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INTERVIEW WITH TURKISH AMBASSADOR TO U.S.
CNN
October 28, 2007 Sunday
SHOW: CNN LATE EDITION WITH WOLF BLITZER 11:00 AM EST
BYLINE: Wolf Blitzer, Ed Henry, Candy Crowley, Mark Preston
GUESTS: Mohamed ElBaradei, Barbara Boxer, Trent Lott, Nabi Sensoy,
Mike Huckabee, David Miliband
[parts on other interviews omitted]
Mr. Ambassador, thanks very much for joining us. Welcome to "Late
Edition." How close is your country, Turkey, to invading northern Iraq?
NABI SENSOY, TURKEY'S AMBASSADOR TO U.S.: Well, in the first place,
I wouldn't like to use the term "invade" Iraq, because if there is
going to be a decision to intervene militarily in the north of the
country, it will have a specific target and a scope, and the target
will be the PKK terrorist organizations.
BLITZER: How close are you to that?
SENSOY: Now as you know, the government has taken authorization from
the parliament, if necessary, to go into Iraq militarily. Now so far
the Turkish government has shown remarkable, I think, restraint to
-- not to use force in order to resolve this issue. We are trying
to employ and exhaust all the diplomatic possibilities and peaceful
possibilities before we think of the last resort, which is use to --
of arms.
BLITZER: There have been repeated reports that Turkish aircraft have
already crossed the line, have gone into northern Iraq and bombed
certain facilities. Are those reports true?
SENSOY: I'm not privy to those informations. There is a lot of activity
going in the south of the country, in the southeast of the country.
BLITZER: Of Turkey.
SENSOY: Of Turkey, in preparation. But I'm not really informed about
any kind of activity south of the border.
BLITZER: Have the Turkish forces massed 100,000 or so troops along
the border?
SENSOY: Well, there has always been activity in the south of the
country because of the activities of this terrorist organization,
so it is possible that they have now beefed up the forces in the
south of the country.
BLITZER: As you know, the U.S. government, the Bush administration,
is strongly urging you not to intervene in northern Iraq, in
Kurdistan. Listen to what the secretary of state said. Just listen
to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SECRETARY OF STATE CONDOLEEZZA RICE: We don't see that any effort
across that border by the Turks is going to help with the situation.
We have said to the Turks that a major -- some kind of incursion into
Iraq is only going to cause further instability.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: All right. What do you say in response?
SENSOY: Well, that's why we have shown so much restraint so far. But if
the countries -- all the groups in the north of Iraq think that -- or
do not assume their responsibilities to eliminate the PKK themselves,
they cannot expect Turkey to sit idly by to see that the Turkish
population is being slaughtered by the PKK.
BLITZER: Because here's what the Iraqi government says -- last Sunday
here on "Late Edition," the Iraqi government spokesman, Ali Al-
Dabbagh, was on this program, and he offered this explanation. Listen
to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALI AL-DABBAGH, IRAQI GOVT. SPOKESMAN: Even Turkey, they can't
stop PKK. This is mounting. It's a rough area. Fifteen years now the
struggle with Turkey. Twenty-four times Turkey had to close the border
and couldn't get rid of the PKK. Now one more crossing the border
won't solve the problem. It will be great problems for all of us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: He says you haven't been able to stop it even on your side.
Why do you think you can go into northern Iraq and stop the PKK?
SENSOY: Well, I think it should be interpreted that the Turkish nation
has taken enough measures so that these terrorist organizations, these
terrorists, have sought to go to the north of the Iraqi territory to
conduct hit-and-run attacks to Turkey.
Now, they have camped along the Turkish border in five places.
They're conducting hit-and-run attacks. So we have lost more than
35,000 lives in the last 20 years. Now enough is enough.
And I saw the mood in Turkey, and within the Turkish public. It
is one of outrage. And that is why no government can really remain
unresponsive to the cries from the people.
BLITZER: On Tuesday, the Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki said
this: "The PKK is a notorious terror organization, and we have decided
to shut down its offices and not allow them to operate on Iraqi
soil. We will take all measures to restrict its terror activities
that threaten Iraq and threaten Turkey as well."
Do you not believe him?
SENSOY: Well, in the first place, it's small comfort that they are
going to close down the offices, because those offices were closed
down before to see the next day that they're open next to the very
place that they have closed. So this is the very least that the Iraqi
government can do. But there are other things. Elimination of this
requires the end to logistical support that goes to the terrorist
organization from the north of the country. This is in the form of
arms, food, ammunition, every kind of logistical support. So this
has to be stopped in the first place in order to be able to eliminate
the present.
BLITZER: Some analysts have suggested that the consideration in the
House of Representatives here in Washington a few weeks ago of a
resolution condemning the Ottoman Empire for the, quote, "genocide of
Armenians" during World War I contributed to this tension, not only
tension with the United States but tension between Turkey and Iraq.
That resolution, among other things, said, "The Armenian genocide was
conceived and carried out by the Ottoman empire from 1915 to 1923,
resulting in the deportation of nearly 2 million Armenians, of whom
1,500,000 men, women and children were killed, 500,000 survivors were
expelled from their homes, and which succeeded in the elimination of
the over 2,500-year presence of Armenians in their historic homeland."
How much of a factor was consideration in the House of Representatives
of this resolution in Turkey's angry stance right now?
SENSOY: I can see no relationship between the two. With regard to the
Armenian resolution, I think it was a very bad idea, because as far as
the international law is concerned, the Armenians have no arguments
with regard to the 1948 convention. And that's why they are taking
the issue to a political...
BLITZER: Your position is that there was no genocide.
SENSOY: Well, what we are saying is the events of 1915 needs further
investigation. And that is why we have proposed setting up of a
committee of historians between Turkey and Armenia to look into this
matter to go into the archives and to dig out the truth. Whatever
the truth is, we are going to accept.
BLITZER: We've got to leave it there, we're out of time. Ambassador
Sensoy, thanks very much for coming in. Let's hope that situation
remains calm or calms down. Appreciate it very much.
CNN
October 28, 2007 Sunday
SHOW: CNN LATE EDITION WITH WOLF BLITZER 11:00 AM EST
BYLINE: Wolf Blitzer, Ed Henry, Candy Crowley, Mark Preston
GUESTS: Mohamed ElBaradei, Barbara Boxer, Trent Lott, Nabi Sensoy,
Mike Huckabee, David Miliband
[parts on other interviews omitted]
Mr. Ambassador, thanks very much for joining us. Welcome to "Late
Edition." How close is your country, Turkey, to invading northern Iraq?
NABI SENSOY, TURKEY'S AMBASSADOR TO U.S.: Well, in the first place,
I wouldn't like to use the term "invade" Iraq, because if there is
going to be a decision to intervene militarily in the north of the
country, it will have a specific target and a scope, and the target
will be the PKK terrorist organizations.
BLITZER: How close are you to that?
SENSOY: Now as you know, the government has taken authorization from
the parliament, if necessary, to go into Iraq militarily. Now so far
the Turkish government has shown remarkable, I think, restraint to
-- not to use force in order to resolve this issue. We are trying
to employ and exhaust all the diplomatic possibilities and peaceful
possibilities before we think of the last resort, which is use to --
of arms.
BLITZER: There have been repeated reports that Turkish aircraft have
already crossed the line, have gone into northern Iraq and bombed
certain facilities. Are those reports true?
SENSOY: I'm not privy to those informations. There is a lot of activity
going in the south of the country, in the southeast of the country.
BLITZER: Of Turkey.
SENSOY: Of Turkey, in preparation. But I'm not really informed about
any kind of activity south of the border.
BLITZER: Have the Turkish forces massed 100,000 or so troops along
the border?
SENSOY: Well, there has always been activity in the south of the
country because of the activities of this terrorist organization,
so it is possible that they have now beefed up the forces in the
south of the country.
BLITZER: As you know, the U.S. government, the Bush administration,
is strongly urging you not to intervene in northern Iraq, in
Kurdistan. Listen to what the secretary of state said. Just listen
to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SECRETARY OF STATE CONDOLEEZZA RICE: We don't see that any effort
across that border by the Turks is going to help with the situation.
We have said to the Turks that a major -- some kind of incursion into
Iraq is only going to cause further instability.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: All right. What do you say in response?
SENSOY: Well, that's why we have shown so much restraint so far. But if
the countries -- all the groups in the north of Iraq think that -- or
do not assume their responsibilities to eliminate the PKK themselves,
they cannot expect Turkey to sit idly by to see that the Turkish
population is being slaughtered by the PKK.
BLITZER: Because here's what the Iraqi government says -- last Sunday
here on "Late Edition," the Iraqi government spokesman, Ali Al-
Dabbagh, was on this program, and he offered this explanation. Listen
to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALI AL-DABBAGH, IRAQI GOVT. SPOKESMAN: Even Turkey, they can't
stop PKK. This is mounting. It's a rough area. Fifteen years now the
struggle with Turkey. Twenty-four times Turkey had to close the border
and couldn't get rid of the PKK. Now one more crossing the border
won't solve the problem. It will be great problems for all of us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: He says you haven't been able to stop it even on your side.
Why do you think you can go into northern Iraq and stop the PKK?
SENSOY: Well, I think it should be interpreted that the Turkish nation
has taken enough measures so that these terrorist organizations, these
terrorists, have sought to go to the north of the Iraqi territory to
conduct hit-and-run attacks to Turkey.
Now, they have camped along the Turkish border in five places.
They're conducting hit-and-run attacks. So we have lost more than
35,000 lives in the last 20 years. Now enough is enough.
And I saw the mood in Turkey, and within the Turkish public. It
is one of outrage. And that is why no government can really remain
unresponsive to the cries from the people.
BLITZER: On Tuesday, the Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki said
this: "The PKK is a notorious terror organization, and we have decided
to shut down its offices and not allow them to operate on Iraqi
soil. We will take all measures to restrict its terror activities
that threaten Iraq and threaten Turkey as well."
Do you not believe him?
SENSOY: Well, in the first place, it's small comfort that they are
going to close down the offices, because those offices were closed
down before to see the next day that they're open next to the very
place that they have closed. So this is the very least that the Iraqi
government can do. But there are other things. Elimination of this
requires the end to logistical support that goes to the terrorist
organization from the north of the country. This is in the form of
arms, food, ammunition, every kind of logistical support. So this
has to be stopped in the first place in order to be able to eliminate
the present.
BLITZER: Some analysts have suggested that the consideration in the
House of Representatives here in Washington a few weeks ago of a
resolution condemning the Ottoman Empire for the, quote, "genocide of
Armenians" during World War I contributed to this tension, not only
tension with the United States but tension between Turkey and Iraq.
That resolution, among other things, said, "The Armenian genocide was
conceived and carried out by the Ottoman empire from 1915 to 1923,
resulting in the deportation of nearly 2 million Armenians, of whom
1,500,000 men, women and children were killed, 500,000 survivors were
expelled from their homes, and which succeeded in the elimination of
the over 2,500-year presence of Armenians in their historic homeland."
How much of a factor was consideration in the House of Representatives
of this resolution in Turkey's angry stance right now?
SENSOY: I can see no relationship between the two. With regard to the
Armenian resolution, I think it was a very bad idea, because as far as
the international law is concerned, the Armenians have no arguments
with regard to the 1948 convention. And that's why they are taking
the issue to a political...
BLITZER: Your position is that there was no genocide.
SENSOY: Well, what we are saying is the events of 1915 needs further
investigation. And that is why we have proposed setting up of a
committee of historians between Turkey and Armenia to look into this
matter to go into the archives and to dig out the truth. Whatever
the truth is, we are going to accept.
BLITZER: We've got to leave it there, we're out of time. Ambassador
Sensoy, thanks very much for coming in. Let's hope that situation
remains calm or calms down. Appreciate it very much.