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Obama voices support for talks on resolving Kurdish issue
US President Barack Obama. (Photo: AP, Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-306603-obama-voices-support-for-talks-on-resolving-kurdish-issue.html
10 February 2013 /TODAY'S ZAMAN, ANKARA
US President Barack Obama has confirmed his country's support for the
peace initiative the Turkish government has started with Abdullah
Ã-calan, the imprisoned leader of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers'
Party (PKK), to settle Turkey's decades-old Kurdish issue.
Obama said in an interview that appeared in the Milliyet daily on
Sunday that he applauds Turkey's effort to find a peaceful solution to
a problem that has caused much suffering.
Noting that the US has always supported Turkey in its fight against
terrorism, while at the same time encouraging the steps Turkey has
taken to deal with the issue through the use of politics, Obama
re-affirmed that the US would continue to extend concrete support in
this area. Regarding the governing Justice and Development Party's (AK
Party) peace initiative, Obama expressed his belief that the proactive
measures the government has been taking will achieve genuine progress
in settling the Kurdish issue.
The Turkish government has complained that the international community
is not offering sufficient support for the removal of Syrian President
Bashar al-Assad from power, and that the US, for its part, has
appeared for some time to be somewhat unwilling to offer substantial
backing to the opposition forces fighting the Syrian regime. However,
Obama, who described the situation in Syria as a tragedy during the
interview, conducted via email, seems to have taken a resolute
attitude against Assad because he acknowledged that the end of the
Assad regime will come, sooner or later. The US president also
re-affirmed its commitment to expend efforts with Turkey to that end.
Iran's nuclear efforts have long been criticized by the US, and the
interview Obama underlined the view that a nuclear Iran would pose a
serious threat to all its neighbors, including Turkey. The US
president, though stating that he wants to settle the issue in a
peaceful way at the negotiating table with Iran, made it clear that
the US is resolved in its position to not allow Iran to possess
nuclear weapons. Obama admitted that Turkish companies have had to
pass up business opportunities because of the sanctions imposed by the
US on Iran, and that Turkish people pay a higher price for energy as a
result of the same sanctions. However, he also maintained that the
price the world would have to pay for gas in the event of Iran
succeeding in producing nuclear weapons would be much higher,
especially for neighboring countries like Turkey.
Obama also noted Turkey's request for Patriot missile systems and
thanked Turkey for allowing these missiles to be deployed in its
territory. He pointed out that the aim of the deployment is to protect
Turkey, not Israel, against a ballistic missiles threat.
It is known that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an hopes to pay a
visit to Washington to speak with Obama. However, rumors among
political circles in Turkey say that he has been denied an invitation
by the Obama administration, probably on account a divergence of
opinion on various issues. Obama admitted that Turkey and the US have
problems but that they can still talk sincerely with each other.
Calling ErdoÄ?an a good friend and a great partner with whom he has
been working closely on global issues, Obama said, `I very much look
forward to seeing my friend Prime Minister ErdoÄ?an again.' He also
revealed that his team is trying hard to identify a suitable date for
the two leaders to meet, adding, `I'm confident that we'll find an
opportunity to do so soon.'
Only seven of the 11 questions emailed to the White House by
Milliyet's Washington representative were answered by Obama. As noted
by the daily's representative, Pınar Ersoy, the questions the US
president chose not to answer reveal a great deal. The unanswered
questions may be an indication that the divergence of opinion on
numerous issues between Turkey and the US persists, although at the
same time the two countries may also be cooperating as close partners
on a number of issues.
One of the questions Obama chose not to answer asked how the US feels
about Turkey's strengthening economic and political ties with the
autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq while
the country's relations with Baghdad have soured in the past year.
Turkey has been acquiring oil and similar products from the KRG, and
the oil of the region -- although small in amount -- has for some time
now been exported via Turkey to international markets, an act harshly
protested against by Baghdad, which maintains that it is unlawful for
the KRG to export oil without authorization from the Iraqi central
government.
A broad energy partnership -- including the building of an oil
pipeline -- between northern Iraq and Turkey, ranging from exploration
to exportation, has been in place since last year, but the project has
been criticized by the US, which fears that the project may pave the
way for the Kurds there to break away from Iraq by enabling the
Kurdish region to become financially independent, thereby leaving the
remaining part of Iraq to fall even further under Iran's influence.
Another question that went unanswered concerned the two countries'
diametrically opposed attitudes on an Israeli attack on Palestinians
in the Gaza Strip that took place a couple of months ago. While
ErdoÄ?an described Israel as a terrorist state following the attack,
Obama said Israel had acted in self-defense. To the question whether
this divergence of opinion has caused any damage to US-Turkish
relations, Obama preferred not to respond.
Questions about ErdoÄ?an's remarks on Turkey's willingness to become a
member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and whether
Obama plans -- as he had so promised during his election campaign in
2008 -- to recognize the ordeal experienced by the Armenians of the
Ottoman Empire as genocide, also went unanswered.
US President Barack Obama. (Photo: AP, Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-306603-obama-voices-support-for-talks-on-resolving-kurdish-issue.html
10 February 2013 /TODAY'S ZAMAN, ANKARA
US President Barack Obama has confirmed his country's support for the
peace initiative the Turkish government has started with Abdullah
Ã-calan, the imprisoned leader of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers'
Party (PKK), to settle Turkey's decades-old Kurdish issue.
Obama said in an interview that appeared in the Milliyet daily on
Sunday that he applauds Turkey's effort to find a peaceful solution to
a problem that has caused much suffering.
Noting that the US has always supported Turkey in its fight against
terrorism, while at the same time encouraging the steps Turkey has
taken to deal with the issue through the use of politics, Obama
re-affirmed that the US would continue to extend concrete support in
this area. Regarding the governing Justice and Development Party's (AK
Party) peace initiative, Obama expressed his belief that the proactive
measures the government has been taking will achieve genuine progress
in settling the Kurdish issue.
The Turkish government has complained that the international community
is not offering sufficient support for the removal of Syrian President
Bashar al-Assad from power, and that the US, for its part, has
appeared for some time to be somewhat unwilling to offer substantial
backing to the opposition forces fighting the Syrian regime. However,
Obama, who described the situation in Syria as a tragedy during the
interview, conducted via email, seems to have taken a resolute
attitude against Assad because he acknowledged that the end of the
Assad regime will come, sooner or later. The US president also
re-affirmed its commitment to expend efforts with Turkey to that end.
Iran's nuclear efforts have long been criticized by the US, and the
interview Obama underlined the view that a nuclear Iran would pose a
serious threat to all its neighbors, including Turkey. The US
president, though stating that he wants to settle the issue in a
peaceful way at the negotiating table with Iran, made it clear that
the US is resolved in its position to not allow Iran to possess
nuclear weapons. Obama admitted that Turkish companies have had to
pass up business opportunities because of the sanctions imposed by the
US on Iran, and that Turkish people pay a higher price for energy as a
result of the same sanctions. However, he also maintained that the
price the world would have to pay for gas in the event of Iran
succeeding in producing nuclear weapons would be much higher,
especially for neighboring countries like Turkey.
Obama also noted Turkey's request for Patriot missile systems and
thanked Turkey for allowing these missiles to be deployed in its
territory. He pointed out that the aim of the deployment is to protect
Turkey, not Israel, against a ballistic missiles threat.
It is known that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an hopes to pay a
visit to Washington to speak with Obama. However, rumors among
political circles in Turkey say that he has been denied an invitation
by the Obama administration, probably on account a divergence of
opinion on various issues. Obama admitted that Turkey and the US have
problems but that they can still talk sincerely with each other.
Calling ErdoÄ?an a good friend and a great partner with whom he has
been working closely on global issues, Obama said, `I very much look
forward to seeing my friend Prime Minister ErdoÄ?an again.' He also
revealed that his team is trying hard to identify a suitable date for
the two leaders to meet, adding, `I'm confident that we'll find an
opportunity to do so soon.'
Only seven of the 11 questions emailed to the White House by
Milliyet's Washington representative were answered by Obama. As noted
by the daily's representative, Pınar Ersoy, the questions the US
president chose not to answer reveal a great deal. The unanswered
questions may be an indication that the divergence of opinion on
numerous issues between Turkey and the US persists, although at the
same time the two countries may also be cooperating as close partners
on a number of issues.
One of the questions Obama chose not to answer asked how the US feels
about Turkey's strengthening economic and political ties with the
autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq while
the country's relations with Baghdad have soured in the past year.
Turkey has been acquiring oil and similar products from the KRG, and
the oil of the region -- although small in amount -- has for some time
now been exported via Turkey to international markets, an act harshly
protested against by Baghdad, which maintains that it is unlawful for
the KRG to export oil without authorization from the Iraqi central
government.
A broad energy partnership -- including the building of an oil
pipeline -- between northern Iraq and Turkey, ranging from exploration
to exportation, has been in place since last year, but the project has
been criticized by the US, which fears that the project may pave the
way for the Kurds there to break away from Iraq by enabling the
Kurdish region to become financially independent, thereby leaving the
remaining part of Iraq to fall even further under Iran's influence.
Another question that went unanswered concerned the two countries'
diametrically opposed attitudes on an Israeli attack on Palestinians
in the Gaza Strip that took place a couple of months ago. While
ErdoÄ?an described Israel as a terrorist state following the attack,
Obama said Israel had acted in self-defense. To the question whether
this divergence of opinion has caused any damage to US-Turkish
relations, Obama preferred not to respond.
Questions about ErdoÄ?an's remarks on Turkey's willingness to become a
member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and whether
Obama plans -- as he had so promised during his election campaign in
2008 -- to recognize the ordeal experienced by the Armenians of the
Ottoman Empire as genocide, also went unanswered.