R. Nicholas Burns Interview With CNN-Turk

R. Nicholas Burns
Under Secretary for Political Affairs
Washington, DC
October 10, 2007

Interview With CNN-Turk

QUESTION: Thank you for being on CNN [Turk] today.

UNDER SECRETARY BURNS: Thank you for inviting me on the program.

QUESTION: I would like to ask you first of all about the Armenian resolution. You know it passed today and a lot of Turkish officials said they are very disappointed after the resolution passed. What are your thoughts about it?

UNDER SECRETARY BURNS: We share the disappointment of the Turkish government. We are deeply disappointed by the vote in a committee of the House of Representatives today. We worked very hard to oppose it. President Bush, Secretary of State Rice and Secretary of Defense Gates all were very active in the last several weeks trying to convince the Members of Congress that there was a better way to handle this.

We understand how delicate this issue is and how sensitive it is for the Turkish people as well as the Armenian people. And frankly, we favor some of the proposals put forward by the Turkish government over the last several years -- for historical commissions, for an opening of the Ottoman Archives. Surely that's the better way to handle such a delicate issue of events that took place nearly a century ago so we're disappointed. We understand there's disappointment in Turkey. We will obviously, Secretary Rice will be contacting the Turkish leadership as soon as she can tomorrow morning to express that disappointment and to reconfirm the friendship and solidarity of the American government with Turkey.

QUESTION: That is what I was going to ask you, actually. What American government is going to do. You said that Rice would be making contact tomorrow, but what else the American government can do to improve the relationship between Turkey and the United States?

UNDER SECRETARY BURNS: I think we've sensed that with the recent Turkish elections, with the new Turkish government there is an opportunity for the United States and Turkey to improve our relationship and to fix some of the problems that characterized that relationship over the last several years. We had a very good beginning. As you know, President Bush and Prime Minister Erdogan have been in frequent contact, including last Friday. We have great respect for President Gul. I think we've been able over the last several months to lift up the relationship. We're working closely with Turkey on Iraq, where Turkey is going to host in Istanbul in the beginning part of November a major international conference to support the Iraqi government. Turkey's been a friend of the United States on the issue of peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Turkey has also been a very good friend in trying to sort out the problems caused by Iran in the Middle East.

So I think one of the messages from America to Turkey today is, Turkey's a valued ally of our country. We respect Turkey and the Turkish nation and we don't want this vote, which is a vote by a separate branch of our government, not by President Bush's government. We don't want this vote to interfere with the very good cooperation that we've had.

QUESTION: And when do you think if Nancy Pelosi would bring the vote to the Floor?

UNDER SECRETARY BURNS: That's up to the leadership of the Congress. We will continue to oppose this resolution. It is not the right way forward. It is not good for U.S.-Turkish relations. It's not good for our hope that there might be improved relations between Turkey and Armenia, and the Turkish government can count on the continued support for the Turkish government and opposition to this particular resolution.

QUESTION: I want to go to another subject which is very sensitive between Turkey and the United States -- Iraq and PKK. I want to actually start asking that General Ralston's resignation. Will you tell us a little bit about why did he resign and also will there be any other person who will take over his position?

UNDER SECRETARY BURNS: General Ralston accepted the offer of President Bush and Secretary Rice more than a year ago to be a contact, an emissary to the Turkish government and the Iraqi government on this issue. He did a great job. I think he was able to make progress to the extent that we now have at least a dialogue between the Iraqi government, the Kurdish leadership in Northern Iraq, the Turkish government and the United States. His work, of course, will be taken up by all of us. I know Secretary of State Rice believes very strongly in the need for the United States to be an effective partner to Turkey in this process. She is focused on this issue, as are all the rest of us who work for her in the State Department.

QUESTION: And the PKK issue, what are your thoughts about the cross-border operations that the Turkish government is planning in the future?

UNDER SECRETARY BURNS: We are deeply, deeply sensitive to the fact that Turkey has lost 27 Turkish citizens in recent weeks to PKK terrorists. We oppose the PKK. It is a vicious terrorist organization. We have classified it as such. We've tried to urge other countries to list the PKK as a terrorism organization, and I think Turkey can expect from the United States very strong support to try to inhibit and prevent such attacks from occurring in the future.

Now that's a very difficult thing to do because the PKK operates from a different country...from Northern Iraq. It operates from a mountainous area. So there has to be more effective cooperation among Iraq, Turkey and the United States to prevent this, but I don't fault the Turkish government in that. I think the rest of us need to do more to help the Turkish government to deal with the threat.

QUESTION: Can you explain that a little bit more? You said that we need to give more support. What is that more support that the United States can do for Turkey because --

UNDER SECRETARY BURNS: I think first and foremost, as you saw in recent weeks, the Iraqi and Turkish governments signed an agreement on security cooperation. That was a positive step forward and we hope that agreement buttressed by the participation of the United States working with both governments can lead to more effective action. I don't want to be more detailed than that. This is a very difficult business, obviously, to attend to, but Turkey can rely upon the United States to continue to oppose the PKK and to be a good and solid friend to Turkey and the Turkish nation.

QUESTION: Thank you very much for your time.

UNDER SECRETARY BURNS: It's a pleasure. Thank you.

ENDS

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