Daily Press Briefing
John Kirby
Spokesperson
Daily Press Briefing
Washington, DC
April 20, 2016
Index for Today's Briefing
UAE/DENMARK/COUNTERTERRORISM
JAPAN
SECRETARY KERRY'S TRAVEL
SYRIA
SAUDI ARABIA
CUBA
ISRAEL/PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES
IRAN
TURKEY/RUSSIA
EGYPT
BRAZIL
JAPAN
TURKEY
SYRIA
INDIA
TRANSCRIPT:
1:27 p.m. EDT
MR KIRBY: All right, just a couple things here at the top. On the counter-Daesh coalition and the fight against Daesh, the United States welcomes the vote yesterday by the Danish parliament and the announcement by the United Arab Emirates to expand their contributions to the coalition to counter ISIL. Denmark's vote to increase authorized personnel on the ground and the redeployment of F-16 fighter aircraft for operations in both Iraq and Syria will complement their existing contributions to the coalition and will certainly complement the broader coalition kinetic efforts as well.
Also, again, yesterday, as I alluded to, the United Arab Emirates announced a $10 million contribution to the UNDP's Funding Facility for Immediate Stabilization, otherwise known as FFIS, to help accelerate the rehabilitation of civic infrastructure and community development initiatives in areas that have been newly liberated from Daesh. As part of Denmark's vote, they also committed to strengthening civilian efforts by increasing support for stabilization efforts in Iraq and Syria and to counter Daesh's propaganda.
We obviously appreciate these additional steps that we believe will help ensure the coalition continues to both seize and sustain the momentum that we have already gained in this campaign. Defeating Daesh is a top priority of the United States and we are going to continue to work with countries like Denmark and the UAE and a broad range of partners across the international community to further degrade and obviously destroy this barbaric group.
I also want to highlight that the Secretary did reach the Japanese Foreign Minister Kishida by phone earlier today to express condolences, of course, for the loss of life and the injuries as well as the damage and devastation sustained from recent earthquakes there in southern Japan. He, of course, reiterated our commitment to continue to support the Japanese Government's relief efforts. I talked a little bit about that support yesterday; that will continue, and the Secretary made sure that that was clear that we would continue to do that and also reaffirm the course that we, as always, stand firmly beside the Japanese people in this time of need.
Just a quick travel note, and I think all of you know this already, but the Secretary will travel to New York City on Friday. He'll be coming straight from Riyadh to New York City to represent the United States at the signing of the Paris agreement. This is a historic climate agreement that was reached in Paris last December, as you know, by the 196 parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The signing ceremony is hosted by the UN and will take place at the UN headquarters. The Secretary will also participate in an event along with representatives from a number of other nations that are committing, as the United States, China, and others have, to join the agreement this year.
He'll also take advantage, as he always does, to have bilateral meetings in New York City, which we will be able to announce tomorrow once the schedule is a little bit more finalized. And I think as you know, we often do readouts or provide opportunities for media access at the beginning of these meetings. I would expect a similar amount of openness and transparency for these bilateral meetings on Friday. And again, we'll have more information probably tomorrow about who they are and when they are.
QUESTION: A real quick point on that. Didn't the Secretary indicate yesterday that he would be meeting with Foreign Minister Zarif on Friday?
MR KIRBY: He did. He did, and I would expect that when we're able to give you the full list of bilateral meetings, that you will very likely see one with Foreign Minister Zarif on that schedule, yeah.
QUESTION: Thank you.
MR KIRBY: That's very much his expectation.
QUESTION: Thank you.
QUESTION: Can we – can we just start with a quick one on Syria?
MR KIRBY: Mm-hmm.
QUESTION: And I know we've addressed this, or you've addressed this, to some degree in recent briefings, but the head of the Syrian delegation to the talks in Geneva is arguing that the departure or suspension of the participation of the opposition groups in the talks could be a good thing, that it may remove an obstacle to actually reaching an agreement. And he's continuing to push this notion of a broad-based government of national unity, which, although it doesn't explicitly – doesn't explicitly say this, seems to be a way of ensuring that the Assad regime, if not Assad himself, continues to play a part in the – in a transitional government. Can you address not just your views about Assad himself but also your views on such a national unity government that might include large portions of the current governing structure?
MR KIRBY: Sure. Well, obviously our views on Assad and the degree to which he can be part of the long-term future of Syria have not changed, Arshad. Nothing at all has changed about our views of him or his lack of potential to continue leading the Syrian Government. So no change there. I've seen these comments. Frankly, we would not associate ourselves with them. We do not believe that the answer, that the way forward is any removal by the opposition from these talks; in fact, quite the contrary. As I said yesterday and we have been saying, we want to see all parties actively participate in these talks. We understand certainly the frustrations expressed by the opposition as they asked for a pause, and we respect the decision by Special Envoy de Mistura to grant that pause. But we still want to see the talks continue. We still want to see them get going again, and we believe that, in fact, is the best way to get to a political transition inside Syria.
Now, on the third point about this broad-based unity government or however he phrased it, I think I'd leave it to them to describe what they exactly mean by that. What I can tell you is that we remain firmly committed to using the Geneva process to describe and to articulate and to flesh out what a transitional government and governing body should look like, and that's really what these talks are designed to do. In fact, when Special Envoy de Mistura started them in this round, he specifically said that one of his goals – in fact, his chief goal – was to have – to start to have a dialogue and a discussion about the political transition itself and about what a transitional governing structure could look like. He didn't say that he thought that in a couple weeks' time they were going to get at it and necessarily have the final answers, but he wanted to start having that conversation. And we agree with him. We think that it is time to start having that. But it has to be ironed out between the parties. It can't be dictated at the outset of talks by one or the other. We want them to sit down and to have a dialogue and a discussion about what it should look like.
The last thing I'll say on this – and I know it's a long answer, but your question was a good one – the last thing I'll say is that as the Secretary has maintained all along, this has to be determined between the parties, but also that we recognize that through the transition process, in whatever form it takes, that there will have to be some preservation of some institutions of government to keep order and stability in the country as we work through a transitional period. Transitions are very difficult and they can be very uncertain, and they can certainly lead to unintended consequences and outcomes if you're not careful. And one of the things we want to do is be careful and thoughtful. And so we recognize that some institutions of government, particularly the security forces – we've talked about that – would have to stay in place in some form or fashion. That doesn't mean that they're all going to be led by the same individuals, but that the – but that we don't tear down every root and every – and rip every fabric of government as we work through the transition.
So it's a long answer, but I hope that got it.
QUESTION: Could I just follow up on this very point? I just want to understand you correctly. You certainly want to maintain the structure that you have now because, after all, the opposition really did not have or does not have much experience in terms of governing and running institutions and so on. Syria has been around for a very long time, these government institutions and so on. You don't want to see them go in any way?
MR KIRBY: I'm not sure I understand completely what you're asking.
QUESTION: Let me ask you --
MR KIRBY: But let me just take a stab at it and then you tell me if I got into the ballpark. I mean, what we've said is we recognize that some governing institutions, certainly some levers of government have got to stay in place, so that order of stability and security can be maintained as you go through a transition process, which is a very difficult, very trying, very uncertain time. We don't want to rip everything down and then have to start over again and build up again. And we've seen how that doesn't work in the past. And the Secretary has also said that any role for Assad in that process has got to be determined by the parties. We're not going to legislate it from – externally. But that clearly, he can't be the answer to the long-term future of Syria, and that's why we believe it's so important to have, as the end product of this transitional process, elections – elections with the diaspora being able to vote, the millions and millions of Syrians that have fled that country, so that they have a voice and they have a vote. And we believe that if they do, there's no way that they're going to vote to keep Bashar al-Assad in power.
QUESTION: Independent of Assad, I mean, you keep saying that some must stay, some must go. That's the assumption. How do you decide which government agencies should stay or which government agencies should go? Because --
MR KIRBY: Yeah.
QUESTION: -- we've learned the lessons from Iraq. I mean, you can't just collapse the government. I understand that you may not want the same leadership in these institution, whether it's the ministry of interior or defense or the security agencies or even the ministry of electricity, as they call it, and water and so on or agriculture.
MR KIRBY: Right.
QUESTION: You want these institutions to remain in place --
MR KIRBY: Right.
QUESTION: -- while you may not want the leadership to be there, correct?
QUESTION: Does that include the political parties?
MR KIRBY: Well --
QUESTION: Is everyone who's a Baathist going to be kicked out in a transitional government?
MR KIRBY: Again, these are the kinds of decisions that we want to be hashed out between the parties through these talks. That's why we want the talks to continue. That's why we want to see all sides continue to participate. They've got to decide that. It's not – the ISSG isn't going to sit down and have a meeting and issue a decree and say the following ministries have got to stay in place with the following individuals in certain leadership positions. That's – we want them to work this out.
But clearly – I mean, just common sense would tell you that we certainly want to see some security force apparatus in place, obviously, and certainly institutions and levers of government that can deliver basic services like electricity and water, medical support, and some economic foundation, obviously. I mean, some of the very essential elements of government we'd like to see in place, and I think they're pretty obvious. But the – but what it's going to look like exactly and who's going to lead them and how they're going to be administered – that's what we want the parties to work out. That's why these talks are so important.
Justin.
QUESTION: I just wanted to ask you about Saudi Arabia quickly, the – and the 9/11 bill and just try to button this up. Have the Saudis formally expressed to the State Department, to the U.S. Government, that they intend to sell off their assets, their – in U.S. treasuries should the 9/11 bill pass in its current form? Or is that just something that the press has cited officials from Saudi Arabia having said?
MR KIRBY: I'm not going to speak for Saudi officials, Justin, and I would encourage you to ask them about their views of this legislation. I can only go back to what I've said the last couple of days and speak for our views of it and point you to what the Secretary said himself in testimony to Congress and our concerns about the legislation as it's currently written. And again, there's no change to our views on that, but I wouldn't speak for Saudi officials and their views.
QUESTION: All right. I wouldn't want you to. (Laughter.)
MR KIRBY: Thank you.
QUESTION: But wouldn't --
MR KIRBY: Then you shouldn't have asked.
QUESTION: Well, that's --
MR KIRBY: Because you actually --
QUESTION: But he wasn't asking --
MR KIRBY: Because you actually did want me to.
QUESTION: But he wasn't asking the views of Saudi officials. He was asking if they've raised this with you. Can you not address that?
MR KIRBY: Yeah, I know, and I'm not – I'm just not going to --
QUESTION: And you don't want to do that either.
MR KIRBY: I'm just not going to speak to that, and I – as you know, we don't talk about the details of diplomatic conversations.
QUESTION: Do you see it as a real – as a threat? Do you see it as a possible outcome?
MR KIRBY: What?
QUESTION: That – this massive selloff of U.S. assets.
MR KIRBY: I'm not going to speculate one way or the other.
QUESTION: Would you express to Congress, to members of Congress considering the bill, that aside from the risks that the Secretary has spoken about, that this also could be one ramification?
MR KIRBY: I think I would just leave it the way the Secretary left it in testimony to the Congress in terms of our concerns.
Yeah.
QUESTION: Change topic. I wonder if we can get your reaction to the political developments in Havana, in Cuba, where, as you know, Raul Castro and others at the top of the Communist Party have announced that they'll stay in those positions for the coming five years. Was this something that was expected in this department, and was it a disappointment, and does it cast a dark cloud over the Administration's pursuit of rapprochement with Havana?
QUESTION: Or a pall, or a shadow? (Laughter.)
QUESTION: Shadow – yeah. Just – what have you got to say?
MR KIRBY: No, I think I got the gist of the question. First of all, we didn't have and didn't set expectations for the Cuban Communist Party Congress, and this is for Cuban officials to speak to the results of that congress. We've long said that our aspiration is that the Cuban people be able to decide their future and to make choices for themselves. And we recognize the difficulties that they face right now, and in terms of that sort of future. For our part, we're going to continue to work with Cuba through the bilateral commission, where we are prepared to discuss a wide range of issues with the government, including some of the issues that President Castro mentioned in his comments. Other issues include – and we've talked about this before, but economic, cultural, social areas, as well as the more difficult challenges of human rights and outstanding U.S. claims, and of course, the return of fugitives.
So look, there's a long process of normalization that we are just now embarking on. We believe and have maintained that the best way for us to try to bring about a brighter future for the Cuban people is to engage and to have a dialogue, and to have an embassy, and hopefully one day normalized diplomatic relations with Cuba. And that's what we're focused on.
QUESTION: So this doesn't derail the pursuit of those things in any way?
MR KIRBY: I would not describe it as derailing. I would – we didn't set expectations for the congress, and we didn't – we didn't head into it with expectations one way or the other. The only expectations are the ones we're placing on ourselves, which is to work towards normalization. And we still believe that that engagement, having – being able to have a dialogue, is the best way that we can help the Cuban people see a brighter future long-term.
But look, it's going to – we recognize it's going to take a little while and – to get to full normalization. And there are still real issues that our two governments do not agree on. And the policy in the past of not talking and not having an opportunity to work through those issues obviously didn't produce anything really good for the Cuban people. We believe that dialogue and a relationship can.
QUESTION: This – sorry. This is one of the things that our governments don't agree on, is the idea that the Castro brothers stay in power for life. Is that --
MR KIRBY: Look, I mean, again, I'm not – I appreciate the third now attempt to get me to talk specifically about what they decided at the congress.
QUESTION: Yeah, no, I'm trying to get a --
MR KIRBY: I mean, we didn't have expectations for them going into the congress, and there certainly were no expectations that there was going to be an overnight change in the way the island is governed. There's never been that expectation. We – our aspiration – and I said it at the outset – our aspiration is that the Cuban people can determine for themselves their future. Obviously, that's difficult for them to do right now given the governing structure on the island. And there – but there were no expectations that by opening up an embassy – their embassy here and our embassy there – that it was all – that the way Cuba's governed is going to change overnight. And this isn't – this has never been about some sort of forcible regime change. This has been about normalization of diplomatic relations and having a discussion and a dialogue, and trying – we believe, through engagement – to be able to help the Cuban people meet their aspirations.
Said.
QUESTION: Thank you.
QUESTION: Question on Iran?
MR KIRBY: Let me go to Said and then we'll --
QUESTION: Yeah, I have very quick questions on the Palestinian issue. May I?
MR KIRBY: Mm-hmm.
QUESTION: Okay. First of all, the Haaretz reports that the Palestinian Authority is leaning towards not submitting or not – or a call for an anti-settlement resolution at the United Nations. Are you aware of that, and do you have any comment? There was much talk – in fact, there was an agreement among the Arab group in Geneva that they will submit a draft resolution to the United Nations Security Council – we talked about it last week – calling on a resolution that condemns the settlements. Haaretz now says that the Palestinian Authority is leaning toward not submitting that. Have they talked to you about that? Have you spoken to them about this? Do you have any comment on this?
MR KIRBY: I'm not aware of any discussions that have taken place between the Palestinians and the State Department or the United States Government with respect to now not being in favor of a UN Security Council resolution. Our position on this hasn't changed. Again, we – as I said the other day, we're going to consider all options that can lead us to a two-state solution. But I don't have anything further. I'm not – we're not going to comment a draft resolution one way or the other.
QUESTION: But would you encourage the Palestinians not to submit such a resolution?
MR KIRBY: I think I'm going to leave it where I left it before, Said.
QUESTION: Also, overnight the Israeli authorities raided a neighborhood in East Jerusalem, Issawiya, and arrested like 32 people, mostly children. I wonder if you have any comment on that. They have this new practice of what they call flying checkpoints where they go from place to place basically making life impossible for a lot of people to go to school --
MR KIRBY: I haven't seen that report. Why don't you let me get a little bit more information before I comment on it?
QUESTION: And finally, will the Secretary of State meet with Mahmoud Abbas? You said he's going to have some bilateral meetings on Friday.
MR KIRBY: He is.
QUESTION: Is he likely to meet with Abbas?
MR KIRBY: And I said I think we'll have more to say tomorrow in terms of who he's going to be meeting with. I'm not in a position right now to give you the full list. As I noted earlier to Ros, he did indicate that he has every intention of meeting again with Foreign Minister Zarif. But beyond that, we're still developing his schedule, and when we have a better sense of it, we'll certainly let you know.
QUESTION: Yeah, a couple of questions on Iran. First, does the U.S. Government have any more insight into some sort of missile launch that may have been conducted in Iran on Tuesday, yesterday?
MR KIRBY: I've seen these reports of another missile launch in Iran. I'm not in a position to confirm those reports, confirm the veracity of them. Obviously, we're watching this as best we can. Certainly if it's true, and we're talking about a ballistic missile launch or the testing of ballistic missile technologies, that's obviously of concern to us. It's not consistent, as we've said before, with the Security Council resolution, and so we'll just have to – I don't want to speculate about any future actions one way or another. We've just seen these reports, and again, we're just not in a position right now to speak to them with any great detail.
QUESTION: Okay. And then in the past couple of hours, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled 6 to 2 that families of victims of Iran-sponsored terror attacks, including the 1983 bombing of the marine barracks in Lebanon, will be able to collect money from frozen Iranian assets to the tune of $1.9 billion. Does the U.S. Government have a reaction to the court's decision that these families can collect from money that had been frozen during the sanctions regime?
MR KIRBY: Yeah, so a couple of things, I think, on this. First of all, we continue to sympathize with the families of the victims, of those lost loved ones in terror attacks that have been supported by Iran. And as we have before, we continue to condemn Iran's past and continued support for international terrorism. And as I've said many times from the podium, we don't turn a blind eye to their continued willingness to do exactly that. I would say that this ruling was not unexpected, and it's consistent with the position that we took when the legislation calling for this compensation was actually signed into law by the President back in 2012, and we have supported consistently compensation for the families in this case.
QUESTION: Do you have any – and I realize you may not – but there are some questions that are outstanding about what happens from here in terms of who actually has custody of the frozen assets right now. Is it – I presume it would be the Treasury Department. But I don't know if it's them or State or who has control over the accounts, who would actually make the disbursements, and whether the nuclear agreement itself has or had any influence on the availability of these monies to be transferred to the families of the victims. Do you have any info on any of that?
MR KIRBY: I'm probably going to end up referring you to Treasury for these more detailed questions. But because I don't know for sure, I'm going to take those questions and we'll research it and get back to you.
QUESTION: Thank you.
MR KIRBY: It may not be that we can answer them, Arshad. But if we can't we'll certainly point you to the right place.
QUESTION: Thank you.
MR KIRBY: Yeah.
QUESTION: John, I've got one on Russia and Turkey. Turkey banned Sputnik's bureau chief from entering the country. As you know, it comes a week after Sputnik's website was blocked. And I understand, broadly speaking, your position about – that you had expressed concerns about Turkey's crackdown on media. But do you object or are you concerned about this specific incident that the bureau chief --
MR KIRBY: We've just seen reports on this ourselves. So I'd refer you to Turkey to speak to this. I've only really – all I've seen are press reports on this. So rather than wade into this one, I'm going to refer you to Turkish authorities. But you're right, I mean, we have been nothing but clear about our broad concerns about media freedoms in Turkey in particular.
QUESTION: All right. Now that the – do you have any other comment on the website now that days have passed and you're more than aware of the reports, or --
MR KIRBY: No, I'm – I'm not – I don't really have additional comment on it.
QUESTION: The reason I bring this up is a Russian lawmaker said today that the U.S. often specifically condemns or calls out Turkey related to specific media organizations when it happens, and he felt that there's a double standard out there, which raises the question: Is the U.S. reluctant to comment on these specific incidents, be it blocking the Sputnik website or this banning of entry because it's a Russian news agency, a Russian news agency is --
MR KIRBY: We don't – look, I mean, we support – we support more aggressively and more assertively than any other government in the world press freedoms. And I would challenge you to go find another government anywhere in the world that talks about it as aggressively as we do, as openly as we do, and frankly, as proudly as we do. Our – I stand 100 percent by our record when it comes to talking about the rights of freedom of expression and the freedom of the press and the job that all of you do and how much we value that, and how important that we believe it is not just to our own process of governing but to the process of governing, of governments all over the world. And we're not bashful about calling it like we see it.
So I reject any implication that we're somehow pulling punches here because in this particular case these outlets are Russian. What we want to see is a free and independent media, and I mean that in every sense of the word. It's not just the responsibility of governments to allow for free and independent media coverage and to recognize that scrutiny applied by journalists is not a sign of weakness of a government, it's a sign of strength; but it's also incumbent upon all of you as reporters and journalists to be likewise objective and fair and balanced and aggressive in your scrutiny and the scrutiny that you're applying. And you and I both know that that's not always the case with every single outlet.
So media freedom we continue to believe in, but it has to truly be free, and it isn't always. So I think I'd – I didn't mean to preach, but I think that's where I'm going to leave it.
QUESTION: Turkey – Turkey also – they also banned a German state TV reporter from entering the country. Are you aware of that report?
MR KIRBY: Again, I've seen that particular press report. I just --
QUESTION: And I was going to ask: Are you concerned by this new tactic?
MR KIRBY: Well, look, I mean, I – I've seen that press report too. And we – regrettably, we could probably have this discussion and this back and forth almost every day, and regrettably, that discussion almost every day could involve countries like Turkey that we have said that – and I've said publicly – that what we're starting to see is a worrisome trend here in terms of allowing media, independent media, to do their jobs.
So I don't – I mean, I – again, I don't think we can be more clear and more transparent about our concerns with respect to media freedoms, particularly in Turkey. I just have seen this one press report, and I mean, I would just say that our concerns with respect to media freedoms there in Turkey are longstanding, they're well-known, and absolute – and sadly, unchanged.
QUESTION: Just two – two quick ones. The Secretary --
MR KIRBY: I'll come back to you in a second.
QUESTION: The Secretary said in his remarks after meeting President al-Sisi that he had committed to the president that he would return very soon. Do you have a date for that?
MR KIRBY: I don't.
QUESTION: Okay. Second --
MR KIRBY: I don't.
QUESTION: And I'm – I read his remarks, including the one sentence that made reference to internal events in Egypt. Can you provide any greater detail on the extent to which the conversation touched on or focused on what human rights groups say have been quite significant human rights violations in Egypt since President Sisi came to power?
MR KIRBY: I'm a little reluctant to go beyond the Secretary's own comments. I think they do speak for themselves in terms of the scope of the discussion that he had with President al-Sisi today in Cairo. But you're right; he did allude to the issue of human rights, which is an issue that we routinely discuss with Egyptian leaders because we do have concerns with the human rights situation there. I mean, just last week, we put out our Human Rights Report, which I think laid bare in more detail those concerns.
So certainly, they were on the agenda, that as an issue was on the agenda for the Secretary in his discussions. I – but I'm not going to, just as I wouldn't in any other case, I'm not going to read out more detail than what the Secretary provided. But I can assure you that it was on his list of topics to discuss and that he did bring it up.
QUESTION: And you probably can't, then, address this, but I want to ask because there was a court decision on this: Do you know if he specifically raised the case of officials from the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights and the Arab Network for Human Rights Information who have been subjected to some sanctions, they say, as a result of their work to promote human rights? And I believe the court case has been postponed for them. Do you know if those came up?
MR KIRBY: I do not know if that particular case came up.
QUESTION: Okay. And then last one for me: Do you have a readout on Under Secretary Shannon's meeting with the Brazilian lawmaker this morning?
MR KIRBY: I think I do, actually. Don't I? Let's see if I can find it in here.
QUESTION: It would be under B, right?
MR KIRBY: One would think so. But you've seen these tabs in here.
QUESTION: Is it under W for WHA?
MR KIRBY: Yeah, the – WHA is in the back. It's all alphabetic. And Brazil is right at the top of the subgroup of WHA issues.
I can confirm that Under Secretary Shannon met today with Senator Aloysio Nunes, the chairman of the Brazilian Senate's foreign affairs committee. This meeting had been planned for months and was arranged at the request of the Brazilian embassy. I don't have, unfortunately, a greater readout than that, but they did meet and I do want to stress that this was long on the schedule.
QUESTION: Okay. So as --
MR KIRBY: And not thrown on because of --
QUESTION: Recent events?
MR KIRBY: -- because of recent events.
QUESTION: There's been speculation in Brazil that the meeting occurred so that the senator could explain sort of why the processes unfolding in Brazil are fully in line with their constitution. Do you – that's just not the case because this was on the books for months?
MR KIRBY: This was – yeah, this was at their request and had been scheduled for quite some time. I would not deign to speak for the senator's agenda and what was on his mind and I don't have a more detailed readout of that.
QUESTION: Okay. Yeah, thanks.
MR KIRBY: Yes, back there.
QUESTION: A quick follow-up on the call with Foreign Minister Kishida. Is the U.S. providing any additional relief efforts to Kumamoto? And what else came up in the call? Did the possibility of another missile test come up?
MR KIRBY: The possibility of another?
QUESTION: Missile test in North Korea.
MR KIRBY: The discussion was a brief one and it was, as I said in my comments, really centered around the earthquakes and restating our condolences and our firm support for Japanese Government relief efforts and whatever we can do.
As I said yesterday – and I would let DOD speak to this with more detail – but the bulk of our assistance so far has been in terms of air support, which is obviously, as you know, in the wake of a natural disaster, that's critical just in terms of getting information and having – being able to see more of what's going on. So we are still providing that air support. I don't know of any additional requests by the Japanese Government or any additional resources that we're applying at this time.
But again, the Secretary stressed that we're willing to stay in touch – not willing – we will stay in touch with Japanese authorities. And if there's other ways in which we can be helpful that they feel is appropriate, we certainly will consider all those kinds of requests.
QUESTION: Can we go back to Turkey?
MR KIRBY: Yeah.
QUESTION: As my colleague was pointing out, the situation on the ground for journalists is much worse than it's all really coming out. And it seems in Europe and Brussels and – they feel that after the – Erdogan's visit and meet with President Obama, he's become bolder, and really, the noose is tightening around the journalists. So are you just – are you in touch? What is the highest-level touch? Have you brought this – the journalists are really suffering there, so what is – is it just a statement? Is it something more than this you can do?
MR KIRBY: I think, again, we have been nothing but clear and assertive in terms of our views of the importance of media freedoms there in Turkey, and we also – look, we – Turkey is an ally and a good friend and a key contributor to the coalition against Daesh. And we want nothing more than to see Turkey succeed and to see their democracy reach its full potential. And we want to see Turkey itself and in its policies live up to its own principles – the principles enshrined in its own constitution. When I say – when I've said it in the past, sometimes it's met with an eye-roll or an eyebrow-raise or something, that Turkey's democracy matters to us. But it does matter to us and we want to see it succeed, and again, be the best it can be for the Turkish people.
So that's why when we see, as I've described, as a worrisome trend of a limit on press freedom in Turkey, why we say it, why we call it like we see it. And we don't just do that here from the podium. We do that privately with Turkish officials as well. As I've said before, Turkey has no greater friend than our ambassador, John Bass, there. These things matter to us. They matter to us all over the world, but they certainly matter to us in what we're seeing in Turkey.
Now, I can't speak to President Erdogan's motivations, and I wouldn't do that. I would only say that – I'd only repeat what I said before, and that's that we value our relationship with Turkey. We certainly value our alliance with them through NATO. And we're appreciative of the efforts that they're making as a member of the coalition against Daesh, which are not insignificant – not to mention the fact that they've got millions of refugees on their side of the border that they're taking care of.
But it's because we value this relationship and it's because we are – we count ourselves as such good friends that we're willing and able to have these kinds of very open, frank discussions with them about something like media freedom that concerns us.
QUESTION: Can we go back to the – sorry.
QUESTION: But when you say the most troubling thing on the ground and in – is – that when you call them ally and friend, how do you react to the statement saying that they are your friends and you're turning a blind eye to what is going on on the ground?
MR KIRBY: How do I – I'm not sure I understand your question.
QUESTION: That they're your allies --
MR KIRBY: Right, yeah.
QUESTION: -- and friends, and everything they are cooperating on, on different levels.
MR KIRBY: Right.
QUESTION: On this, why not a stronger message is being sent? Or what is – when you ask them, what is the reaction they give you?
MR KIRBY: Well --
QUESTION: Don't they answer? Or they just keep quiet?
MR KIRBY: I'm not going to characterize their side of the conversations. I mean, they can do that. But I – in the root of your question, there's this – I guess this idea that because you count yourself as somebody's friend or an ally, that you aren't ever going to disagree on things, that you aren't ever going to see things differently or from a different perspective, or that you are, on either side, going to be afraid to speak up when you see something that concerns you. It's the sign of a mature friendship and relationship that you can have these frank discussions, and we have, and we will continue. And if you're asking me are we happy that there hasn't been a demonstrable change in terms of treatment of journalists --
QUESTION: That's the question.
MR KIRBY: -- of course not. Of course not. That's not what we want to see. I wouldn't get up here every week and talk about this and express our concerns if we were content with what we're seeing with the way journalists are being treated there. We're not content. And because we're not content, because we don't believe that this is in Turkey's best interest – not just your best interest but Turkey's best interest and the region's best interest and the Turkish people's best interest – it's because of that that we're going to continue to raise this.
I got time for just one more and then I got to get going.
QUESTION: India?
QUESTION: Syria – just very quickly, because I wanted to ask about this. The United Nations is saying that they are beginning to evacuate about 500 people from 4 villages in Syria that are besieged by the regime. So do you consider this as a goodwill gesture, or is that what you want the government to do as part of allowing humanitarian aid to go back and forth? Because --
MR KIRBY: Evacuations?
QUESTION: Because the talks broke down on the premise that the Syrians were obstinate in terms of allowing humanitarian aid.
MR KIRBY: I haven't seen the specific reports about evacuations, but let me just go to a larger point. What we want --
QUESTION: I mean, they have the towns, like, Zabadani and Madaya, Kefraya, and so on.
MR KIRBY: Yeah. I haven't seen these reports about evacuations. It – but if the regime was doing what they should be doing for their own people, there would be no need for evacuations. If the humanitarian aid and assistance, the food, the water, the medicine was getting to where it needs to get to in a sustained and unimpeded way, then people will be able to stay home. And if they weren't being – if they didn't have to worry about being barrel-bombed and gassed, there'd be no need for evacuations. Again, I haven't seen these reports, so I can't speak specifically to it. But we've been nothing, again, but clear about what our expectations are of the regime in this process.
Last one.
QUESTION: One on --
MR KIRBY: Last one.
QUESTION: Thank you. Yesterday four congressmen, including Ed Royce, chairman of House Foreign Affairs Committee, wrote a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan. As for the content of the letter, the Indian Prime Minister Modi is expected to visit the city on June 7th and 8th. Do you have that information? Is he expected to visit?
MR KIRBY: I would ask you to talk to the prime minister about his travel plans. I don't have anything to announce on that.
QUESTION: But is this something from – this is the kind of information which only the Congress has? The State Department doesn't have information?
MR KIRBY: No, it's not about correspondence we have or we don't have. I just make it a habit not to speak for the travel plans of other foreign leaders. I can really only speak for the Secretary's travel plans, and Arshad has already stretched the limits of my ability to do that today. So I just don't have anything for you on this.
QUESTION: Just a quick one.
MR KIRBY: Thanks everybody.
QUESTION: Just a quick one.
MR KIRBY: I've got to go.
(The briefing was concluded at 2:09 p.m.)
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