The U.S. and Turkey

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan lauded U.S.-Turkish relations, stating that he had a fruitful debate during his visit to the White House. He emphasized the vital importance of dialogue between the two countries.

After PM Erdogan’s meeting with President Bush at the Oval Office on November 5, 2007, PM Erdogan said at the National Press Club that it was TGNA’s (Turkish Grand National Assembly) decision to fight terrorists. He added that 507 of the MPs said “Yes,” and 19 MPs said “No.”

He said, “We are not on the threshold of a war, it is just considered to be an operation, not a problem to be associated with the Southern region. We got the permission to take action from TGNA.” He pointed out that AK party was the first party to win the elections in the South East of Turkey. He said, “We have 75 MPs of Kurdish origin in my party. We have relatives and connections in Northern Iraq, and in the southern region of Turkey.” When asked if the PM trusts Iraqi Kurds, he said, “We have to trust them, we have to have the spirit of solidarity with the Central Administration in Iraq .We’ll see if we can trust them or not when we examine the steps that are taken.”

Erdogan said, “Turkey has been a country of trust and stability in the region.” He added, “sharing intelligence with the U.S. is of vital importance to us. We do not require intelligence for the long-term period, but we need intelligence at the moment, we need spontaneous intelligence.”

The PM said: “The existence of PKK is unacceptable in the region. PKK is a terrorist organization.” He continued, “PKK also deals with drug and human trafficking, uses explosives. The media in the world should not define this terrorist organization as ‘rebels’ not to be biased. If they do so, let’s examine the definition of terrorism. The media is biased. The media does not have an honest style of communication. Turkey has been struggling with terror for 30 years. This has been a long-term issue. International cooperation is essential to cope with terror. PKK has also been active in human trafficking areas. We need full appreciation and solidarity from the U.S. with regard to this issue. PKK with this drug trafficking action has been damaging American youth as well. Terror should not be considered only as a national, domestic issue, but as an international issue as well. There are people who provide logistical support to PKK. With regard to PKK terrorism; unfortunately, we cannot see an international support (We support the territorial unity of Iraq) Stability in Iraq also means Turkey’s stability in the region and vice-versa. This could have broad regional impacts.”

He made a call for international community to take concrete and urgent steps with regard to terror. He said, “We need a multi-dimensional politics.” He addressed several severe crises facing the world, including Pakistani, Iraqi events. He said, “We do not want a state of emergency. Military interference is not acceptable in a democratic framework. We are opposing extreme actions.” He hoped that U.S Congress just takes the so-called Armenian Genocide Resolution back from its agenda. He said, “It has been mentioned that this Bill is not binding, but, the Congress, the legislative power of the U.S., has accepted this resolution! there has to be an appropriate common sense in U.S. House of Representatives. I stated this issue before I said that ‘a mutual historical commission’ has to be established and we should let the archives be released. Let the historians, lawyers, archeologists come together and study…This issue is coming up again and again, but this is a question of Armenian Diaspora…”

Heyecan Veziroglu is an intern at the American Journalism Center, a training program run by Accuracy in Media and Accuracy in Academia.