
United States and our European allies in addressing common economic,
security, and political challenges and opportunities in these critical
regions.
On perhaps the most dynamic international issue of 2007 — energy
— we share a common interest with the Turks. Turkey is the gateway
for exports of oil and natural gas from the Caspian region and Iraq
to Europe. Building on our successful cooperation in the 1990’s to
develop the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and the South Caucasus
gas pipeline, we now seek to expand this critical energy infrastructure
into a Southern Corridor to help our European allies — Greece, Italy
and into Western Europe — create a free market for energy supplies
in Europe. These efforts can also help Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and
Turkmenistan bolster their own independence by providing them access
to European energy markets.
We hope it will be possible for Turkey to arrive at a swift agreement
with Azerbaijan on transit terms. Turkey should also strive to find
a pricing formula for future exports to Turkey from the Caspian
Sea natural gas field of Shah Deniz, a necessary step to complete
the inter-governmental agreement for the Turkey-Greece-Italy gas
pipeline. Over the longer term, Turkey should continue to cooperate
with the United States and our friends in Iraq, Turkmenistan, and
Kazakhstan to expand gas production and exports to Turkey and onward
into Europe.
In South Asia, Turkey is helping NATO to bolster regional security
in Afghanistan, having twice commanded the International Security
Assistance Force (ISAF) and now leading a Provincial Reconstruction
Team (PRT) in Wardak Province. Turkey has been an important arbiter
between Afghanistan and Pakistan, providing a welcoming, neutral
venue for Presidents Karzai and Musharraf to discuss issues of mutual
significance.
It is in this area that we feel Turkey could make even more of an
impact. Turkey could offer assistance to repatriated Afghan refugees
from Pakistan, help both sides improve border management and customs
collection, or support the emergence of Afghan-Pakistani Reconstruction
Opportunity Zones, as the U.S. plans to do.
Turkey has also played a key role in Kosovo, where it has 660 personnel
in KFOR and took over command of Multinational Task Force-South in
May. The Turkish government is playing a similarly constructive role
in the extended Black Sea region, where Turkey’s Operation Black
Sea Harmony cooperates with NATO’s Operation Active Endeavor in the
Mediterranean Sea to deter terrorism and bolster maritime security
along NATO’s southern and eastern flanks. Turkey should encourage
its neighbors to undertake democratic reform, fight corruption and
organized crime, as well as look for ways to improve market economies
in the region. The U.S. would like to work with Turkey, Romania,
and Bulgaria to take greater advantage of opportunities to expand
NATO’s activities in the Black Sea region.
And, Turkey is playing a regional leadership role in the Middle East.
Turkey’s common borders with Iraq, Iran, and Syria provide an
opportunity to advance peace and stability, fight proliferation
of nuclear weapons, and defeat terrorists in a region that is now
the epicenter of U.S. foreign policy. Turkey can help deepen our
understanding of strategic trends in the Middle East, while reinforcing
our efforts to advance political and economic freedom and fight terror
to advance peace and prosperity.
It is not only geography and common interests that make Turkey a
key U.S. partner; it is our shared values of democracy, diversity,
and tolerant faith that make us friends and allies. The United States
and Turkey share a deep appreciation for the importance of separating
civic and religious life. In Turkey, reform movements during the
late Ottoman period aimed to balance the claims that religion makes
on personal lives with the exigencies of a modern state. One of the
most famous waves of reforms, the so-called "Tanzimat" movement of
the mid-19th Century was an attempt to give all residents of the
empire the same rights, whether they were Muslim, Christian or Jewish.
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk rejuvenated Turkey’s modernizing reforms,
as he granted political rights to women, laid the foundation for
Turkey’s industrial rise, and established the Turkish Republic as a
secular democracy. Turkey’s commitment to secular democracy makes it
a natural ally for the United States.
Turkey may now be at a new historical turning point, with a real
opportunity to invigorate political and economic reforms that will
anchor it in the European Union and bolster its ability to inspire
reformers in the greater Middle East region. Parliamentary elections
on July 22 and the election of Abdullah Gul as president on August
28 demonstrated once again that Turkey is a robust and ever-maturing
democracy, one that is defined by respect for constitutional processes,
with the country’s political future determined by elections. We
welcome Mr. Gul’s election as President. President Bush and Secretary
Rice have good relationships with President Gul, and Prime Minister
Erdogan, and look forward to developing these relationships.
The Justice and Development Party, or AKP, now controls the government,
parliament, and presidency. At the same time, Turkish voters sent a
message of moderation during the recent elections.
While the AKP won a resounding victory, opposition parties received
over 50 percent of the vote, and with more parties crossing the 10
percent electoral threshold the new parliament is more representative
of Turkey’s diverse voter sentiment. Turkey’s voters thus appear to
have signaled their desire for Prime Minister Erdogan and President
Gul to deepen Turkey’s secular democracy by rejuvenating political
and economic reforms, but in the context of Turkey’s Muslim society.
As Turkey’s democratic institutions strengthen and as its reforms
proceed, Turkey grows in importance to the U.S. as a strategic
partner. Realizing the full potential of this partnership poses
several immediate challenges to both of our countries. In the Middle
East, Turkey can play a regional leadership role that could help the
U.S. achieve some of its most pressing foreign policy goals, but which
will require careful coordination to prevent our two countries from
operating at cross-purposes.
At the top of the list is Iraq. Our decision to liberate Iraq
from Saddam Hussein’s brutality triggered an unprecedented wave of
anti-Americanism in Turkey. Our official relations have recovered
from the low-point of the Turkish Parliament’s vote on March 1, 2003
to reject our request to move U.S. forces into Iraq via Turkey. Since
then, Ankara has been a strong supporter of our efforts to stabilize
Iraq, and has asked us not to abandon our goals, particularly
safeguarding Iraq’s territorial integrity. Turkey represents a
critical logistical lifeline for our troops in Iraq and has made
important contributions to Coalition operations there.
Turkey is similarly helpful in diplomatic efforts to bolster support
for Iraq among its neighbors. The United States appreciates Turkey’s
willingness to host the next Extended neighbors ministerial in
October, an important follow-up to the work begun at Sharm el-Sheikh
last May. Secretary Rice announced this week that she plans to attend
this meeting in Istanbul.
Turkey’s willingness to help the international community address Iraq
is all the more appreciated given the difficulties it is suffering as
a result of attacks from PKK terrorists in Iraq. Let me assure you,
the United States condemns the PKK as a vicious terrorist group. We
mourn the loss of innocent Turkish lives in these attacks.
We remain fully committed to working with the Governments of
Turkey and Iraq to counter PKK terrorists, who are headquartered
in northern Iraq. We are making progress in putting in place the
mechanisms required to produce such concrete results against the
PKK. We will also follow up our success in working with Turkey and
our other European partners to interdict PKK terror financiers in
Europe and bring them to justice.
Turkey and the United States also face a challenge in Iran. We have
worked well together to support of the clear international consensus
demanding that Iran cease its nuclear weapons development programs.
Turkey has also proven to be strong partner in countering Iran’s
support for terrorists in the Middle East.
But the United States and Turkey still need to work out some tactical
differences in handling Iran. We understand that Iran is a neighbor of
Turkey and key trading partner, which sends over a million tourists
to Turkey each year. Turkey’s recent conclusion of a memorandum on
energy cooperation with Iran, however, is troubling.
Now is not the time for business as usual with Iran. We urge all
of our friends and allies, including Turkey, to not reward Iran by
investing in its oil and gas sector, while Iran continues to defy the
United Nations Security Council by continuing its nuclear research
for a weapons capability
The United States and Turkey share a common interest in working
toward a comprehensive peace in the Middle East. President Bush’s
vision is of two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living
side-by-side in peace and security. The Palestinian Authority under
President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad is the most
capable Palestinian government since Oslo and is committed to being a
partner for peace. As we work to develop the economy and institutions
of governance that will form the foundation of a Palestinian state,
Turkey understandably can see opportunities to draw on its historical
experience from the Ottoman era and its modern economic might to help
restore prosperity to the Palestinian people, while drawing on its more
recent experience in forging a close security partnership with Israel.
Turkey is unique in its dual identity as both a Middle Eastern and
European country. We thus face important challenges in U.S.-Turkish
relations with regard to deepening Turkey’s integration in Euroatlantic
institutions.
We are among the strongest supporters of Turkey’s EU aspirations. We
call on Europe’s leaders to signal clearly and unambiguously that
Turkey will have a voice in the European Union in the future. We
believe both Turkey and the Euroatlantic community will benefit as
Turkey advances toward EU membership. We wish to see an even more
democratic and prosperous Turkey, which will make Turkey a stronger
partner for the United States in Europe. The prospect of full
membership in the EU is the right goal for Turkey and the future of
the European Union.
Moreover, Europe’s full embrace of a reformed Turkey will send a
powerful signal to Europe’s other Muslim populations that Islam and
democracy are compatible, and that integration into mainstream European
society is possible without surrendering one’s Islamic identity. This
could be a crucial factor in defeating Europe’s extremist recruiters,
who prey on alienated Europe’s Muslim populations. Those Europeans who
oppose Turkish membership in the EU should keep in mind that it is not
the Turkey of today, but an even more democratic Turkey of tomorrow
that would that would join the EU after several more years of reform.
To reach this transcendent strategic objective, we hope Turkey will
repeal Article 301 of the Penal Code, which restricts freedom of
expression and has led to outlandish legal cases against private
citizens and global figures such as Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk. We
also hope Turkey will help make its own case with the EU by allowing
the Ecumenical Patriarch’s religious school at Halki in Istanbul to
reopen decades after it closed.
We must also work with Turkey to strengthen NATO. Turkey has been
a cornerstone of the Alliance since the 1952, serving as a barrier
to Soviet expansion throughout the Cold War. Several generations of
Turkish military officers enjoyed formative professional experiences
while serving in NATO commands. Today, Turkey is a key NATO partner
in Afghanistan and Kosovo, and is emerging as a critical potential
partner in the vast majority of NATO’s future contingencies, which
lie to the southeast of Europe.
An important focus of Euroatlantic security cooperation is developing
ways for the EU and NATO to work together in bringing their respective
capacities to bear in strengthening stability and security in Kosovo,
Bosnia, Afghanistan and elsewhere. We appreciate the difficulties
that such cooperation poses for Turkey given the still-evolving
Turkey-EU relationship, the circumstances of Turkey’s participation
in activities within the European Security and Defense Policy, as well
as the complications resulting from the lack of a Cyprus settlement.
Yet it is vital for all of us, including Turkey, that NATO and the
EU are indeed able to work together in crisis areas around the world.
For this and many other reasons, we call on all relevant parties to
reinvigorate UN-brokered efforts to reach a comprehensive Cyprus
settlement that reunifies the island into a bi-zonal, bi-communal
federation. We welcome last week’s meeting of President Papadopoulos
and Mehmet Ali Talat, and look forward to future such meetings to
implement last year’s July 8 agreement.
I intend to travel to Cyprus this autumn and will communicate to the
Cypriot government leadership and the Turkish leadership, as well,
the strong wish of the United States that we might all contribute to
a breakthrough for peace after decades of crisis. The time has come
for the United Nations and all of us to achieve a just solution to
the long-festering problem of Cyprus.
Finally, the U.S. and Turkey face a serious challenge with regard
to Armenia. Each year on April 24, Armenian Remembrance Day,
President Bush has issued a public statement lamenting the mass
killings and forced deportations of up to 1.5 million Armenians by
Ottoman authorities at the end of World War I. The United States
condemnation of this tragedy is not at issue; the question is how
best to facilitate reconciliation of all concerned parties with each
other and with their painful and shared past. We believe passage
of the U.S. House of Representative’s Resolution 106, which would
make a political determination that the tragedy of 1915 constituted
genocide, would undercut voices emerging in Turkey for dialogue and
reconciliations concerning these horrific events. We therefore have
recommended to Congress that it not pass such a resolution.
We strongly encourage Turkey to normalize its relations and reopen its
border with Armenia, steps that will help bring peace, prosperity and
cooperation to the Caucasus. Now, in the wake of the AKP’s resounding
electoral victories, is the time for Ankara to make a bold opening
toward Armenia. And we hope that Armenia will respond in kind.
In conclusion, the United States and Turkey have enjoyed a relationship
of Allied friendship for over half a century of enormous complexity,
success, and promise. We have weathered a difficult period over the
past four years. We now stand at the edge of a potentially new era in
Turkish politics that offers a chance to restore a sense of strategic
partnership in U.S.-Turkish relations.
I will be traveling to Ankara soon to bring this message to the new
government personally. The United States is determined to seize this
opportunity to renew and strengthen our strategic partnership with
Turkey. We look forward to working together with Turkish leaders who
share this vision and determination to build this strong, vital and
irreplaceable Turkish-American alliance for the 21st century.