CAPITOL HILL HEARING TESTIMONY: US-TURKISH RELATIONS BY DANIEL FRIED FROM STATE DEPT.
Congressional Quarterly
CQ Congressional Testimony
March 15, 2007 Thursday
COMMITTEE: HOUSE FOREIGN AFFAIRS
SUBCOMMITTEE: EUROPE
HEADLINE: U.S.-TURKISH RELATIONS
TESTIMONY-BY: DANIEL FRIED, ASSISTANT SECRETARY
AFFILIATION: DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Statement of Daniel Fried Assistant Secretary, European and Eurasian
Affairs Department of State
Committee on House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe
Chairman Wexler, Ranking Member Gallegly, Members of the Sub-
Committee, thank you for the opportunity to be here. I will speak to
you today about how the United States and Turkey are working together
closely to address our common challenges, particularly in the Middle
East but also more globally.
Secretary Rice has instructed me to shift the focus of the U.S.-
Turkey relationship from one of simply managing challenges to
one where the United States and Turkey are working cooperatively
to advance a broad range of issues, putting in action our shared
interests and common values. Our shared interests include stability
and freedom in Iraq and Afghanistan, democratic reform in the broader
Middle East, energy security across Eurasia, and Turkey’s deeper
anchoring in Europe. Our common values start from our two countries’
deep commitment to democracy. Turkey, a majority Muslim state with
a deepening democracy with a tradition of secular governance, is
of strategic importance to the United States. Its 160-year legacy
of modernizing reform, dating back to the late Ottoman period, can
inspire people throughout the broader Middle East who thirst for
democratic freedom and market- based prosperity.
Turkey also has a rapidly growing market economy. Over the past five
years it has had the highest GDP growth rate of any OECD country,
averaging over seven percent a year. The Turkish authorities have
tamed inflation from over 25 percent for a generation to under 10
percent from 2004-2006.
Washington and Ankara have developed a blueprint to reinvigorate
our bilateral relations. It is the "Shared Vision" statement that
Secretary Rice and Foreign Minister Gul concluded in Washington in
July 2006. This document identifies ten key sectors for cooperation.
It also establishes new diplomatic mechanisms to structure our
engagements on the tactical, operational, and strategic levels. We
have made significant progress in implementing the "Shared Vision"
statement, as I’ll discuss below. But much work remains, with
anti-Americanism remaining at a historic high among the Turkish public
and providing a context for Turkey’s complex political dynamic.
Iraq and Afghanistan
We have made steady progress over the past two years in elevating
bilateral U.S.-Turkish relations from their low point on March 1,
2003, when the Turkish Grand National Assembly voted not to allow
U.S. forces to deploy through Turkey to Iraq. Today, Turkey supports
U.S. objectives in Iraq and has urged us not to abandon the Iraqi
people. Coordination between our embassies in Baghdad is working
well, with our Turkish ally offering us insights and support. Turkey
actively encourages various Iraqi communities to participate in Iraq’s
political processes, and provides training to Iraqi political parties,
diplomats, and security forces. Most recently, Turkey participated
in the first Iraq Neighbors Conference in Baghdad, and has offered to
host the ministerial meeting of the Iraq Neighbors group in Istanbul,
as we pursue a shared goal of a stable, democratic, and unified Iraq.
Turkey provides extensive logistical support to our troops in Iraq.
This critical lifeline includes:
The cargo hub at Incirlik Air Base, through which we ship 74 percent of
all air cargo to Iraq, with six US military C-17 aircraft transporting
the amount of cargo it took 9-10 aircraft to move from Germany,
saving $160 million annually.
The land border crossing at Habur Gate accounts for delivery to Iraq
of approximately 25 percent of the fuel used by Coalition forces.
Turkey’s grant of blanket over-flight clearances to U.S. military
aircraft is of critical importance to our military operations in both
Iraq and Afghanistan. Additionally, KC-135 tankers operating out of
Incirlik have flown 3,400 sorties and delivered 35 million gallons
of fuel to U.S. fighter and transport aircraft on missions in Iraq
and Afghanistan.
More than military support, Turkey’s technical and financial assistance
has played a crucial role in the economic stability and development of
Iraq, particularly of northern Iraq. Turkish businessmen were among
the first to arrive in Iraq after U.S. forces, and have played a key
role in rebuilding infrastructure and commerce.
Turkish truckers have risked their lives plying the roads of Iraq to
deliver to Iraqis the necessities of everyday life.
Turkey supplied a significant portion of Iraq’s total fuel supply,
primarily for consumers in the northern governorates. Billions of
gallons of fuel have entered through Habur Gate in the past year
despite occasional Iraqi arrears in payments.
Turkey has the capacity to export 270 megawatts of electricity
to northern Iraq, and averages around 220 megawatts, depending on
the season.
Turkey has played a vital role in Afghanistan in combating terrorism
and promoting freedom and democracy. After commanding International
Security Assistance Force (ISAF) II in 2002 and ISAF VII in 2005,
Turkey is now sharing joint rotational command of ISAF Capital Regional
Command for two years with France and Italy. Turkey opened a Provincial
Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Wardak province last November. Turkey has
also pledged $100 million in humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan’s
reconstruction and operation of schools and hospitals. We continue to
press Turkey, a dependable NATO ally for almost 60 years, to contribute
more troops in Afghanistan and to remove caveats to its deployment.
Middle East
Under Secretary Burns spoke to the House Foreign Affairs Committee
last week regarding our comprehensive strategy for addressing the
challenges posed by Iran. Turkey is part of the robust international
coalition working to achieve a diplomatic solution to Iran’s continuing
noncompliance with its international nuclear obligations.
Our cooperation with Turkey on these efforts is evidence of our close
working relationship to promote international peace and security. It
has stood firm with us and others to counter Iran’s threat to
regional stability. Turkey has committed itself to implement fully
the provisions of UNSCR 1737, which imposes sanctions under Article
41 of Chapter VII of the UN Charter on Iran’s nuclear and ballistic
missile programs.
Additionally, Turkey is helping to apply targeted financial pressure on
the Iranian regime by restricting banking transactions which support
Iran’s proliferation and terrorist activities. We will continue to
discuss with Ankara how best to make clear to the Iranian regime the
costs of its confrontational path. While we may occasionally differ
somewhat over tactics, there is no disagreement between us as partners
that an Iranian nuclear weapons capability is unacceptable.
Turkey has been a partner in the efforts to achieve Israeli-
Palestinian peace and, because of its close relations with both
Israel and Arab states, has played a helpful role as honest broker
in bridging some of the gaps. Turkey has a long history of close
military and economic cooperation with Israel. Prime Minister Erdogan
and Foreign Minister Gul have conducted their own shuttle diplomacy
between Tel Aviv and Arab capitals to help advance peace, security,
and stability in the Middle East. They have played a helpful role in
encouraging the Palestinians to accept the Quartet principles.
Another helpful Turkish initiative involves its desire to contribute
to the economic development of the Palestinians by developing the Erez
industrial zone, creating jobs and providing hope and opportunity
for otherwise disillusioned individuals potentially vulnerable to
recruitment by terrorists.
One of the most tangible Turkish contributions has involved
peacekeeping and safeguarding the integrity of Lebanon. Turkey has been
actively engaged in Lebanon, notably by contributing about 900 troops
to UNIFIL last fall, helping to bring stability to a violence-wracked
region. During last summer’s Israeli- Hezbollah clashes, Turkey helped
evacuate almost 2000 American citizens from a war-torn Lebanon and
assisted in their repatriation to the United States via safe haven
in Turkey. In January, Turkey pledged $50 million in grants for
reconstruction at the Lebanon international donors’ conference, hosted
by French President Chirac, which resulted in an overwhelming global
response of $7.6 billion in pledges, including the Secretary’s pledge
of $770 million in humanitarian, reconstruction and security support.
Turkey is also a key partner in our efforts to empower civil society
and advance democratic freedom in the broader Middle East. No state
is a model, and certainly no state is a perfect one. But Turkey’s
example of secular democracy with a Muslim majority population, a
burgeoning open economy, worldwide commercial networks, and its long
experience with modernizing reform, make it a crucial partner in the
Forum for the Future. Turkey is a co-sponsor – along with Italy and
Yemen – of the Forum’s Democracy Assistance Dialogue, and is making
important contributions to advance women’s rights and develop non-
governmental organizations in a wide range of Muslim societies
stretching from North Africa to Central Asia.
Energy Security
During the late 1990s, cooperation on energy security became
a cornerstone of the U.S.-Turkey partnership. The Baku-Tbilisi-
Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline grew from a vision of an energy corridor
that would resurrect the Great Silk Road, articulated at that time
by Turkey, Georgia, and Azerbaijan. Many were skeptical, but the
United States offered strong support to help realize this vision,
working with these governments and with companies to establish a
public-private partnership that has resulted in one of the most complex
and successful pipeline projects of all time. BTC was inaugurated in
July. It will reach full capacity of one million barrels of oil per
day over the next few years, and connect oil fields in the Caspian
Sea with global markets reached from Turkey’s Mediterranean Sea port
of Ceyhan. A companion natural gas pipeline, the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum
(BTE), is about to begin delivering Azerbaijani natural gas from the
Shah Deniz field in the Caspian to Georgia and Turkey.
There is also the Samsun-Ceyhan project, a Bosporus Bypass oil pipeline
that takes oil from Turkey’s Black Sea coast and delivers it to the
Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. This particular project may be already
on its way to commercial viability, something we would welcome.
We now stand at the edge of a new generation of Caspian energy
investments, which will build on BTC and BTE and help the Euroatlantic
community strengthen its energy security. Oil producers in Kazakhstan
are negotiating on ways to ship their product by barge across the
Caspian Sea and into BTC, whose capacity could be expanded by as much
as 80 percent. Perhaps of even greater strategic significance is the
prospect for enlarging BTE with expanded gas production and exports
from Azerbaijan. We are now working with governments and companies
to help Azerbaijan increase its gas production sufficiently by 2012
to 2014 to fill the emerging Turkey-Greece-Italy pipeline and the
prospective Nabucco pipeline linking Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania,
Hungary, and Austria. Over the next decade, we hope a trans-Caspian
gas pipeline from Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan will connect with
BTE. We have also just launched trilateral discussions with Ankara
and Baghdad on developing gas production in northern Iraq for export
to Europe via Turkey.
As these natural gas projects develop, they will emerge as a Southern
Corridor of infrastructure that will offer fair and transparent
competition to Gazprom’s massive network of gas pipelines that is in
place – and expanding – in Northern Europe. The Southern Corridor can
change Eurasia’s strategic map by offering Europe its best hope for
large volumes of natural gas supplies that will allow diversification
away from a deepening reliance on one supplier or network. Turkey,
if it continues to act as a partner with its neighbors, including
by reaching a commercially attractive gas transit agreement with
Azerbaijan, will be the centerpiece of this grand strategic effort.
Counterterrorism
We are committed to eliminating the threat of PKK terrorism in northern
Iraq, where this terrorist group is headquartered and from which it
continues to launch deadly attacks in Turkey. We have made progress
against PKK operatives and support networks in Europe. As a result of
this close cooperation, France and Belgium recently arrested several
PKK terror financiers linked to financing attacks against Turkey. But
we also must achieve concrete results against the PKK in Iraq. The
Secretary last August appointed General (ret) Joseph Ralston,
formerly Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, as Special Envoy to
Counter the PKK. General (ret) Ralston has been coordinating closely
with his Turkish counterpart, General (ret) Edip Baser, and his Iraqi
counterpart, Minister of State Shirwan al-Waili, to end the PKK threat.
Turkey has also made major contributions to our own efforts to
combat terror. I have already discussed Turkey’s crucial efforts in
Afghanistan. Additional counterterrorism support from Turkey came
in mid-February when it hosted in Istanbul the Global Initiative to
Combat Nuclear Terrorism, a U.S.-Russia led initiative, which will
seek to prevent such particularly destructive acts.
Domestic Politics: Elections, Trends of Nationalism, Liberalism,
and Democracy
Turkish-American partnership must rest on a foundation of Turkey’s own
democratic development. Turkey remains a secular, democratic state. But
it is today a very different and a far more robust democracy than the
Turkey of a generation ago. Former boundaries of expression and limits
upon political opinions are gone or much widened. Basic freedoms are
more respected.
But with greater democratic freedoms has come increased volatility
and deeper debate within Turkey about its strategic course, about
its identity, and about the role of religion in public and political
life. These debates within Turkey are taking place as the country
enters a double-election year, with presidential elections in May
and parliamentary elections in November.
The volatility of debate has given rise to and coincided with an
undercurrent of popular nationalism, frustration with Europe, and
even anti-Americanism. One cause of these trends is Turkish citizens’
frustration with PKK terrorism from Iraq, and a popular belief that the
United States could do more to combat the PKK terrorists, whom Turks
view as the greatest threat to their national security. Another cause
is the identity crisis dominating Turkish society as Turkey strives
for admission in the European Union. Many Turks feel humiliated by
what they perceive as the shifting of accession requirements by the
EU even as Turkey advanced serious constitutional and market economic
reforms, and made significant compromises on the Cyprus question. While
it is up to the Turks to meet the EU’s requirements for accession,
many Turks believe that some in Europe use the complex EU accession
process to mask a bias against Turkey.
This political turmoil and the widening boundaries of democratic
expression have propelled a new nationalism as one factor common
across Turkey’s political spectrum. At the same time, a growing and
sophisticated middle class also supports the emergence of progressive
and liberal ideas in Turkey. The ruling Justice and Development (AK)
Party, with its foundation in Turkey’s traditional Islamic culture
but also including progressive and liberal elements, is one expression
of the different strains in Turkish political life today.
Turkey’s secular elite, rooted in the civilian and military
bureaucracies that play a key role in Turkey’s democracy, also reflects
these trends. And these two diverse political camps are in competition
with each other.
As political tension heightens with the advance of Turkey’s election
campaigns, additional political strains can undermine our ability
to sustain our improvement in U.S.-Turkish relations and continue
to reap the benefits in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Middle East, and the
Caspian region that I have described above.
Turkey-Armenia Relations
Against this complex background of shared interests, common values,
and political turbulence, Turkey now faces the possibility of a U.S.
Congressional resolution defining as genocide the mass killings and
forced exile of as many as 1.5 million Armenians in the final years of
the Ottoman Empire. The Administration has never denied – nor does it
dispute or minimize – the historical facts of these mass murders and
ethnic cleansing. Each year, the President issues a solemn statement
on April 24, Armenian Remembrance Day, recognizing these atrocities
and the suffering inflicted on Armenians. The Administration’s goal
is to stimulate a candid exploration within Turkish society of these
horrific events in an effort to help Turkey reconcile with its painful
past and with Armenia. This is not easy.
It was not easy for the United States to address its own historical
dark spots, including slavery and the internment of U.S. citizens
of Japanese descent during WWII. We will have to be persistent and
thoughtful.
But after a long silence, Turkey is making progress. The terrible
murder of Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink by an ultra-
nationalist accelerated an intellectual opening in Turkish society,
with more than 100,000 Turkish citizens of all political, confessional,
and ethnic backgrounds demonstrating at Dink’s funeral in support of
tolerance and a candid exploration of Turkey’s past.
Their shouts of "We are all Hrant Dink; we are all Armenian" resonate
in the ears of millions of people in Turkey and the world over who
believe in freedom of speech, freedom of expression, and human dignity
for all of Turkey’s citizens.
Political leaders across the political spectrum in Turkey condemned
the killing. President Sezer said the murder was "ugly and shameful."
Turkish Chief of General Staff General Buyukanit called the killing a
"heinous act" and said the "shots fired on Hrant Dink were . . . . .
fired on Turkey." We are seeing growing calls, including from Prime
Minister Erdogan and Foreign Minister Gul, for changes to Article 301
of the Constitution, which, in criminalizing "insulting Turkishness,"
stifles Turkey’s ability to discuss openly the events of 1915. We
welcome Turkish leaders’ and opinion makers’ calls to amend or repeal
Article 301.
Against this backdrop, we believe that H.Res. 106 would undercut
those voices emerging in Turkey who call for a truthful exploration of
these events in pursuit of Turkey’s reconciliation with its own past
and with Armenia. We hear from members of the 60,000-70,000 strong
Armenian-Turkish community that any such resolution would raise popular
emotions so dramatically as to threaten their personal security.
This Administration, like the previous Administration before it,
opposes any resolution that attempts to define how free-thinking
people should term the horrific tragedy of 1915. We believe this
question, which is of such enormous human significance, should be
resolved not by politicians, but through heartfelt introspection by
historians, philosophers, and common people. Our goal is an opening
of the Turkish mind and the Turkish heart. Our fear is that passage
of any such resolution would close minds and harden hearts.
Secretary Rice has an ambitious agenda with Turkey over the next two
years, and we hope to work with Congress to achieve success in these
goals. We look forward to close consultation with the Subcommittee,
Committee and other Members interested in our agenda with Turkey.
Mr. Chairman, Congressman Gallegly, members of the Committee, I am
grateful for the opportunity to speak before you, and I look forward
to your questions.