Hurriyet, Turkey
March 21 2009
Turkey rejects confrontation with Iranians
WASHINGTON – Turkey favors "economic interdependence" with Iran over
energy-related sanctions on the neighboring country, a top adviser to
the Turkish prime minister said after meetings with aides to President
Barack Obama, according to report by Bloomberg.
"We will not favor energy limitations," Ambassador Ahmet
DavutoÄ?lu, who advises Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
ErdoÄ?an on foreign policy, told reporters in Washington on
Friday after meeting with Obama’s national security adviser, James
Jones. DavutoÄ?lu, seen as the architect of the government’s
foreign policy, talked yesterday with top State Department officials
as part of preparations for Obama’s trip to Turkey in
April.DavutoÄ?lu said the Nabucco natural-gas pipeline that
Turkey is developing would need gas from several countries, including
Iran.
U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza said last week
in Ankara that the U.S. does not want Iran to contribute gas to the
pipeline.
The United States is trying to maintain economic pressure on Iran to
steer the country away from a nuclear weapons program. Iran, which has
the world’s second-largest gas reserves after Russia, has postponed
field development plans as international sanctions hamper funding for
its energy industry.
Historic era in bilateral ties
Obama’s visit to Turkey so early in his administration, will
underscore that relations with the United States are on strong
footing, after difficulties tied to the Iraq War during the Bush
administration, DavutoÄ?lu said.
"We are in a historic era where our policies are almost identical on
all issues," he said.
DavutoÄ?lu said he was confident that relations would remain on
"solid ground," when pressed on whether he thought Obama was likely to
declare the World War I-era mass killings of Armenians in Ottoman
Turkey as genocide in an annual statement next month.
The issue should not "hijack the strategic vision of Turkish-American
relations," DavutoÄ?lu said. DavutoÄ?lu also said Turkey
was presently working on a set of measures to improve relations with
Armenia, from which "everyone in the Caucasus would benefit," reported
Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review’s Ã`mit Enginsoy from
Washington.
At a separate meeting with Turkish journalists, DavutoÄ?lu said
he hoped not to see a development in Washington that could derail this
process.
"On all matters, we have the impression that our positions are almost
identical. Our counterparts appreciate our active policies in the
Middle East, Afghanistan and the Caucasus," DavutoÄ?lu said.
He recalled that former president Bill Clinton visited Turkey during
his seventh year as president and Bush’s visit came in his fourth
year. "But Obama will be paying his first, very first, bilateral visit
to Turkey. This shows the importance the U.S. attaches to Turkey," he
said.
He also praised an ongoing mechanism of cooperation among Turkey, the
U.S., the Iraqi government and Iraqi Kurds to counter the terrorist
Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which attacks Turkish targets from
bases in northern Iraq. DavutoÄ?lu said the Obama administration
is now involved in a historic rapprochement process with Syria, which
Turkey supports. He said Turkey and the Bush administration disagreed
on how to approach Syria, with Turkey calling for engagement with
Damascus and the former Washington administration seeking its
isolation.
10,000 cops for Obama’s security
Thousands of Turkish police will act as U.S. President Barack Obama’s
security while in Turkey, private channel NTV reported Friday. Any
leave has been suspended for Ankara and Istanbul police due to the
visit.
Obama’s program is about to be finalized but there are still some
uncertainties that have not been disclosed due to security reasons,
the report said. Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama are expected to
arrive in Ankara on April 5, probably in the late afternoon.
Obama will make his first visit to Anıtkabir on the morning of
April 6 and then will proceed to the Presidential Palace for the
official welcoming ceremony. President Abdullah Gül and Obama
will first hold one on one talks and then preside over the
delegations’ meeting. Obama will also meet with Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip ErdoÄ?an and will deliver a speech to the Turkish
Parliament. Obama will go to Istanbul with ErdoÄ?an on the same
plane. In Istanbul, Obama is expected to visit a university where he
will meet with Turkish university students.
On April 7, Obama will participate in the Alliance of
Civilizations’summit, where U.N. General Secretary Ban Ki Moon and
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero will also be present.