Zaman, Turkey
March 16 2005

Wolfowitz: Convince Damascus, Let’s Look Ahead
By Suleyman Kurt
Published: Wednesday 16, 2005
zaman.com

Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer will visit Syria in April;
however the visit, which will take place in a time of escalating
international pressure, has caused disruptions in the
Ankara-Washington line.

The issue was on the agenda during the eight-deputy delegation of the
Turkish Parliamentary Democracy Delegation’s Washington contacts.
According to the information received, meeting with Turkish
parliamentarians, the US Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz
sent the message: “If your relations with Syria are on good terms, we
request you use this position to convince Syria to withdraw its
troops from Lebanon. Let’s look towards the future.” The US Secretary
of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, on the other hand, surprised everyone
when he entered the room and joined the meeting.

The Turkish delegation consisting of five Justice and Development
Party (AKP) and three Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputies
attended meetings in Washington that included a meeting with Paul
Wolfowitz.

According to reports, the US-Turkey relations were at the table, and
indicated that the problems resulting from the March 1 deployment
motion, that was not passed in the Turkish Parliament, was overcome,
and Wolfowitz signaled: “Let’s look to the future.”

Within this framework, Wolfowitz brought the recent developments
regarding Syria to the agenda. When the Turkish parliamentarians
expressed: “Turkey attaches great importance to its relations with
regional countries and has good relations with its neighbors.” The US
Deputy Secretary of Defense replied: “There are issues that we can
handle together as friends and allies. If your relations with Syria
are on good terms, we request you use this position to convince Syria
to withdraw its troops from Lebanon. You must convince Syria. ”

Meeting with officials from the US Department of State and the
Presidency, the Turkish delegation communicated to Washington, “one
of the major reasons of anti-Americanism in Turkey is the continued
existence of the terrorist organization Kurdistan Worker’s Party
(PKK) in northern Iraq. The parliamentarians also expressed Turkey’s
perspective in regard to the so-called Armenian genocide allegations
and the abandonment of the isolation imposed on the Turkish Republic
of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), and they asked for US assistance on this
issue. While US officials did not reveal any approaches regarding the
terrorist organization PKK, and they noted that the authority rests
with the US Congress with regard to the so-called genocide
allegations.