STATE DEPARTMENT REGULAR BRIEFING
Federal News Service
February 6, 2007 Tuesday
BRIEFER: SEAN MCCORMACK, DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN; LOCATION: STATE
DEPARTMENT BRIEFING ROOM, WASHINGTON, D.C.
[parts omitted]
Q It’s on Secretary Rice’s meeting with Gul from last week. I
understand they talked about PKK and Armenian genocide bill. Can you
give any details about their discussion on PKK, especially the ways
to eliminate the PKK in northern Iraq, did they discuss that? And
did they also discuss Armenian genocide bill that is supposed to be
discussed at the Congress in March?
MR. MCCORMACK: Well, they had a private discussion, a one-on-one
meeting, just the two of them. They may have one or two other aides
present. Then they had a discussion at lunch. I was present for the
discussion at lunch. Let me go down the list of topics that they
discussed at lunch.
They talked about Lebanon. They talked about Iraq, as well as the
PKK issue. They talked about Turkish-EU relations. Talked about Kosovo.
And Foreign Minister Gul also did bring up the discussion within
the U.S. Congress about a possible Armenian — a bill focused on the
events of 1915.
In terms of the discussions within the U.S. Congress, look, we
understand very clearly that this is a sensitive issue not only for
the Turkish people but for the Armenian people. We have made our
views known on the potential for a resolution or for a bill. I’ve
talked about that in the past; you can look back at the transcript
at what I’ve said.
In terms of the PKK, I think that everybody’s in agreement that we
want to try to resolve this issue. Innocent Turkish citizens have lost
their lives as a result of terrorist acts of the PKK. I think Turkey,
as well as Iraq, have — both have an interest in trying to resolve
the issue. We have appointed General Ralston as a special envoy to
work with both sides. Secretary Rice talked with Foreign Minister Gul
about where the situation stands now, what General Ralston has been
doing. And we have made it clear obviously we do not want to see a
resort to greater — any greater violence. Everybody believes in the
territorial integrity of Iraq — Turkey, Iraq, the United States. So
we want to try to work on this issue in such a way that is acceptable
to two sovereign states. And we’re doing what we can to help them
come together to solve what is a tough problem.