07 July 2003
U.S. Says Alliance with Turkey "Alive and Strong"
(Excerpt from July 7 State Department briefing) (2180)
The U.S. alliance with Turkey is "alive and strong," State Department
Spokesman Richard Boucher said in response to a journalist's question
concerning the detaining by U.S. forces of 11 Turkish military
personnel in Iraq.
Eleven Turkish special forces were arrested in Sulaimaniya, Iraq, on
the 4th of July because of "disturbing activities," Boucher said at
the July 7 State Department briefing. He declined to discuss what
those activities may have been. All eleven were returned to Turkey on
July 7, he said.
"We have discussed these matters with the Turkish side, and ... now
the United States and Turkish military and civilian officials will be
undertaking a joint investigation to look into all the facts of the
matter," he said.
Following is an excerpt from the State Department transcript:
(begin excerpt)
U.S. Department of State
Daily Press Briefing
Monday, July 7, 2003
1:20 p.m. EDT
BRIEFER: Richard Boucher, Spokesman
INDEX
TURKEY/IRAQ
-- Detention of Some Turkey Special Forces in Northern Iraq by U.S.
Forces
-- Secretary Powell's Calls with Turkish Foreign Minster Gul
-- U.S. Relations with Turkey/Bilaterally and as NATO Ally
-- Vice President Cheney Call with Prime Minister Erdogan
-- U.S. Position on Turkish Troops in Northern Iraq
(ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)
1:20 p.m. EDT
[...]
QUESTION: Over the weekend, 11 Turkish troops have been arrested in
Iraq, and I wonder whether you can give us any information why they
were detained, why they were arrested, how they were arrested, what
was the reason that leaded to their arrest? Can you give us any
information?
MR. BOUCHER: Some of that information on how, what, where, when, how
will have to come from our military people, I think, about the actual
circumstances of how this occurred.
What I can tell you is that the U.S. military was acting on reports of
disturbing activities that they might have been involved in. They
detained some Turkish special forces and others in Sulaimaniya on the
4th of July.
We have been in close touch with our ally, Turkey. We're working to
resolve this matter. The Secretary talked on the phone with Foreign
Minister Gul on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, once each day. We've also
had military-to-military discussions and discussions between U.S. and
Turkish military and civilian representatives. And they will be
undertaking a joint investigation into the facts of the matter.
We continue to believe that close cooperation between the United
States and Turkey is critical to establish security and stability in
Northern Iraq. We will work closely with the Turkish Government in
doing that.
QUESTION: Can I have a follow-up? You said that they were acting in
disturbing activities that they were involved in. What these
disturbing activities are that you mentioned?
MR. BOUCHER: I can't go into any more detail at this point. We had --
QUESTION: Is it an intelligence report? Because there were some
reports on the press that, you know --
MR. BOUCHER: Yeah, I know. I'm not going to confirm press or
intelligence reports. All I can tell you is we had information that
raised serious concerns about the activities of these forces in
Northern Iraq.
QUESTION: Did you share this information with the Turkish side?
MR. BOUCHER: We have discussed these matters with the Turkish side,
and as I said, now the United States and Turkish military and civilian
officials will be undertaking a joint investigation to look into all
the facts of the matter. Okay?
QUESTION: But had that been discussed before that arrest or had that
been discussed after it?
MR. BOUCHER: I'm not in a position to tell.
Sir.
QUESTION: Richard, do you have reason to -- oops.
MR. BOUCHER: Sir.
QUESTION: How would you explain away this kind of action? Because in
the NATO, history of the NATO, for the first time, one ally, the
soldiers arresting another ally. Do you think this NATO is still alive
and is strong?
MR. BOUCHER: I think NATO is still alive and strong. Our alliance with
all our allies, including Turkey, is alive and strong. And we want to
work this together with the Turkish Government, together with the
Turkish military, together with Turkish and American civilian
representatives to make sure that we arrive at a joint understanding
of the situation there, and that we continue to have strong
cooperation within the alliance.
QUESTION: Before this operation --
MR. BOUCHER: Elise.
QUESTION: Oh, I'm sorry. I have one more.
MR. BOUCHER: One more. Okay.
QUESTION: Yeah. Before this operation, did the State Department has
any knowledge about the U.S. soldiers preparing this kind of operation
against the Turkish forces?
MR. BOUCHER: It's not a question I know the answer to. But it's also
not a question that I think is relevant. If the U.S. Government had
information about activities that would raise these kind of concerns,
it behooves us to take action.
Elise.
QUESTION: Do you have reason to believe that the military forces acted
with the knowledge or consent of the Turkish Government or military
leadership?
MR. BOUCHER: I think the Turks have pretty much said no to that
question, so I don't have any reason to believe that. No.
QUESTION: Richard, to your knowledge, has Vice President Cheney made
any telephone calls --
MR. BOUCHER: The Vice President did discuss the issue with Prime
Minister Erdogan again today. He also spoke to Prime Minister Erdogan
on the 6th, which would have been yesterday.
QUESTION: And the Turkish Armed Forces Chief of General Staff has
described the incident as a major crisis of trust. Do you see this as
doing any lasting damage to your overall relationship with Turkey?
MR. BOUCHER: I think what's important is that the U.S. and Turkey work
together to determine the full facts of the events and of the
activities that raised these concerns, and that we, through this joint
investigation, arrive at conclusions about what happened.
QUESTION: So it could -- you think it might have last--
MR. BOUCHER: I'm not going to speculate at this point. What's
important right now is to reach a common understanding or joint
understanding of the situation. Okay?
QUESTION: Richard, there were reports today that these 11 soldiers
have been released, actually. Does that mean that all concerns you had
are now satisfied?
MR. BOUCHER: They have all been released at this point -- all the
Turkish soldiers -- all those apprehended, I guess -- detained in
these incidents -- have been released, but part of that is been
released to the custody of the Turkish military. So at this point, we
will jointly investigate and find out the full facts of the matter.
Adi.
QUESTION: Who's going to be part of this joint investigation?
MR. BOUCHER: It'll be U.S. and Turkish military and civilian
representatives. I think civilian representatives here refers to
people from our Coalition Provisional Authority.
Sir.
QUESTION: About these actions -- after all, do you think the Turkish
and the American relations still strong?
MR. BOUCHER: I think U.S. and Turkish relations are very strong. And
the fact that when we do have an incident like this, we have any
number of channels where we're comfortable talking to our Turkish
allies about the situation, where we can raise the important issues
that need to be raised, including our concerns about the activities,
and we can try to find a way to resolve these together. I think that's
a sign of a healthy relationship.
QUESTION: And also there's as allies. And do United States Army knows
that this office is the liaison office in the Sulaimaniya? And if they
have -- if you have a some kind of intelligence report or whatever the
what kind of information, is it the proper to urge the Ankara to your
office in Sulaimaniya to have to do something and to change it or take
care about this, or did you urge before that?
MR. BOUCHER: I was asked that question five times not long ago. I'll
give you the same answer I gave that five times, that we are
undertaking a joint investigation to look at all the facts of the
matter, and I'm sure all these matters will be looked into.
Ma'am.
QUESTION: Do you want Turkey out of Northern Iraq?
MR. BOUCHER: We have reached understandings with the Turkish
Government about how we should both act in this area. We think it's
important that we work closely together in terms of what goes on in
Northern Iraq. The United States coalition forces are basically
responsible for security in that area, and we have arrangements so
that any concerns that might arise on the Turkish side can be dealt
with.
So as far as the exact nature of how we do the liaison, how we do the
coordination, I'll leave that to the people in the field. But I think
if you look back at the understandings that we have reached with the
Turkish Government in the past, it's a matter of U.S. being
responsible, coalition forces being responsible for that area, and
having good mechanisms so if there are any concerns on the Turkish
side those can be dealt with.
Okay, go over here. Sir.
QUESTION: Change of subject?
MR. BOUCHER: No, not yet.
QUESTION: No, no, I --
MR. BOUCHER: You want to change the subject, too. You don't?
Ma'am.
QUESTION: There was also, you know, civilian people in that compound
Kirkuk and a guard, and they were treated, they were -- after being
released, they said that they were being treated like criminals and
very inhuman way. Why is that so?
MR. BOUCHER: I don't know that that's true. I think you'd have to
check with our military forces for an exact description of their
treatment.
QUESTION: And also, the Chief of Staff General Ozkok also said that he
said he's having difficulty in believing that this is a local incident
since, you know, the time played an important role for almost three
days, no response were -- no reaction came from the U.S. side, only
there from the Turkish side, and even your media, the American media,
had to give the Turkish story reaction, but not a word from the U.S.
side.
MR. BOUCHER: I'm not going to get into how you people in the media
handle this, but I would point out --
QUESTION: No, no, I mean, there was no reaction, official reaction.
MR. BOUCHER: I would point out that the events occurred --
QUESTION: -- explanation --
MR. BOUCHER: I would point out that the events occurred on July 4th in
Iraq, and the Secretary of State was talking to his Turkish
counterpart on July 4th. Our military was in touch with their
counterparts on the same day. So I don't think it's a matter of not
talking to our Turkish counterparts on this.
When it became a matter of media attention in Turkey and here, I will
leave people in the media to try to explain.
QUESTION: But it is also suggesting that United States was very much
disturbed by this disturbing activity of the Turkish special forces in
Iraq. So I guess it's not what Turkey, but how do you look to Turkey
at this time that it's engaging in such activities in Iraq?
MR. BOUCHER: I think that's a variation on the same question. There's
not too much more I could say about it. We're going to look into all
the facts of the matter. We're going to work with Turkey in terms of
determining all the facts of the matter. And then is the appropriate
time to ask what do we think of it all.
Okay, Nick.
QUESTION: You said the purpose of these arrangements with Turkey was
to set up good mechanisms so you can communicate when the time arises
and comes. Do you think that these mechanisms at present are good? Are
they working well?
MR. BOUCHER: I think you have seen them work in a number of
circumstances, most pointedly when it came to the fall of Kirkuk and
other cities in the north. So I think those mechanisms have stood the
test of time and have worked well in terms of allaying any Turkish
concerns that might exist about activities in Northern Iraq.
QUESTION: Last question. During their talks, can you say that the
Powell or whoever talked to or with the military side, did they give
any reason for the arrests? Because the -- all the Turkish officials,
including chief of staff, including Turkish Ambassador here, they said
that during the contacts with the American side there was -- there
wasn't any reason given to them, there was no explanation to them
given.
MR. BOUCHER: I think we have made clear in a variety of ways to the
Turkish Government that there was information that led to very serious
concerns about the activities of these people. That's about as far as
I'm going to go at this point. I'm not going to be able to describe
that in any more detail to you. [...]
(end excerpt)
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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