Daily Press Briefing
John Kirby
Spokesperson
Daily Press Briefing
Washington, DC
October 15, 2015
Index for Today's Briefing
SECRETARY KERRY TRAVEL
BURMA
AFGHANISTAN / PAKISTAN
ISRAEL / PALESTINIANS / JORDAN
AFGHANISTAN
IRAN
RUSSIA / SYRIA
IRAQ
UNITED NATIONS
TRANSCRIPT:
2:21 p.m. EDT
MR KIRBY: Afternoon, everybody.
QUESTION: Hello.
MR KIRBY: A couple things at the top. First, a travel note. Secretary Kerry will be traveling to Europe this weekend. He'll go to Milan on the 16th to deliver remarks in commemoration of World Food Day and visit the USA pavilion at the Milan EXPO 2015. While in Milan, the Secretary will also meet, as you might expect, bilaterally with his Italian counterpart to discuss our relationship as well as global and regional issues.
He'll then travel to Paris to deliver remarks at an event in support of the United States re-election to the UNESCO Executive Board for the 2015-2019 term.
And then lastly, he will visit Madrid, Spain from the 18th to the 19th, during which time he will meet with King Felipe, President Mariano Rajoy, and Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo to discuss a range of bilateral and global issues.
On Burma, we're disappointed to hear reports that police have arrested and charged Patrick Khum Jaa Lee, the spouse of International Women of Courage Award recipient May Sabe Phyu, under the 2013 telecommunications law, reportedly in response to a Facebook post. We understand that charges have also been filed against Chaw Sandi Tun under the electronic transactions law, also reportedly in response to a Facebook post.
The use of such laws to restrict freedom of expression directly contradicts democratic principles and the government's own stated commitment to promote political reform and respect human rights. Freedom of speech, including speech that discusses the military and other government institutions, is integral to a democratic society. And we call on authorities to release these individuals immediately and unconditionally.
Finally, you may have seen a statement we just put out announcing that Ambassador Richard Olson will succeed Dan Feldman as the U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Ambassador Olson will assume his responsibilities on the 17th of November, after concluding his service as U.S. ambassador to Pakistan. We're grateful for his continued public service and leadership and look forward to welcoming him here at the State Department to take up his new role facing, as you know, challenging issues in that part of the world.
So with that, Matt.
QUESTION: I just want to start with the travel announcement. Are you in a position right now to rule out a Mideast-related stop on this trip that you just announced? The Secretary said again this morning in his – that he was planning to go out to the region in the next couple days, but can you say that it won't be on this Italy, France, Spain trip?
MR KIRBY: I don't – I honestly don't have details on – we do expect him to travel to the region in the coming days. I don't have any details to speak to today.
QUESTION: Right. But it – will – do you know will it or will it definitely not be part of this trip that you just announced?
MR KIRBY: I am just not in a position to provide any details right now on any travel to that part of the world. And as soon as we do, as you know, we will certainly let you know.
QUESTION: Okay. I – related, you may or may not have seen Prime Minister Netanyahu's press conference. If you didn't, I'm pretty sure that you're aware of what the points that the Israeli Government has been making for the last 24 hours about incitement and terrorism. And I'm just wondering, since some of it is directed at comments that you made yourself, whether or not you think that they have reason, grounds to complain or to say that they think that they're being unfairly singled out as – for blame here.
MR KIRBY: Look, I am aware of the comments. I would just reiterate that we continue to stress, publicly and privately, the importance of preventing inflammatory rhetoric and accusations or actions that can feed the violence. The Secretary spoke to this, as you know, out at Indiana, that the violence needs to stop. The Secretary raises these points in all his conversations and I expect that he'll continue to do so.
QUESTION: One of the points that Prime Minister Netanyahu made in his press conference was that President Abbas has not been doing much of anything, if anything at all, to stop the incitement. And he actually accused President Abbas of lying about the status of a Palestinian youth and said that that was part of this pattern of incitement. Do you – does the Administration agree with Prime Minister Netanyahu on that?
MR KIRBY: Again, Matt, I think I would just reiterate what we said before, and we'll continue to stress that the violence needs to stop. There's no excuse for the intentional killing of innocent people for the use of terrorism as a tactic. There's simply no excuse for that. And again, the Secretary was very clear about that again this morning. And we continue to stress the importance of preventing inflammatory rhetoric, accusations, or actions that are only going to feed that violence.
QUESTION: Right.
MR KIRBY: So we want to see the violence stop.
QUESTION: One of the Israeli complaints is, though, that you're – while you say that, you're very careful to direct it at both sides. And what the prime minister's point today was was that you haven't – the Administration – and I'm not talking about you personally, but the Administration hasn't singled out President Abbas for criticism or for not – haven't singled him out for not doing what you think or what they think he should do to stop the incitement. Are you prepared or are you able to say that something similar to what president – Prime Minister Netanyahu said, that President Abbas in particular has not done enough, or is that not the position of the Administration?
MR KIRBY: I think our position is clear, again, on the use of – or terrorism as a tactic, and our position's been very clear on the violence and what we're seeing. And again, the Secretary has been exceedingly clear about the use of inflammatory rhetoric, accusations, actions – all that can feed the violence. And I think – again, I've – I think I've addressed that.
QUESTION: But if I may, you keep calling this terrorism, but Abbas is not. And does that constitute – by him effectively condoning the actions that you are calling terrorism at the State Department, is that incitement? Because we don't have an example of what you're characterizing as incitement, right?
MR KIRBY: I can appreciate wanting me to characterize every comment, and I'm – I think I'm going to leave it where I left it, which is – I mean, I think we could probably agree that incitement, inflammatory rhetoric is pretty self-evident and you don't need a dictionary to determine it. What the Secretary's been – and I can only speak for Secretary Kerry, not for President Abbas and not for Prime Minister Netanyahu. The Secretary has been exceedingly clear about what he wants to see, what we want to see, which is the violence stop and the rhetoric, accusations, and actions which feed that violence, we want to see that stop. And we've made that case publicly, we've made it privately, and I can assure you that the Secretary will continue to make it.
QUESTION: How recently has the Secretary spoken to Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Abbas?
MR KIRBY: I don't have any recent conversations to read out to you, but as you know, he routinely speaks to both leaders. And we'll make sure that we keep you apprised when and if those occur again.
QUESTION: John, do you expect the Secretary to discuss Israeli-Palestinian violence during his stops in Europe?
MR KIRBY: As I said, each stop has sort of a unique purpose.
QUESTION: Yeah.
MR KIRBY: But in these bilateral discussions, when you talk about global issues, many things come up on the agenda. I can't rule it in or out, this issue. Obviously, it's of significant concern to the Secretary. It is of significant concern to many other foreign leaders. So I certainly couldn't say that – I can't tell you definitely that it won't come up. But I've already, as I said, read out the trip to you and read out what the objectives of each stop were.
QUESTION: I gather he's not seeing anybody from the French Government, right? His – during his stop in Paris?
MR KIRBY: There's no plans right now. Again, I read out the trip for you, but again, as you know, things can change once you get on the ground.
Yeah.
QUESTION: You mentioned yesterday reports of excessive force in the Israeli-Palestinian upsurge of violence. Can you explain a bit more about what the State Department sees as excessive force?
MR KIRBY: I want to be very clear that we have never accused Israeli Security Forces of excessive force with respect to these terrorist attacks. And, as I said numerous times yesterday, we recognize the Israeli Government's right and responsibility to protect its citizens and to defend itself. And I think that's where I'm going to leave it.
QUESTION: You can't elaborate further on what you're referring to about those reports? I mean, Israelis shooting Palestinians armed with knives – is that somebody – something seen as excessive force?
MR KIRBY: Yesterday we had this discussion, and I didn't get into detail then; I'm not going to get into detail now. I've – I did not yesterday and we never have accused Israeli Security Forces of using excessive force with respect to these terrorist attacks. And as I said, we recognize the right for Israel to protect its citizens.
QUESTION: You issued a somewhat of a clarification on Twitter yesterday.
MR KIRBY: It wasn't somewhat of a clarification; it was a clarification.
QUESTION: Well, I was being kind to you, but if you want to elaborate on it, on --
MR KIRBY: I don't think it – I mean, I, frankly, don't think it needs to be elaborated on. I clarified comments that I had made in yesterday's briefing. And as I said last night on – in my comment, that I did not mean to suggest in my comments in the briefing yesterday that the status quo has been broken.
QUESTION: Is that --
MR KIRBY: And as I also said, we welcome the Government of Israel and the Government of Jordan and their continued commitment to maintaining it.
QUESTION: You did not mean to suggest that the status quo has been broken. So the status quo has not been broken? Can we also say that? Can we – or no?
MR KIRBY: As I said, we welcome the continued effort by Israel and Jordan to maintain that status quo.
QUESTION: Okay.
QUESTION: The line, though, previously had – coming into it was that the status quo has to be restored, right? I mean, I don't want to play a semantic game here, but if something needs to be restored, it's – it means that --
MR KIRBY: In my comments, I --
QUESTION: No, no, no --
MR KIRBY: In my clarifying comments --
QUESTION: -- these aren't just your comments. These are comments that have been made by other officials as well, including the Secretary – the status quo needs to be restored and maintained. When one speaks of restoring something, it does more than suggest that it's been breached or violated. It says that it needs to be restored. So I mean, is the Administration – and I want to take this away from your specific comments, but does the Administration believe in any way that the status quo of the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif has been altered, breached, violated in some way that it needs to be restored, or was that talking point on restoration just a bad choice of words?
MR KIRBY: As I said last night when I clarified my comments, I certainly did not mean to suggest in any way that it had been broken, and that we recognize that it is being maintained and we welcome the efforts by both Israel and Jordan to continue the maintenance of it.
New topic?
QUESTION: Well, I have another one, but it's not related to status quo or excessive force or anything like that. Prime Minister Netanyahu did say that – in his comments at the press conference in Jerusalem that he had been speaking with Secretary Kerry and others about meeting with King Abdullah of Jordan in Jordan and that he is also – and that he's open to that and thinks that it could be possibly – could possibly be productive. Is this what the Secretary has been talking about in terms of trying – in terms of the Administration's effort to try and ease the tensions?
MR KIRBY: Well, I don't want to get ahead of any detail on this trip that I know the Secretary wants and intends to take soon. So I don't want to get ahead on the agenda items, so you're going to have to just give me some space on that for now. But as the Secretary said again this morning in Indiana, he does expect to travel in coming days and certainly, as I said yesterday and he alluded to again today, that the violence remains of deep concern and it's certainly something that he wants to continue to address with leaders there.
QUESTION: My last one on this. In the press conference as well, he said – Netanyahu said – he directly addressed the comments that Kerry made at Harvard on Tuesday night and he was not happy with them. He said that Palestinian frustration is not about a specific policy that Israel has in the West Bank or in East Jerusalem but that "they simply don't want us here." He also said, "This is not a result of a massive wave of settlements, because there's not been a massive wave of settlements." Do you want to react to that?
MR KIRBY: I think I addressed this yesterday. We dealt with the same issue yesterday, so just a couple of points: The Secretary was unequivocal in condemning the terrorist attacks against Israelis, and he did so again this morning. We've never said – the Secretary did not say – that settlements were to blame for the current violence. There's no excuse for terrorism, and as I said earlier, certainly no excuse for the deliberate and intentional taking of innocent life.
Regarding the issue of settlements, we've been – long been clear that settlements are part of the broader context of the challenges posed on both sides by the absence of progress toward a two-state solution. And as I said yesterday, we want to see progress towards that two-state solution continue.
Okay. New topic?
QUESTION: New topic.
MR KIRBY: Yeah.
QUESTION: Afghanistan. As Dan Feldman hands the reins to Ambassador Olson in Afghanistan and with the President's announcement today, do you see the ambassador's new – any new mission for the ambassador as – with the extension of the troops, perhaps – anything further in Afghanistan as far as the diplomatic mission goes that Ambassador Olson has been asked to move forward on?
MR KIRBY: No, I wouldn't describe any new particular missions for him as a result of the President's decision and the announcement today. I mean, the work of the special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan will continue, and he knows – Ambassador Olson knows that there's big shoes to fill coming in behind Dan Feldman, and I know he's looking forward to the challenge. But there's enough on that plate to – certainly to keep him busy going forward.
And obviously, the work going forward will certainly be done in the context of these new decisions that the President has made, but I don't expect that there will be a change in focus or mission as a result of that, because the mission – the military mission isn't changing in Afghanistan. It's still, as the President noted, twofold: One is to obviously go after al-Qaida and make sure that Afghanistan doesn't become a safe haven again, and two, to continue to advise and assist and train Afghan security forces.
But the work of the special representative obviously is broader in scope. It's not militarily focused; it's really focused on helping our relationship in both countries deal with a scope of issues, not just all security related.
QUESTION: I mean, the President talked about reconciliation, need for the leaders in Afghanistan to move forward on that, so --
MR KIRBY: Right.
QUESTION: -- that would seem like something additional he could take on.
MR KIRBY: Well, the task of reconciliation has long been a function – not a function, but certainly a focus area for the special representative, and I suspect that that will continue because we obviously want to see the political reconciliation process take root. And as we've also long said, that that must be an Afghan-led process, but Dan Feldman has worked this issue very, very hard in his capacity, and I certainly expect that Ambassador Olson will continue. And his experience as our ambassador in Islamabad obviously will stand him in good stead in that regard. He's got the relationships and the depth of knowledge to take that forward.
Yes.
QUESTION: The Secretary said today that the Iran agreement will go into effect in three days. What will the sequence of events will be after the 18th?
MR KIRBY: What happens on the 18th is adoption day, Samir. It's – and adoption day, as you know, is really driven more by the calendar. So it'll go in effect on the 18th because that's 90 days after endorsement by the UN Security Council of the JCPOA. So adoption day is a calendar-driven event and it's the day at which all the parties begin to take the steps they need to make sure they take to get to implementation day. And we're not at implementation day; that's a whole different purpose.
Yeah, Michele.
QUESTION: John, the Russians say that Secretary Kerry and Lavrov spoke again today. Can you give us any sense of what they're talking about at this point? Is there any hope of reviving the Geneva process or any --
MR KIRBY: I don't have a readout for a phone call with Foreign Minister Lavrov today. When we get something, we'll certainly pass it on. But it's safe to say that it was a continuation of the discussions about the ongoing conflict in Syria. And I'll get you guys more of a readout later. I just don't have it right now.
Yeah.
QUESTION: Will the Secretary have any meeting about Syria in his trip – coming trip? Because he said he's going to discuss the issue of refugees and the --
MR KIRBY: Yeah.
QUESTION: -- finding ways for the --
MR KIRBY: Again, I mean, I kind of read out each stop for you in terms of the major purpose. But in his bilateral discussions, I have no doubt that the wide range of global security issues will come up because certainly, our European partners – and particularly our European partners are dealing with the issue of refugees from the Syria conflict. So I certainly wouldn't rule out that he will have an opportunity to discuss what's going on in Syria with his counterparts on this trip.
And again, as you know – I mean, some of you will be on the trip with us – we regularly read out the results of these meetings, and you'll have an opportunity, those of you traveling with us, to talk to the Secretary yourself about them.
Yeah.
QUESTION: Iraq. So the tensions appear to have been rising over the past two days in Iraqi Kurdistan. Do you have anything new on that political tension and whether it may have any impact on the war against Islamic State? Because there has been a lot of commentary about the possible negative impacts of this political --
MR KIRBY: I actually don't have a lot on the politics there in northern Iraq to discuss. And as you know, we've – we refrain, as a regular matter, of speaking to domestic politics issues in other countries. What's important to us is that we're going to continue to support the Government of Iraq as that government faces and deals with the challenge of ISIL inside their country, and through the Government of Iraq we'll continue to provide the necessary support that needs to be given to those Peshmerga forces that are fighting up in the north and have been quite successful on the ground.
QUESTION: So there's no significant concern here in Washington about the possible negative impacts on – of this political infighting on the morale and resolve of the Peshmerga on the front lines?
MR KIRBY: I'm going to refrain from commenting on, again, domestic politics inside Iraq. What I can tell you is our focus is on supporting the Government of Iraq as that government continues to deal with the challenges of ISIL. And that progress – the progress against ISIL continues, and I fully expect that it will continue to – the progress will continue to be made – slow, to be sure, and not always steady. We understand that. This is going to be a long fight. And what we want to make sure and that the coalition continues to remain united against this threat. And a member of that coalition obviously is Iraq, so they're an important partner in this fight and we're going to continue to support them.
QUESTION: Thank you.
MR KIRBY: Yeah.
QUESTION: John, there's a report that Germany's Federal Intelligence Service had spied on European and American targets up until 2013, including embassies. Have you seen this? Have you reached out?
MR KIRBY: I have not seen that report. No, I'm afraid I don't have anything to comment on that.
Yeah. Okay, this was a short one.
QUESTION: No, no, no, no. (Laughter.) No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I want to ask about the trip again, the stop in Paris. The announcement says that he is going to speak in support of the U.S. bid to be elected --
MR KIRBY: Yeah.
QUESTION: -- or to get back on the – so as you probably know, two years ago after UNESCO voted to admit Palestine as a member, the U.S. cut off funding to UNESCO and subsequently lost its vote. Has that changed?
MR KIRBY: Has --
QUESTION: Has something – has funding – U.S. funding to UNESCO been restored? Does it still have a vote? Because it lost its vote. And if it doesn't, why on earth should the U.S. be elected to a seat on its executive board if it does not – no longer – if it no longer funds the organization and has lost its vote?
MR KIRBY: Well, obviously, we want to seek re-election to the board, and I think our history of leadership here will stand us in good stead in that regard. I don't have – you're going to have to let me take the other questions for you, because I don't have that.
QUESTION: Okay. But history of leadership would include --
MR KIRBY: Let me take --
QUESTION: I mean, this was congressionally mandated that you had to cut off the funding --
MR KIRBY: Let me --
QUESTION: -- because they recognized the Palestinians.
MR KIRBY: Let me take the question. Let me take the question.
QUESTION: Okay. And then I had one more but now I can't read my writing, so I don't know what it was. So I apologize.
QUESTION: Do you know which of the ministers are going to be attending that UNESCO meeting?
MR KIRBY: I don't. I don't.
QUESTION: I've heard that Mr. Lavrov might be there.
MR KIRBY: I don't know. You'll have to let me get back to you on that. I'll take one more.
QUESTION: Sort of related on UNESCO, can you comment on Japan's threat to withhold UNESCO funding over the Nanjing documents and whether or not, given the history of U.S. issues about funding UNESCO, is that an appropriate response?
MR KIRBY: I've not seen those reports. You're going to have to let me take that question as well and get you a response back. I just haven't seen it.
Thanks, everybody.
(The briefing was concluded at 2:47 p.m.)
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
