THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
_______________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release April 19, 1995
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
AND PRIME MINISTER CILLER OF TURKEY
IN PHOTO OPPORTUNITY
The Oval Office
10:25 A.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Let me say that, as always, it's good to
have Prime Minister Ciller back in Washington. I welcome her here.
Turkey is a valued, important ally of the United States, and our
relationship will become even more important in the years ahead.
We're about to go into a meeting where we will discuss a
number of issues, her programs for democratization and for economic
reform, the Turkish operation in Northern Iraq, which obviously, the
United States hopes will be limited in duration and scope. We'll talk
about Cyprus and a number of other issues -- whatever the Prime
Minister wants to discuss. But I'm looking forward to the
conversation, and I'm glad she's here.
Q Do you expect her to set a date for the evacuation from
Iraq? And is Iraq supporting her drive against the Kurds?
THE PRESIDENT: Why don't you ask her those questions?
Q I will. Do you plan to set a date for withdrawal from
Iraq? And is Iraq supporting this drive against the Kurds? Are there
good Kurds and bad Kurds?
PRIME MINISTER CILLER: As you know, we were together in
the fight against Iraq in the Gulf crisis, and then we were together
again with the United States in Provide Comfort to protect the Kurdish
people in Northern Iraq against Saddam's regime. And it so happened,
however, that Turkey was probably the only ally which paid -- who paid
very high costs because we happen to have a border with Iraq. And
Northern Iraq, in time, became a no-man's land.
And this was not a decision that I enjoyed taking, but it
so happened that the terrorists simply settled in Northern Iraq and
planned to have operations within my country passing the borders. Any
western country in my position would have to have -- would take the
same kind of decision that I did. And we are there only for a limited
time. We have gotten hold of the bases that we wanted to do. The
majority of the job is done and over with. The withdrawal will be very
soon, as I have said from the beginning.
The reason that I cannot announce a date is because it
would not be fair for those people up on the mountains, 1,500 feet from
the ground -- meters from the ground, not feet -- in the caves, in the
snow and they are approaching our borders. What they are doing is
searching the caves up on the mountains for the guns and the
ammunitions that would have been used to kill the innocent people in my
country.
So I have to say that I'm very grateful to President
Clinton for his support and for the fact that they knew about what was
happening in Northern Iraq, that this became a no-man's land without
authority, and it's not our making. It is not only our responsibility
either. We have to think of a way to handle this. Otherwise, Turkey
always ends up being the only ally to continually pay for this
operation and the end result of this operation.
Q Are you adamantly against the establishment of a state
of Kurdistan? Isn't this the motive of the rebels?
PRIME MINISTER CILLER: We are very friendly towards the
Kurdish people in Northern Iraq. We have nothing against it. In fact,
the Kurdish people in Northern Iraq were quite happy to see us come in
because what had happened is that the Kurdish elements had been pushed
towards south and had to evacuate Northern Iraq because of the
terrorists. Now that the terrorists have simply run away, there is the
possibility of these Kurdish elements coming back to Northern Iraq and
settling.
We had, as you know, opened up our borders to the Kurdish
people in Northern Iraq. Close to a million people came over after the
Gulf crisis, and we sheltered them and we fed them. And last year
only, we paid $13.5 million in foodstuff to the Kurdish people living
in Northern Iraq. And every year, we supply the electricity and basic
needs. So this has nothing to do with the Kurdish people.
Q Prime Minister, today in Turkey 21 people have been
arrested on allegations of trying to assassinate you. I wondered how
you felt about your own security, if you were worried about the
stability of your government.
PRIME MINISTER CILLER: Well, I am not worried about the
security of my country or myself. I have a mission, and that mission
is a peace mission for the area. And that's what I'm going to discuss
with President Clinton. And Turkey's actual acceptance into the
European Community and Customs Union, I think, is a historic kind of a
turnaround. And I have to thank again the President's administration
and to President Clinton for the very historic support they have given
on the issue, because had Turkey been separated from Europe, it would
have meant that fundamentalism would have moved up to the borders of
Europe. And Turkey, in the area, is the only stable ally from Korea to
the Gulf crisis.
We are -- look at where we are stationed. North of us is
the Soviet Union, having disintegrated. The new countries that have
emerged have their own problems. East to us is Middle East. We are
very friendly towards Israel, and I was the first Prime Minister to go
to Israel -- and friendly to the Arab world at the same time. And we
have good relations with the Caspian Sea -- new nations that have
emerged, such as Azerbaijan and Armenia and --
Q How about Greece? Cyprus?
PRIME MINISTER CILLER: Oh, yes. The whole problem --
that's why the Customs Union is so important because once -- if and
when Turkey is accepted as a full member into the European Union, as
Greece is and as Cyprus will, together with the Turkish and the Greek
side, the problem will be resolved in a very comprehensive way because
then we won't have anything to fight about, such as migration or
migration of labor or some of the basic problems that had continued for
almost centuries now as far as I'm concerned.
Q (inaudible)
THE PRESIDENT: I thought it was good -- the press
conference. There were a lot of questions. There were a broad range
of questions. They were interesting questions, and I gave
straightforward answers, and they were brief. So I thought it was
good.
Q Mr. President, one thing you didn't get to answer last
night is that Speaker Gingrich has threatened to put all sorts of
legislation that you oppose onto the debt ceiling bill and in effect
threaten you to veto the bill and shut the government down. Would you
do that is if there was legislation on there you didn't like?
THE PRESIDENT: No President of the United States can ever
be, in effect, blackmailed by that sort of thing. I'm going to do what
I think is right for the people of this country. And again - - I will
say again what I said last night, the only thing that's relevant to the
American people in this whole process is what we do here to affect
their lives, and their future, and their children's future.
I have demonstrated my commitment to working through this
process. We've already signed two good bills. We're working on this
line-item veto together. We can do a lot of work. We can have a lot
of good ceremonies out there in the Rose Garden, or we can have the
kind of conflict that could arise unless there is a real attempt to
work these things out.
And I have been very, very clear and forthright about my
position about these things all along and will continue to be. But a
strategy to sort of put me in a box would be an error because I will
still exercise the power of the presidency in the interest of the
American people.
* * * * *
THE PRESIDENT: Nice to see you all.
Q Mr. President, your administration has certainly shown
a certain degree of understanding of Turkey's incursion in Northern
Iraq. How willing are you to cooperate in possible secret arrangements
for -- (inaudible) -- incursion in this region?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we're going to discuss that in our
meetings. And I don't think I should say anything about it until we
have meetings. But, you know, the United States has had a strong
relationship with Turkey. And I think it's very important that we
continue that relationship into the future. And in order to do it,
we're going to have to understand each other's position, each other's
problems, each other's potential to work together. And I've tried to
do that, and I've had a good relationship with the Prime Minister. She
has been very forceful in coming to the United States and stating the
interest of the Turkish people. And this is one of many things that we
will discuss. But I look forward to continuing to make progress on all
these issues.
Q Will human rights and democratization be on the agenda?
THE PRESIDENT: Sure. And the Prime Minister's talked
about democratization. And I think -- you know, for the Europeans, as
you move toward the Customs Union and other things, these issues are
quite important. And they're very important to the United States. But
I have tried to also view them in the context of the imperative to
fight terrorism and to promote human rights. And I think you have to
do both. Preserving a democracy in which people have human freedom is
a delicate operation. And it requires not only a lot of sensitivity
and understanding, it requires a lot of discipline and respect for
other people's rights as well. And the biggest threat to human rights
all over the world today, after the -- in the aftermath of the Cold War
when people now know that dictatorial political systems don't work,
that totalitarian systems don't work, the biggest threat to human
rights is the reaction caused by terrorism everywhere. And that is
something we have to be sensitive to, whether it's a car bomb blowing
up in the Middle East or a religious fanatic taking a vial of sarin
into the subway in Japan. All these things threaten the fabric of
human rights. So we have to continue to push governments all over the
world to be more open to human rights and combat terrorism at the same
time.
Q Do you have any solution about -- (inaudible) --
administration?
THE PRESIDENT: We're going to talk about it today. You
know, the United States has expressed an understanding of what Turkey
did, along with the hope that civilian casualties could be strictly
limited, and that the operation would be limited in time and scope.
But we're going to talk about it. The Prime Minister has probably got
some good ideas, and we'll discuss it.
THE PRESS: Thank you.
END10:37 A.M. EDT
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