TURKISH PRESIDENT ADDRESSES WAR ACADEMIES COMMAND
Anatolia news agency, Ankara
12 Apr 06
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer has thanked Turkish security forces
for their “determination” in sorting out “recent acts of violence”
in southeast part of the country and has said that “nobody should
attempt to test the power of Turkey”. In his address to War Academies
command, Sezer also said:
Turkey’s foreign policy top priority will remain EU integration,
relations with the USA and active position within NATO;
Turkey’s EU membership will depend on EU relations with the Middle
East and the region;
Differences of opinion due to Turkey’s national interests do not
harm its relations with the USA;
Turkish Army, the second biggest within NATO, will “adapt to the
requirements of the new international situation”;
The main threat to Turkey’s security remains the separatist and
fundamentalist movements;
EU “unilateral decisions” on Cyprus could cause “new difficulties
and problems”.
The following is the text of report in English by Turkish news agency
Anatolia:
Istanbul, 12 April: “Attempts to disrupt unity and tranquillity of
the Turkish nation are, in fact, initiatives targeting the unitary
state. Those initiatives will not yield any results,” said Turkish
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer on Wednesday [12 April].
Speaking at the War Academies Command in Istanbul, President Sezer
said: “Recent acts of violence in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir
and in the neighbouring cities caused sorrow throughout Turkey. No
one should attempt to test the patience and power of the Republic of
Turkey. They should know that we will never give up our determination
to protect our indispensable integrity. There have always been some
domestic and foreign circles who felt uneasy about atmosphere of peace
and tranquillity and development of Turkey. We should be careful
against them. I call on all our citizens to act with common-sense
and to contribute to social peace.”
“The southeastern and eastern regions of Turkey have been
underdeveloped because of the terrorist organization and its
supporters. All citizens equally benefit from advantages of democracy
in Turkey. Those who came to power by benefiting from advantages of
democracy, make some statements contradicting with their position.
Our people should well-understand the real intent of those who
attempted to stage acts by using children and women. We should
consolidate our national identity and unity by underlining common
values instead of creating artificial differences,” he said.
President Sezer thanked Turkish security forces for their determined
and common-sense approach.
“We saw a significant example of drawbacks stemming from efforts to
politicize the jurisdiction in Semdinli a few months ago. The Turkish
Army was dragged into an unfair argument as a result of the events
in Semdinli. Actually, it is one of the basic duties of the state to
protect the prestige of the army,” he said.
International developments
Touching on recent political developments in the international area,
Sezer said: “Turkey preserves its national interests as a requirement
of its peaceful, clear and transparent foreign policy.”
“Turkey is located in a geography which is very close to clash areas
and depression regions in the world. Thus, it cannot remain indifferent
towards the problems as well as the approaches of international
community to the developments in our region. Our basic target should
be preventing an uncertainty which can stem from the change process
in our region. Values like globalization, human rights, law order and
democracy can deepen social differences and this can cause disorder
in international relations. Our national interests require a stance
which will prevent problems to be ossified in our region as well as
in the general of the world,” he noted.
Globalization
Sezer said: “There is no common understanding about the concept of
globalization and its effects. It cannot be defined as negative
or positive alone. The only way to stay away from globalization
is isolation from international system completely. However, it is
clear that such an isolation does not serve freedom, prosperity and
development.”
“The clash of civilizations which has been on agenda frequently in
recent years is one of the most important threats against positive
part of globalization. Signs of this clash was seen after 11 September
attacks in security dimension, and also seen during cartoon crisis
in philosophical dimension. Western world stated that the cartoons
which caused depression were assessed within the scope of freedom
of expression. However, it is not good to attack holy values of
the Islam while using the freedom of expression. On the other hand,
Turkey possessed a rationalist and responsible approach during the
cartoon crisis, and tried to undertake a constructive role in efforts
to find a solution. Turkey stressed that freedom of expression is one
of the basic principles of democracy, but it is necessary to act with
responsibility while using this freedom, and also the problem cannot
be solved through violent methods. ‘Unity in diversity’ should be
the ideal of humanity in the future,” said Sezer.
He noted: “The EU adopts this ideal as a slogan, but today, many
circles can say that they do not want Turkey in the EU as Turkey has
different religious and cultural aspects.”
Turkey’s strategic importance
Sezer said: “Turkey, due to its strategic location, is on routes of
strategic transportation as well as among the most unstable regions of
the world like Caucasia, Middle East and the Balkans. Turkey is still
being faced with complicated and multilateral inner and external
threats which stem from separatist and unprogressive activities,
international terrorism, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction
and regional problems.”
“Turkey is among the countries which are mostly affected from
multilateral threats due to its geopolitical location. On the other
hand, the possibility and risk of use of weapons of mass destruction
are increasing in both regional clashes and acts of terrorism.
Although international treaties ban use of such weapons, several
countries are exerting efforts to possess these weapons, and this
jolts the international order,” noted Sezer.
“The terrorist attacks which have been staged in recent years with
unique methods and scales have made terrorism the primary threat
against world peace and stability. It is obvious that nobody is
purified from this threat in a milieu where everywhere has become a
front,” he added.
Sezer said: “Targets of terrorism has changed from individual level to
mass destruction level, and this is very concerning. Unity of power
against terrorism must be the common target of humanity. Thus, there
is a global fight against terrorism today. The success of this fight
depends on pursuing international efforts, force and determination
as well as cooperation within the scope of extension of freedom and
democracy and supremacy of law.”
Separatist and fundamentalist threat
Sezer said: “Terrorism generally appeared on ideological basis in the
past, but today it can influence larger number of people by using
ethnical and religious differences. Disagreements on definition of
terrorism and identity of terrorist organizations, supportive attitudes
of some countries towards terrorism and separatist stances towards
terrorism affect the success of fight against terrorism negatively.”
“Turkey is determined to successfully pursue its fight against
various domestic threats especially separatist and fundamentalist
threats. In spite of widespread international consensus to pursue
fight against terrorism on global level regarding the deployment of a
larger part of terrorist organization in the north of Iraq, Turkey’s
disappointment continues because our allies and neighbours did not
give the necessary support to eliminate the existence of the terrorist
organization in the region, and we express this disappointment in every
platform. Sensitivity in the public will increase due to indifference
towards terrorism targeting our country,” noted Sezer.
“Similarly, fundamentalist threat is a sensitive issue for us like
separatist terror. Fundamentalist threat has reached to a concerning
level. Turkey’s biggest assurance against this threat is its secular
order,” said Sezer.
“We expect the European Union (EU) to take into consideration
our progress under universal principles of democracy and rules of
market economy instead of discriminative statements,” said Turkish
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer on Wednesday. President Sezer said:
“Dynamic and coherent stance of our foreign policy constitutes
an evident element of stability in our region. Our relations with
European and European-Atlantic institutions create the main dimension
of our foreign policy. The EU membership process, relations with the
United States and our position at the NATO are among top priorities
of our foreign policy.”
“As you know, the membership negotiation process was formally opened
on 3 October 2005. Turkey has been maintaining its progress with a
great determination. At the end of this process, the only alternative
for us is the equal membership,” he said.
Highlighting importance of Turkey in regard to the EU’s future
contributions to global stability, President Sezer said: “Turkey’s
membership will deepen the EU’s relations with the Middle East,
Caucasus, Central Asia and Mediterranean. Turkey will enrich
a multi-cultural Europe with its modern, secular and democratic
identity. Therefore, we expect the EU to take into consideration our
progress under universal principles of democracy and rules of market
economy instead of discriminative statements. No one should expect
us to admit some unfair requests about Cyprus, Armenian allegations
and the other issues concerning our national interests.”
Relations with the United States
Referring to the relations with the United States, President Sezer
said: “as we stressed on numerous occasions, Turkey considers its EU
membership process a complementary element of our relations with the
United States. Turkey-the United States bilateral relations contain
energy, economy, trade, regional cooperation areas in addition to
defence and security. Also, the two countries cooperate in the Balkans,
the Middle East, Caucasus, eastern Mediterranean, the Black Sea and
Caspian Basin.”
“Turkey and the United States have been cooperating with each other
in fight against terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass
destruction. Differences of opinion in line with our national interests
do not harm our alliance. Problems in our region entail Turkey to
make different and more sensitive assessments. The United States is
aware of this fact. Settlement of peace and stability in our region is
connected with Turkey’s being a powerful and stable country,” he said.
President Sezer kept on saying: “We have the second biggest army within
NATO. This stems from the conditions in our geography. Turkey will
continue preserving and developing its defence capabilities. The
Turkish Armed Forces adapt itself to requirements of the new
international security environment.”
“Black Sea is a sea of peace”
“The Black Sea is a sea of peace. This area should not become
a diplomatic play field. We have succeeded in creating a positive
dynamic in our relations with our neighbours such as Greece, Bulgaria,
Russia and Syria. Improving commercial relations have contributed to
those relations,” he said.
Turkey-Armenia relations
Referring to the relations with Armenia, President Sezer said:
“Turkey wants to normalize its relations with Armenia to create an
atmosphere of cooperation in the region and to contribute to regional
stability. However, Armenia should take some steps to this end.
Armenia already knows it.”
Middle East
Recalling that the Middle East had been living through an extremely
important process, President Sezer said: “Turkey is in favour of
protection of territorial integrity and national unity of Iraq. We
want a democratic and prosperous Iraq having peaceful relations
with its neighbours. However, stability cannot be restored in Iraq,
and confidence cannot be provided among different segments of the
population yet. Recent developments revealed once again that balances
in Iraq became quite fragile. Therefore, Iraqi people need to seek
solutions to their problems on the basis of compromise.”
Kirkuk
“Efforts to prevent any separation that will lead to collapse
of Iraq’s territorial integrity and national unity, are of vital
importance. Several groups in Iraq ignore common will of Iraqi people
and affect regional peace and stability negatively. Turkey considers
their attempts totally unacceptable. Because of its special position,
Kirkuk [northern Iraq] continues posing a threat to Iraq’s stability.
Kirkuk is a small model of Iraq with its natural assets and demographic
balances. Kirkuk’s fate will affect the future of whole Iraq. Future
status of the city should be resolved with a formula to be accepted
by all segments in Iraq,” he said.
Northern part of Iraq and terrorist organization
Expressing Turkey’s concerns over Iraq’s territorial integrity
and presence of the terrorist organization PKK [Kurdistan Workers’
Party] in the northern part of the country, President Sezer said:
“Ongoing presence of the terrorist organization in northern part of
Iraq has been jeopardizing Turkey’s security. We have been holding
perpetual talks with both Iraqi and US authorities to this end. We
hope that those talks will yield positive results soon.”
Iran’s nuclear programme
“Another source of concern is the international tension about Iran’s
nuclear programme. All countries have the right to use nuclear energy
for peaceful purposes. However, it requires full cooperation with
the International Atomic Energy Agency and fulfilment of commitments
stemming from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
Turkey thinks that Iran has some important responsibilities to
ease the current tension. We call on Iran to cooperate with the
International Atomic Energy Agency. We conveyed our views to Iranian
authorities. Turkey does not want a new crisis in its region,” he said.
Palestinian-Israeli dispute
President Sezer noted: “If Palestinian-Israeli dispute cannot be
resolved, it is impossible to settle a lasting peace in the Middle East
and eastern Mediterranean. A new political picture has emerged in the
Middle East after the elections in Palestine on 25 January 2006. New
Palestinian government’s displaying a realistic, compromising and
flexible attitude is of great importance. Also, we want to believe
that the new Israeli government will assess the existing conditions
with common-sense. Both sides should give priority to resume talks
on the basis of the Road Map.”
Cyprus
Recalling that Turkey had been expending efforts to find a fair
and lasting solution to the Cyprus issue, President Sezer said:
“Recent Action Plan envisaging lifting all restrictions in Cyprus by
the all relevant parties, is the latest example of Turkey’s efforts
to safeguard peace on the island. International community extended
support to Turkey’s Action Plan.”
“It was the Greek Cypriot administration which rejected the plan
of United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan. The most important
step to be taken to lift embargoes imposed on the Turkish Cypriot
side will be financial assistance and direct trade. Turkey will not
support any other option. While the Turkish side has been trying to
revive a solution process and strengthen this process with the Action
Plan, the EU’s unilateral decisions will cause new difficulties and
problems. Everyone has to understand the fact that an atmosphere
of peace and stability to be settled in eastern Mediterranean will
contribute to tranquillity and security of the whole Europe. However,
problems cannot be resolved with efforts of only one side. Both sides
should contribute to efforts to find a lasting solution,” he said.
“Development of global economy, new scientific and technological
developments, social imparity, developments in energy, development
of rising powers such as the People’s Republic of China and India,
aging populations, democratization process in several regions, spread
of extreme ideologies, global terrorism, proliferation of weapons of
mass destruction and development process of international organizations
are among factors shaping the future of our world.
Turkey closely monitors and assesses all these developments. The
United Nations is the only universal forum in which all those
problems which require international cooperation and solidarity will
be discussed. Turkey supports all efforts aiming to protect peace
and security in the world,” President Sezer added.