Remarks With Turkish Foreign Ministry Under Secretary Ambassador Ali Tuygan

UNDER SECRETARY HUGHES: Thank you so much Mr. Ambassador. We had a very productive, warm, and friendly meeting this morning. I am also very honored to have been asked to meet with Foreign Minister Gul. I look forward to meeting with him at his home. I am just very honored that he would receive me there. I am very happy to be here in Turkey on my very first overseas trip. I am here to listen and to learn and, as the Ambassador said, to work to strengthen the relationship and the close partnership between our two countries. Ours is indeed a partnership. We need each other. America and Turkey need each other to do the best work possible, and to do the work that we need to do for our two peoples.

Turkey in many ways is an inspiration to the citizens of America. You have done such a marvelous job of rebuilding your economy in just four short years. It’s also a wonderful inspiration, I think, to the citizens along America’s Gulf Coast, who are working now to rebuild their lives after the hurricane, because Turkey did such a wonderful job of rebuilding after the devastation of the earthquake that you had here about ten years ago. I want to thank the Government of Turkey and the people of Turkey for what the Embassy here has described to me as just an outpouring of support, both financial support from the Turkish Government, and individual support from the people of Turkey.

The Embassy told me how people would come by the Embassy and bring envelopes with single bills or coins. It was just a true outpouring that demonstrated the great warmth and hospitality and generosity of the Turkish people to America in our hour of need. We are so, so very grateful for that. Turkey and America have many common interests and common values. We talked about our strong value of family. I am a mom, and I love kids. I love all kids. And I understand that is something I have in common with the Turkish people -- that they love children. I am looking forward this afternoon to meeting some moms and children here in Turkey. We also, of course, share a democracy in common, and a respect for individual and human rights, and the rights of women.

The Ambassador and I discussed a number of issues. America’s strong support for Turkey’s membership in Europe – we strongly support that. Our strong commitment to fighting terror. And I want to make it very clear that America absolutely condemns the PKK, just as we condemn Al-Qaida. We know that the citizens of Turkey are suffering. Every week, Turks are being killed by PKK terrorists. As our National Security Advisor Steve Hadley said, we are committed to doing more, to confronting this terror threat to the people of Turkey. We are also committed to expanding people- to-people exchanges. America spends more money on Fulbright scholarships here in Turkey than we do in any other country. We want to expand our people-to-people exchange programs. I view my job as being about people, Mr. Ambassador, and about policy, because I recognize that policy affects people’s lives. So we are here talking about policy. We are talking the way it impacts people. And I just want to thank you so much for your warm welcome, and our strong partnership.

AMBASSADOR TUYGAN: Thank you very much.

QUESTION: Especially at the outset of the Iraq war, there were some concerns on the American side about some anti-American tendencies in Turkish society. You are responsible for public diplomacy. Do you still have such concerns, and what should be done to (inaudible) these tendencies?

UNDER SECRETARY HUGHES: The Ambassador and I talked about the importance of looking forward. America and Turkey have a strong interest in ensuring that in the end game in Iraq, we come through this difficult period in Iraq with a united and strong and stable and democratic Iraq. That’s what we are together going to work toward. I think that, obviously, we have a public diplomacy challenge here in Turkey, as we do in different places throughout the world -- in many places. The way to overcome that is to for America to work in partnership, in consultation with the leadership here in Turkey on policies that improve the lives of the people of Turkey, for example by doing more to combat the terror threat from the PKK by ensuring that we work together to – I know people here, as people in America, are concerned about the situation in Iraq. No one likes war. And we want to work together to ensure that Iraq emerges as a unified and stable democracy.

QUESTION: I had a question for Under Secretary Tuygan. Sir, a recent poll has shown that about 23 percent of the Turkish people view the United States favorably. I am wondering why that number has dropped so much, and what does the United States need to do to improve its image here?

AMBASSADOR TUYGAN: I have seen other polls with other results. I think that today support for Turkish-American cooperation is much above 23 percent. Turkey and the United States have been allies for 50 years, and we have a exemplary record of cooperation. So whatever has happened in the past years cannot change that. I think we need a deeper dialogue, a more structured dialogue. And we wish to convey the outcome of this dialogue to our publics, so that they are assured that this cooperation is solid as ever, and it is continuing going right track.

QUESTION: A dialogue on what, sir?

AMBASSADOR TUYGAN: A dialogue on all issues which are relevant to our foreign policy agenda such as Iraq, what happens in the Middle East, in the Caucasus, what happens with the project to create greater stability and democracy in the wider area. All of these are agenda items for our cooperation, and I think our views converge on all these matters. So I think the prospects for moving forward are very solid.

UNDER SECRETARY HUGHES: Let me just add to that. The Ambassador made a very important point, how important it is that we work in partnership together, that America listens to the concerns of the Turkish Government and works with the Turkish Government. That’s exactly what one of the things that my role is intended to foster, and one of the things that we intend to do -- to show that we respect the Turkish people and the opinions of the Turkish Government. We view this as a partnership, and I think that is one of the things I hope that, in my role as the Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy, I can foster and encourage.

QUESTION: What kinds of things can the United States (inaudible) PKK terrorism?

UNDER SECRETARY HUGHES: That is something that our National Security Advisor Steve Hadley is working on. He made that commitment to the people of Turkey here. As the National Security Advisor, he brings together all the resources of the United States Government -- the Defense Department, the intelligence community, the law enforcement community, our financial community, as well as the State Department. So Steve discussed this issue in detail here, and is working and discussing that in detail within our United States Government right now to discuss what we can do. I think that will come from the National Security Advisor.

QUESTION: The general impression in the region is that you have to do more than change your message. You have to change your policies to convince people that America (inaudible) in the region. For example, Iran and Syria (inaudible) Iraq there will be no more pro-American sentiment in the region. Do you see any point in reporting these impressions to your boss in the United States?

UNDER SECRETARY HUGHES: I am going to report to President Bush what I have heard on this trip. The whole point of listening is to give feedback to the President, to our policy makers. In terms of Iran, we are working with the international community, which has concerns about Iran and about its pursuit of nuclear technology. In terms of Syria, we are also working with the international community and Syria’s neighbors to send a clear message that it is important that Syria -- and we are unequivocal about this, not just the United States of America but also Syria’s neighbors and the international community -- that Syria needs to do more to close its borders and stop allowing insurgents to flow across its border. That is not the United States’ position. That is the position of Syria’s neighbors and the international community.

In terms of larger issues, a lot of people ask me about changing policy, and I raise the question: I think and I hope that most people want our policy to be support for a Palestinian state, for example. We want the people of Palestine to have a state of their own. We want children growing up in the Palestinian territories to be able to be educated, and to get good jobs, and to have a future that they can aspire to. That is why President Bush is the first president in the history of the United States to publicly call for creation of a Palestinian state to live side by side in peace and freedom with the state of Israel. In terms of Iraq, I think we are united – America and Turkey – in what we want, which is a stable, a unified, and a democratic Iraq. So I think our people are in agreement on those policies. Thank you all so much.
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