Transcript of Press Roundtable with Ambassador Laura Kennedy, Deputy
Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs
United States Embassy (Ankara, Turkey)
May 3, 2005
AMBASSADOR KENNEDY: Thank you for coming to see me today. This is, I
think, my fourth trip to Turkey in a ten-month period. As always, I
find that there is never enough time to do as many things and see as
many people as I would like. Although we discussed a number of issues
today, it was by no means a comprehensive discussion of all the things
on our very rich agenda. Of course, I came in the wake of
Undersecretary Ali Tuygan’s very good visit to the United States.
While I was here, I took to the opportunity to have the second round
of consultations on the Caucasus and Central Asia at the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs. In February, Director General Akinci had come to
Washington for discussions, and we had decided to inaugurate regular
exchanges between the United States and Turkey on these specific
areas. Of course, there are many issues, as you know, that the United
States and Turkey have strategic interests in and on which we
regularly consult. When I saw Mr. Tuygan this morning with Ambassador
Edelman, we suggested a number of specific consultations in a range of
different areas that we would propose for the next year. I will leave
it to the Foreign Ministry to comment on that, but I think we have
similar views on the importance of having such consultations over the
next year. I also had another meeting with Mr. Alpogan, whom I have
met a number of times, including when he was formerly Ambassador to
Athens. Also, we saw Mr. Apakan and his team to discuss Cyprus
today. I had the opportunity to exchange views with various experts on
Turkey in a private lunch. Then, most recently, I had a meeting with a
group of parliamentarians this afternoon. Every time I have come to
Turkey, I have met different parliamentarians from a range of
parties. I always think that is one of the most useful exchanges that
I can have. I have had the pleasure of meeting with a number of them
in Washington as well. From Turkey, I will go on to Greece to again
talk about some bilateral issues as well as Cyprus, to exchange views
on the way ahead. Then I will go on to Cyprus, and meet with President
Papadapolous and meet with Mr. Talat to congratulate him on his
victory, as our Secretary of State did recently. I will also meet with
UN officials on the island. Then I will go on to London – the UK,
as you know, has been a guarantor party on Cyprus, and a country with
which we have consulted very closely on the way ahead in Cyprus. Then
I will finish up with a trip to Brussels to discuss Cyprus issues as
well as some other issues with various EU folks. So I would be
delighted to answer any of your questions.
…
QUESTION: So what is the substance of this dialogue? AMBASSADOR
KENNEDY: I am sorry, which dialogue?
QUESTION: On the Caucasus and Central Asia. AMBASSADOR KENNEDY: We
could spend days talking about this, but I would say that some of the
particular areas we focused on were Kyrgyzstan, given the events
there. Aside from these formal consultations we have had in Ankara in
Washington, I certainly have made it a point to be in contact with
your government comparing notes on the way ahead. Of course, your
Foreign Minister is visiting there this coming week. So again, we both
have efforts to support this new interim government in Kyrgyzstan. We
both hope that forthcoming elections will meet OSCE expectations. We
both talked about our respective efforts to provide assistance to the
country. Another effort was on Georgia. There are a number of these
so-called `frozen conflicts’ that we have exchanged views on. Abkhazia
is one in which we both have a strong interest in seeing progress.
Certainly we are very mindful of the fact that there are more Abkhaz
who live in Turkey than in Abkhazia, so Turkey, as a neighbor, has a
particularly useful role to play. So we are just consulting on the way
forward. We certainly talked about Armenia. I discussed briefly the
Nagorno- Karabakh negotiations, although we have a special negotiator
for that conflict who frequently briefs your government and will be
only too happy to visit Turkey in the near future to exchange thoughts
on the way ahead there. Those were the main topics that we discussed
in these Caucasus-Central Asia consultations.
QUESTION: Did you talk about the so-called Armenian genocide issue and
the recent developments — the letters between the Armenian and
Turkish governments?
AMBASSADOR KENNEDY: Yes, we did. You may have read President Bush’s
statement on April 24. If not, the Embassy can give you a copy. It is
on the White House web page. President Bush specifically referred to
Prime Minister Erdogan’s letter to President Kocharian. We certainly
have a very strong interest in rapprochement and reconciliation
between Armenia and Turkey. This has always been the focus of our
efforts, so we were pleased to see Prime Minister Erdogan’s outreach.
We read the Foreign Ministry spokesman’s statement that President
Kocharian’s response was being studied comprehensively and
positively. That was very much the sense I got from the various
officials with whom I spoke today. We think this is a very promising
exchange between President Kocharian and Prime Minister Erdogan, and
we certainly hope that this will be followed up.
QUESTION: What do you think the next step should be? What about a
meeting between Erdogan and Kocharian? Would that be possible?
AMBASSADOR KENNEDY: I think that would be a great thing. I am trying
to think what meetings they might both be at — Council of Europe in
Warsaw? Certainly both governments have very competent
representatives. President Kocharian responded with this notion of an
intergovernmental committee. I think that certainly has merit. For our
part, we very strongly encourage rapprochement between the two
governments.
QUESTION: Do you think you have any roles to play in this (inaudible)?
AMBASSADOR KENNEDY: We encourage both sides constantly and, as I said,
we noted positively Prime Minister Erdogan’s response to President
Kocharian. We certainly will hope and encourage Armenia to respond. I
think this is a very promising exchange, and we will certainly support
efforts to find a way forward.
QUESTION: Ambassador, with the talks with the Armenian side, have you
ever received a signal that Armenia might recognize Turkey’s borders?
(inaudible)
AMBASSADOR KENNEDY: I have never heard anything from the Government of
Armenia to suggest they do not recognize the borders, just as Turkey
does. I hear this often from Turks, so I have asked Armenians. I have
seen speeches that Foreign Minister Oksanian has made in which he has
specifically referred to the Treaty of Kars and the recognition of
borders. So frankly I don’t think you have any cause for concern
there. This is an issue that the two governments can consider, but I
don’t think there is any reason to believe that Armenia does not
recognize the borders with Turkey. I have heard this directly from a
number of Armenian officials.
QUESTION: Linked to this issue, we know that US was expecting Turkey
to open its borders to Armenia. Did you raise this issue at your
talks? (inaudible)
AMBASSADOR KENNEDY: This has always been our policy. This is routine
US policy. What I focused on was asking your government’s views on
this and encouraging both sides to build on what I see as a very
promising exchange. That was certainly my focus, and that will
continue. Now in terms of the Nagorno-Karabakh talks, I prefer not to
get into that because we have a specialist who I hope will visit be
visiting Turkey in due course. But I will say that these are very
difficult, complex issues. So I don’t want to be overly optimistic.
There are very tough issues that the sides need to work through. But I
will say that I think this has been a very productive year. In what we
call the Prague Process, the foreign ministers of Armenia and
Azerbaijan have met jointly and separately in various meetings and in
various locations with the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, of which the
United States is one. I think it is a very serious process that is
underway. As always, we share our views with Turkey and encourage
Turkey to do its part to encourage the parties on the way forward.
…
QUESTION: I am still a little confused on the Armenian issue. You said
that you support Erdogan’s letter and all these initiatives. But there
is a big difference. Erdogan says the genocide issue should be
discussed by historians, but Kocharian says that all the issues can be
discussed in an intergovernmental commission – that it is our
responsibility, and we cannot delegate it to historians. So what is
the position of the United States? Do you support an intergovernmental
commission (inaudible)? Or do you think that it is an issue for
historians?
AMBASSADOR KENNEDY: Let me just say that we support, in general,
rapprochement between your governments. We are not going to tell
Turkey or Armenia what to do, because rapprochement and reconciliation
means you are willing to deal with each other. That is central. So we
support any of those efforts. I don’t see that these two proposals
could not possibly be reconciled. Prime Minister Erdogan has proposed
a commission of historians. Kocharian said “why don’t we consider
diplomatic relations? How about an intergovernmental commission?” I
don’t want to do the thinking of your government or the Armenians for
them, but will I personally say that I don’t see why you cannot
reconcile these two proposals. Why not have both? I think it is really
important for this dialogue to continue. So what if initial proposals
don’t mirror each other. Let’s built on the exchange and see if we
can’t come out with a workable next step. I don’t see an antithesis
between the proposals. I don’t see why you can’t proceed on both
tracks.
QUESTION: Did you get the signal that Turkey might find it positive to
(inaudible)?
AMBASSADOR KENNEDY: Obviously they are looking at it. I don’t want to
get out ahead of your government. You’re a good journalist. You’ll get
the story out of your government probably before any diplomat like me.
Thank you so much for coming today.