TURKISH OFFICIAL SAYS FOREIGN POLICY PRIORITIES COINCIDE WITH THOSE OF USA

Anadolu Agency
March 20, 2009
Turkey

Washington, 20 March: Ahmet Davutoglu, chief adviser to Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan on foreign policy, has said that differences
existed between Turkey and the United States when former President
George W Bush was in office but the US and Turkish preferences and
priorities in foreign policy almost completely coincided when President
Barack Obama came to power.

Davutoglu held a press conference after the week-long talks he had
in Washington with Ret Gen James Jones, President Obama’s adviser on
national security; Deputy State Secretary James Steinberg, who is the
second highest ranking State Department official; George Mitchell,
US special envoy to the Middle East; Dennis Ross, US special adviser
on Iran, southwestern Asia, and the Gulf region; other high-ranking
State Department officials; Howard Berman, head of the House Foreign
Relations Committee, and other high-ranking congressmen.

Stressing that a difference of views existed between Turkey and the
United States on various issues when former President George W Bush
was in office, Davutoglu gave Syria as an example. However, he noted
that the policies of Turkey and the United States almost completely
coincided after the Obama came to power.

Davutoglu said, "My impression is that the stands of the two sides on
almost all the issues coincide. All the officials I have talked with
appreciated Turkey’s foreign policy initiatives on the Middle East,
Caucasus, and Afghanistan."

Recalling that former President Bill Clinton visited Turkey in his
seventh year in office and former President George W Bush visited in
his fourth year in power, Davutoglu said that President Obama will
arrive in Turkey after he visits Canada. He noted that his visit
will show the importance the United States attaches to Turkey and
its foreign policy. He said, "The relations between Turkey and the
United States will be maintained on a favourable basis in the new era."

Asked to comment on a possible rapprochement between Turkey and
Armenia and the incidents in 1915, Davutoglu said, "We are working
on a scenario for the Caucasus. Everyone will stand to gain from
it. We hope that a negative development will not take place to harm
the positive state of affairs. We also hope that a positive agenda
will influence the relations between Turkey and the United States."

Davutoglu was asked, "Can you comment on the role Turkey might be asked
to play in the Middle East?" He responded by saying, "No-one can assign
a task to us. We fulfil the historic role we have. Working together
must not be taken to mean that we have been tasked to do something."

Davutoglu said that the United States has not asked Turkey to dispatch
additional troops to Afghanistan.

Recalling that Turkey has been defending the view that non-military
steps should be taken in addition to the military measures in
Afghanistan, Davutoglu asserted that the United States began to
consider the matter at the present time.

Responding to a question, he said that the possibility of disarming
the PKK [Kurdistan Workers’ Party] was not on the agenda of his talks
in Washington. He noted, "The way a struggle is waged against terror
is quite clear." Davutoglu recalled the existence of a mechanism on
the matter between Turkey, the United States, the Iraqi government
and the administration in northern Iraq.

Davutoglu said that the US government has launched a historic
initiative related to Syria and noted that the US policy is in parallel
with Turkey’s approach.

Davutoglu has rounded up his talks in Washington. He is expected to
participate in the two-day conference on Turkey-US relations at the
Princeton University in New Jersey today.