Defense Department Documents and Publications
October 11, 2007
Gates Expresses Concern About Resolution’s Impact on U.S.-Turkey
Relations
John J. Kruzel American Forces Press Service
Gates Expresses Concern About Resolution’s Impact on U.S.-Turkey
Relations
By John J. Kruzel American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Oct. 11, 2007 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates today
expressed concern over the state of U.S.-Turkey relations, a day
after Congress passed a symbolic measure that considers Turkey guilty
of waging a genocide campaign against Armenians in World War II.
Despite appeals from President Bush and other top U.S. officials to
reject the measure, the U.S. House of Representatives’ Foreign
Affairs Committee yesterday voted 27 to 21 in favor of a nonbinding
resolution that characterized the mass killings of some 1.5 million
Armenians, which began in 1915, as genocide.
"This is a very sensitive subject for a close ally, an ally that is
incredibly important to the United States in terms of our operations
in Iraq," Gates said during a news conference in London with British
Secretary of State for Defense Desmond Browne.
Seventy percent of America’s air cargo for the war effort goes
through Turkey, along with 30 percent of the fuel. Ninety-five
percent of mine-resistant, ambush-protected heavy vehicles being
flown into Iraq go through Turkey as well, the secretary said.
In response to the passage of yesterday’s damning resolution, Turkey
has threatened to cut off its support of coalition operations in
Iraq, a move that has enormous implications for American soldiers,
sailors, airmen and Marines in Iraq and must be taken seriously,
Gates said.
During a news conference before the House vote yesterday, President
Bush lamented tragic suffering of Armenian victims at the hands of
Turks. "(But) this resolution is not the right response to these
historic mass killings, and its passage would do great harm to our
relations with a key ally in NATO and in the global war on terror."
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday joined Army Gen. David
H. Petraeus, commander of Multinational Force Iraq, Navy Adm. William
J. Fallon, commander of U.S. Central Command, and Ryan C. Crocker,
U.S. ambassador to Iraq, in censuring the symbolic measure on the
grounds that it would weaken the U.S. partnership with Turkey.
"The passage of this resolution at this time would indeed be very
problematic for everything that we are trying to do in the Middle
East, because we are very dependent on a good Turkish strategic ally
to help with our efforts," Rice said.
Today, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman called Turkey’s cooperation
with the United States in Operation Iraqi Freedom "very important."
Asked about the intensifying conflict between Turkey and the
Kurdistan Workers Party, known as PKK, Whitman said all elements of
the U.S. government are encouraging the two to reach a long-term
solution.
The U.S. considers the PKK — a militant Kurdish nationalist group
that operates in northern Iraq and Turkey — a terrorist
organization. As Turkey seeks parliamentary approval for a military
incursion across Iraq’s borders against the guerrilla group, the
Defense Department is encouraging the feuding factions to work
through their differences.
There are no plans right now to ratchet up U.S. military force at
trouble zones along the Turkish-Iraqi border, Whitman said.
"We are still encouraging both the governments of Turkey and Iraq to
work through what is a very challenging issue for both of them," he
said.