04 March 2003
Grossman Discusses Turkish Vote on U.S. Troops with Turkish TV
(Regrets losing chance to convince Iraq to disarm peacefully) (2220)
The United States is disappointed that the Turkish parliament voted
against allowing U.S. combat troops to be based in Turkey as part of
the effort to disarm Iraq, the State Department's Marc Grossman told
Turkish television March 3.
The disappointment arises in part because the international community
"lost one more chance to convince Saddam Hussein to do this
peacefully," said Grossman, the under secretary of state for political
affairs. "It's not the purpose of the United States to have a war. ...
One of the reasons that we had hoped that the Turkish parliament would
make this decision over the weekend was so that it would be a further
deterrent to Saddam Hussein."
"The only way Saddam Hussein is going to disarm peacefully is if he
looks up and sees that he is surrounded," he said.
While noting that the United States and Turkey are "great allies,"
Grossman acknowledged that Washington would have been happier had the
Turkish parliament accepted the Ankara government's proposition for
hosting U.S. forces.
"Why is that? We believe that an Iraq that is multiethnic, democratic,
had no weapons of mass destruction, was at peace with its neighbors
and was economically viable, would be a good thing for Turkey. But as
I say, Turkey is a democracy, the Turkish parliament has spoken, and
we'll see what to do next."
U.S. Ambassador to Turkey W. Robert Pearson is "in constant contact
and conversation with the Turkish Government and also with members of
the Turkish parliament," he said.
The United States hopes "that people in Turkey recognize the vision
that President Bush has of disarming Saddam Hussein peacefully, but if
it can't be done peacefully, then doing it in such a way which would
be advantageous to Turkey," Grossman said.
In response to questions, he said the United States opposes both the
unilateral deployment of Turkish troops in northern Iraq, and the
creation of a Kurdish state in the region. Washington is urging both
sides "to come into some conversation together. ... And you can count
on us to continue to try to bring Turks and Kurds together as best as
we possibly can."
Asked about the fate of the proposed U.S. assistance package for
Turkey, Grossman noted that it "was connected to our efforts in Turkey
on Iraq, and so I would say it's something that will ... go away or
have to be renegotiated."
Following is a State Department transcript of the interview:
(begin transcript)
U.S. Department of State
Washington, D.C.
March 3, 2003
INTERVIEW BY TURKISH NTV
MARC GROSSMAN, UNDER SECRETARY FOR POLITICAL AFFAIRS
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, thank you for being with us.
UNDER SECRETARY GROSSMAN: My pleasure.
QUESTION: After what happened on Saturday, what are you talking with
the Turks now? Do you have any hopes that there could be another bill
for deployment of U.S. troops?
UNDER SECRETARY GROSSMAN: Well, first let me say that, obviously, we
were disappointed with what happened over the weekend, but Turkey and
the United States are great allies, we're not in a panic over this,
and we don't think Turks ought to be in a panic over it either.
I've talked to Ambassador Pearson this morning and he's in constant
contact and conversation with the Turkish Government and also with
members of the Turkish parliament.
On the question of whether there will be a second resolution or not,
that is wholly a judgment of the Turkish Government. I really wouldn't
have any opinion on that at all.
QUESTION: Do you want the Turkish Government to pursue that option?
UNDER SECRETARY GROSSMAN: Turkey is a democracy. Turkey has an elected
government. Turkey has an elected parliament. And so that's up to the
Turkish Government. That is not up to me.
QUESTION: So doesn't that -- you don't hate Turkey after what happened
and you're not holding any grudges against Turkey or just you're not
planning to punish Turkey in the future for what happens (inaudible)
or whatever? And in light of what happened, how would you expect
U.S.-Turkish relations be shaped in the future?
UNDER SECRETARY GROSSMAN: The United States and Turkey have had
relations for a very long time. We're allies with Turkey. We're NATO
allies -- we're NATO allies with Turkey. And so there will be, I'm
sure, the continuation of a strong Turkish relationship.
I don't want to mislead you. We would have been happier had the
Turkish parliament accepted the government's proposition. Why is that?
We believe that an Iraq that is multiethnic, democratic, had no
weapons of mass destruction, was at peace with its neighbors and was
economically viable, would be a good thing for Turkey.
But as I say, Turkey is a democracy, the Turkish parliament has
spoken, and we'll see what to do next.
QUESTION: I get the impression that this is all, you don't expect
anything else from the Turkish Government, you don't expect the
Turkish Government to move on with a second deal for U.S. troop
deployments.
UNDER SECRETARY GROSSMAN: No, sir, I didn't say that. I said that that
was a decision of the Turkish Government. I said I had no expectations
one way or the other. Turkey is a democracy and the Turkish Government
will decide what it wishes to put to its parliament.
What I did answer you was that Ambassador Pearson, with whom I had a
very good conversation this morning, said he is in close consultation
with Turkey about all kinds of things in the future, and we'll see
what happens.
QUESTION: If the situation remains the same, will the Turkish
parliament's move affect the U.S. decision on whether you use force on
Iraq or not in terms of military planning?
UNDER SECRETARY GROSSMAN: No, sir. That is a decision that is for our
President. And I saw a very interesting interview this morning with
the Commander of all of our forces in Europe, SACEUR, and General
Jones, I think very properly, said that while it would have been an
advantage to do what was proposed in the Turkish parliament, the
United States of America and its coalition allies can certainly do
this without Turkey.
Don't forget that we already have 20 countries that have offered
basing and overflight rights, another 16 countries have offered other
kinds of facilities, 19 countries are participating with us with
actual forces. So we're not alone in this, but Turkey has to make its
own decisions.
QUESTION: In the event of war, I think you would expect to use the air
bases of Incirlik, Diyarbakir and Batman in Turkey. These were under
the provision of the previous bilateral access by parliament; is that
right?
UNDER SECRETARY GROSSMAN: Well, I don't know. We will now have some
decisions to make and Turks will have some decisions to make, and
we'll see what -- how the Turkish parliament's vote affects our
military strategy.
QUESTION: If the situation remains the same, what will Turkey lose by
not helping the United States?
UNDER SECRETARY GROSSMAN: Well, this is only my view, and that is I
believe that Turkey will lose the chance to make sure that if there
has to be military force, that the Iraq that arises will be a
different kind of Iraq -- an Iraq, as I said, which will be
multiethnic and democratic, that will have no weapons of mass
destruction, be at peace with its neighbors; and I think Turkey loses
a chance to be involved in that in a more significant way. But we'll
see what happens.
QUESTION: Again, if the situation remains like this, in the event of a
war, without an agreement with Turkey on military matters at this
point, would you oppose the presence of Turkish troops in Northern
Iraq in large numbers?
UNDER SECRETARY GROSSMAN: We have always said that we believed that it
would be a mistake for Turkey to deploy troops into Northern Iraq
unilaterally, yes.
QUESTION: So you will continue to urge Turkey to refrain from any
unilateral action in Northern Iraq?
UNDER SECRETARY GROSSMAN: Yes, we will.
QUESTION: Are you concerned over tensions in Northern Iraq between
Turkey and the Iraqi Kurds? Do you think that could lead to something
really bad?
UNDER SECRETARY GROSSMAN: We certainly are concerned about it and
that's why we have been so clear in saying that we oppose the creation
of a Kurdish state in Northern Iraq.
It's also why President Bush sent his special envoy, Zalmay Khalilzad,
to participate in the meeting [of Iraqi opposition groups] in
Salahuddin. And what did he do there? He tried, first of all, to
promote interests of all of the groups represented there, including
very much the Turkoman. He urged Kurds and Turks to come into some
conversation together so that they can realize they're on the same
side of this issue and not on opposite sides of the issue. And you can
count on us to continue to try to bring Turks and Kurds together as
best as we possibly can.
I think the idea that those people in Northern Iraq -- who have
fashioned for themselves a new kind of life -- are at odds with
Turkey, who would like to see a new kind of Iraq, I think it's too
bad, and we'll work to see that Turks and Kurds have the right kind of
conversation. But again, it's up to them.
QUESTION: In the event of a war, what will happen to (inaudible)
during and after a war?
UNDER SECRETARY GROSSMAN: I think it's very important that we step
back here and recognize that it's not the purpose of the United States
to have a war. I mean, you're assuming -- if there's a war, if there's
a war. There doesn't have to be a war. It doesn't --
QUESTION: No, no, let me -- we don't have to --
UNDER SECRETARY GROSSMAN: But let me finish. One of the reasons that
we had hoped that the Turkish parliament would make this decision over
the weekend was so that it would be a further deterrent to Saddam
Hussein. I mean, what's our theory here? Our theory is, is that
inspectors are good, but inspectors need to do disarmament, and the
only way Saddam Hussein is going to disarm peacefully is if he looks
up and sees that he is surrounded.
So I believe that one of the disadvantages of what happened over the
weekend is we lost one more chance to try to convince Saddam Hussein
to do this peacefully. I think that's too bad.
QUESTION: So Saddam is probably encouraged by the Turkish Government's
-- the Turkish parliament's decision?
UNDER SECRETARY GROSSMAN: I have no way to know what Saddam thinks or
doesn't think. All I would like to see is continuing international
pressure in a unified way to have Saddam Hussein meet his obligations
to the United Nations -- not to the United States but to the United
Nations -- under Security Council Resolution 1441.
QUESTION: Now, given the current conditions, do you think Turkey has
lost its chance to contributing to the future of Iraq?
UNDER SECRETARY GROSSMAN: Well, we'll see what happens in the next few
days. As I say, Ambassador Pearson is in close contact with the
Turkish Government. We're, obviously, in very close contact here with
Ambassador Logoglu and we'll see what happens over these next few
days.
QUESTION: And what are they talking about?
UNDER SECRETARY GROSSMAN: All kinds of things. I mean, the
U.S.-Turkish relationship, as you said, didn't stop on Saturday
morning. There is a U.S.-Turkish relationship. There are issues in
Iraq. There are issues in the United Nations. And we're discussing all
of those things, as you would expect allies to do so.
QUESTION: Last question.
UNDER SECRETARY GROSSMAN: Yes, sir.
QUESTION: What would be your message to the Turkish people, the
Turkish Government and the Turkish parliament?
UNDER SECRETARY GROSSMAN: I want our message to be that Turkey is a
democracy, we respect Turkish democracy, that the United States and
Turkey are allies; that we hoped that there would be a way for us to
work together more closely, that we hoped that people in Turkey
recognize the vision that President Bush has of disarming Saddam
Hussein peacefully, but if it can't be done peacefully, then doing it
in such a way which would be advantageous to Turkey; and that there
will be ways that we can continue to work with the Turkish Government
in the future. Turkey's got economic challenges. Turkey's got a big
decision to make on Cyprus. Turkey's got a lot of issues and we'd like
to be working with Turkey in all of those areas.
QUESTION: And the very, very last thing. If the situation remains like
this, the Turks should forget about the assistance package; is that
right?
UNDER SECRETARY GROSSMAN: Well, the assistance package was connected
to our efforts in Turkey on Iraq, and so I would say it's something
that will have to be -- will go away or have to be renegotiated.
QUESTION: Thank you very much for joining us.
UNDER SECRETARY GROSSMAN: Thank you. My pleasure.
[released on March 4, 2003]
(end transcript)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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