Anadolu Agency, Turkey
May 21 2010

Turkish minister sees a "new page" in relations between Turkey, USA

Washington, DC, 21 May: The Turkish state minister for foreign trade,
Zafer Caglayan, said on Friday [21 May] that Turkey and the United
States opened a new page in relations.

Caglayan, currently on a visit to Washington, DC, said his visit
achieved its goals, "We have a timetable now and we drew a road map
with that timetable. We did not have road map before."

Caglayan, who met with the executives of the leading US companies and
finance institutions, said the executives told him that Turkey would
be a very important power in its region.

"The executives of US companies said eight of every 10 refrigerators
used in houses in Britain were manufactured in Turkey. Investment
opportunities in Turkey should be explained well to the other
countries. We should very well explain labour-force costs and Turkey’s
logistic and geographical advantages to them," Caglayan said.

Caglayan said he met with the executives of United Technologies
company and the company expressed eagerness to open maintenance and
operation section in Turkey’s Sabiha Gokcen Airport. He said the
company also thought of making investment in manufacturing of
helicopters.

"The company wants to manufacture aircraft engines in Turkey. They
also want to invest in Turkey to sell some models of Sikorsky
helicopters to the whole region," he said.

Caglayan said he also thanked the US companies for the support and
lobbying activities they extended to Turkey during the Armenian
resolution.

Caglayan said, "When we were asked about Turkey’s trade with Iran, we
told them that it was more than the trade with the USA". He said
Turkey would become peaceful transition corridor in case the deal in
Tehran was put into effect.

Caglayan said they also assessed the problems between the two
countries, adding that actual process would start from now on.

Responding to a question, Caglayan said Turkish Coalition of America
(TCA) fulfilled important social responsibility project and within the
scope of the project it sent Indians, minorities in the United States
and children of Armenians to Turkey.

Caglayan said TCA supported increase in investments in several fields,
like mine, construction, infrastructure and education in places like
Arizona, where Indians were overwhelmingly populated.

Caglayan later left Washington, DC, for Turkey.