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01 April 2003

Powell Briefs Press on Iraq, Turkey En Route to Ankara

(April 1 briefing by Secretary of State) (4240)
Secretary of State Colin Powell briefed reporters en route to Ankara
April 1, saying that most issues with Turkey "have been worked out and
settled, but it's a good opportunity for me to speak to Prime Minister
Erdogan and Foreign Minister Gul about it to make sure there are no
further misunderstandings."
One issue Powell has been discussing with the Turkish authorities is
the conditions that might cause Turkey to intervene in Northern Iraq.
He said the coalition has "pretty good coordination and control of
activities of Kurds" and is reassuring them that they "have nothing to
fear at this time from the Iraqi armed forces. So there has been no
movement toward the border.... The situation is pretty stable and
therefore we see absolutely nothing that would require such an
incursion" by Turkey.
The Secretary said he also planned to encourage Turkey "to make it
easier for United Nations organizations to transit through Turkey to
put aid in place. There have been some delays and I want to see if we
can just get these delays out of the way and get this aid
prepositioned and moved through in an expeditious manner."
He noted that President Bush included $1 billion [$1,000 million] for
Turkey in his recent supplemental funding request to Congress because
of "concerns that we've had for a long time about the Turkish economy
and how we want to help a friend and a partner."
"But I will point out to my Turkish friends that notwithstanding this
expression of support on the part of the President, there is still a
level of disappointment in the United States within the administration
and within the Congress" over the Turkish parliament's failure to
permit the basing of coalition troops in Turkey, Powell added.
"We had to modify our [military] plans in a way that you all are quite
familiar with," he told the reporters.
In Brussels Powell plans to have meetings at the North Atlantic
Council and the European Union, as well as bilateral meetings with
several of his counterparts; the itinerary in Turkey was still
"shaping up," he said.
He plans to brief the Europeans on Operation Iraqi Freedom and "to
begin to look at the future, at the needs that the Iraqi people will
have when they have been liberated; how to bring the entire
international community behind the effort to rebuild the country after
decades of destruction brought on by Saddam Hussein's regime; how to
get the humanitarian aid moving in an efficient way, what new
authorities might be needed from the UN, the role of international
communities and the role of an interim authority as we stand one up."
Asked about the U.N.'s role in shaping Iraq's political future, Powell
said "there is a consensus that says the United Nations has a role to
play. ... What we have to work out is exactly the nature of that
role."
The United States believes that "early on the interim Iraqi authority
should be accorded some level of recognition [from the United Nations]
so that aid can flow. I think it's important for us to show as soon as
we can that Iraqis now are, once again, taking charge of their country
to put it on a road to a better future....
"And the sooner we show that -- in the form of an interim Iraqi
authority that is working with the coalition, working with the UN and
working with the international organizations to serve the people of
Iraq -- the sooner we will have the Iraqi people recognize that a new
life is there for them. And we'll get the full cooperation, I hope, of
the population."
After the fighting, Powell said, "the military has a role to play to
stabilize the situation. ... There will be a period when the military
will have that very proper and legitimate responsibility. But as the
President has said on occasion -- many occasions, I think -- we don't
want to stay one day longer or leave one day sooner than we should."
Powell also announced that on the way from Ankara to Brussels he would
stop in Belgrade to meet with the new Prime Minister Zoran Zivkovic
and the President of Serbia and Montenegro Svetozar Marovic, "and also
to show our support for the country as they go through this difficult
time following the death of the previous Prime Minister," Zoran
Djindjic.
Following is a transcript of the briefing:
(begin transcript)
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
(Ankara, Turkey)
April 2, 2003
On-The-Record Briefing
SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN L. POWELL
ABOARD THE SECRETARY'S AIRPLANE
April 1, 2003
En Route to Ankara, Turkey
SECRETARY POWELL: I might start by letting you know that we're going
to make another stop during the trip. I might even tell you where, if
you're really good. Tomorrow afternoon and evening, on the way from
Ankara to Brussels, we're going to stop in Belgrade, and it will give
me a chance to meet with the new Prime Minister Mr. [Zoran] Zivkovic
and meet with the President Mr. [Svetozar] Marovic; and also to show
our support for the country as they go through this difficult time
following the death of the previous Prime Minister, a man I got to
know very, very well, Mr. [Zoran] Djindjic; and also to encourage them
to keep going after this kind of criminal behavior within their
society, and just let them know that we're with them in this difficult
time for them, and also encourage them to continue to do more with
respect to turning people over to the Tribunal.
We'll be on the ground for about, oh, I guess two hours or so. It's a
short in and out, the airport in, a couple of meetings, back to the
airport, then on up to Brussels.
I think you know the itinerary in Ankara tomorrow. The itinerary in
Brussels is still shaping up, but you know Richard will give it to
you. The itinerary in Brussels is still shaping up, but we're looking
forward to having meetings at the NAC and also with the European
Union, and then a large number of bilaterals in the course of the day.
A number of my foreign minister colleagues are coming. I still don't
know the entire roster, but Foreign Secretary Straw and Foreign
Minister Palacio will be there. And my colleague Igor Ivanov is in the
area so he'll be coming by and I'll have a chance to spend time with
him to follow up on some issues. And I know that Joschka Fischer will
be there and I would expect George Papandreou and others, but I don't
have the complete list yet of all of the meetings and bilaterals.
But I look forward to being able to give both of those groups an
update on Operation Iraqi Freedom, how we think it's going, and to
begin to look at the future, at the needs that the Iraqi people will
have when they have been liberated; how to bring the entire
international community behind the effort to rebuild the country after
decades of destruction brought on by Saddam Hussein's regime; how to
get the humanitarian aid moving in an efficient way, what new
authorities might be needed from the UN, the role of international
communities and the role of an interim authority as we stand one up.
So it's a good opportunity in one place to do quite a bit of business
with both NATO and with the European Union and to have a number of
bilaterals.
With that, I'll just take your questions for a few minutes. I think
they're getting ready to serve dinner.
QUESTION: In Turkey, Mr. Secretary, do you view the issue of Turkey
sending troops into Northern Iraq as a closed issue, or do you think
you still have some work? And a second part to that. Are they being
helpful in terms of sending humanitarian assistance and other supplies
into Northern Iraq?
SECRETARY POWELL: With respect to the issue of going across the border
and incursion, I think that's pretty much under control. Ambassador
Zal Khalilzad [President Bush's Special Envoy and Ambassador at Large
for Free Iraqis] has done some very good work with [U.S.]Ambassador
[to Turkey] Bob Pearson, and I hope we will be able to come to a
complete understanding tomorrow.
They will still watch the situation with interest because they have an
equity up there and they don't want to see refugees flowing to the
border. I think we have been able to assure them and demonstrate that
assurance that with the presence of the 173rd Airborne and with all
the special forces units that we have in the area now, we have pretty
good coordination and control of activities of Kurds as well as being
able to reassure the population that they have nothing to fear at this
time from the Iraqi armed forces. So there has been no movement toward
the border. There has been some internal displacement as people left
cities to go to the mountains to kind of get away from trouble. So the
situation is pretty stable and therefore we see absolutely nothing
that would require such an incursion.
And I would also make the point to them that, in effect, with Iraqi
Freedom now underway, we are increasingly in control of the country,
and it is our commander who is exercising considerable authority
throughout the country. And anything that might be a cause for concern
with them, or plying them or encouraging them to think they should
take action, would have to be in coordination with our commander. I
think most of these issues have been worked out and settled, but it's
a good opportunity for me to speak to Prime Minister Erdogan and
Foreign Minister Gul about it to make sure there are no further
misunderstandings.
With respect to aid, we're working with them. This is something I will
talk to them about. And not only the help they're giving our forces in
the north, but also how to encourage them to make it easier for United
Nations organizations to transit through Turkey to put aid in place.
There have been some delays and I want to see if we can just get these
delays out of the way and get this aid prepositioned and moved through
in an expeditious manner. So yes, we'll be talking about that as well.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, you know many European nations want to see
the UN play a central role in shaping Iraq's political future before
they commit to funds for reconstruction. Where do you stand on what
kind of role the UN should play in Iraq's political future?
SECRETARY POWELL: The UN has made it clear that they do not want to be
governing Iraq. Secretary General Annan and I have talked about this a
number of times and Dr. Rice has been up to see him. I expect to see
him once I get back from this trip.
I am going to have to talk to all of my colleagues on Thursday and in
the course of the next several days to get their individual opinions
about it, but I think there is a consensus that says the United
Nations has a role to play. If you look at the Azores statement and
what President Bush and Prime Minister Blair said at Camp David last
week, you have a solid acknowledgement from them and from President
Aznar and others that there is that role for the UN to play.
What we have to work out is exactly the nature of that role and how
the UN role will be used to provide some level of endorsement for our
actions, the actions of the coalition, in Iraq for some period of time
until we can switch administration over to civilian administrators on
the way to a new government built up from the interim Iraqi authority.
We believe that early on the interim Iraqi authority should be
accorded some level of recognition so that aid can flow. I think it's
important for us to show as soon as we can that Iraqis now are, once
again, taking charge of their country to put it on a road to a better
future based on all the principles you heard us espouse -- getting rid
of weapons of mass destruction, representative government, one nation,
territorial integrity, and living in peace with its neighbors. And the
sooner we show that -- in the form of an interim Iraqi authority that
is working with the coalition, working with the UN and working with
the international organizations to serve the people of Iraq -- the
sooner we will have the Iraqi people recognize that a new life is
there for them. And we'll get the full cooperation, I hope, of the
population.
Now, how you put that all in the form of UN resolutions is something
we'll have to work at and it will take a great deal of discussion and
negotiations. But I sense everybody understands that there will, no
doubt, be debates about how much authority the UN should have and what
the role of coalition forces should be during this interim period. As
you've heard me say many times, I think it's pretty obvious in a
campaign like this, as you bring it to a conclusion, as you succeed,
as you win, the military has a role to play to stabilize the
situation, disarm people that need to be disarmed, deal with the
residual military force that's there, get the weapons of mass
destruction. And you can't turn that over to anyone right away, so
there will be a period when the military will have that very proper
and legitimate responsibility. But as the President has said on
occasion -- many occasions, I think -- we don't want to stay one day
longer or leave one day sooner than we should.
QUESTION: On the subject of Turkey, it's taken a lot of time to work
out the specifics, apparently. Can you give some -- can you tell us a
little bit about the negotiations over the last several days? The
Turks, apparently -- there were reports -- want some mechanism that
would help decide what the conditions are for it to intervene or send
its troops in. Can you be a little more specific about those
modalities?
SECRETARY POWELL: We talked about conditions that might cause them to
think about intervening: a sudden flood of refugees to the border that
becomes uncontrollable, the kind we had back in 1991; assaults against
the Turkomen population; or a sense that there was a breakaway from
Iraq among the Kurdish leaders. All those things would cause the Turks
a great deal of concern and anxiety, and we have expressed our
understanding of all of that, said none of those conditions are
starting to appear, so we can manage this and you don't have to think
about intervening.
Now, how do we monitor that? And so we're trying to put in place a
coordination mechanism and Ambassador Khalilzad and Bob Pearson have
been working with them. They had a meeting -- they were scheduled to
have a meeting yesterday -- on putting together a coordination
mechanism that would serve this purpose. And I don't have a report
from Zal or from Bob yet as to whether they finished that work.
But even as they are doing that work and that coordination effort to
find another model, we have lots of coordination. I mean Bob Pearson
has been living with his Turkish colleagues day and night for weeks.
And Zal, of course, is our very superb special envoy for this and he's
been there for a while. He'll be there tomorrow. He's staying and
he'll be there tomorrow and then travel with me on up to Brussels.
So the final answer, Steve, will be tomorrow after I've had a chance
to get a report from Zal on the coordination group they were trying to
form.
QUESTION: Yes, the Turkish markets have gone up quite a bit since it
was announced that the administration was seeking a billion dollars
for Turkey as part of the supplemental. But already in Congress, there
are some efforts to put conditions on that, to scale that back. And
what sort of message are you going to be bringing to the Turks about
what they can expect out of this appropriation, what they might need
to do to see it?
SECRETARY POWELL: I will point out to them as I have already in my
conversations with them that the President put $1 billion in the
supplemental not in payment for anything or to compensate for
anything, but because of our concerns, concerns that we've had for a
long time about the Turkish economy and how we want to help a friend
and a partner.
We haven't decided whether they have a need for that yet or how it
would be used if the appropriation is finally funded by the Congress.
But I will point out to my Turkish friends that notwithstanding this
expression of support on the part of the President, there is still a
level of disappointment in the United States within the administration
and within the Congress over some of the actions of the past month or
so and the inability to get the vote on the 1st of March.
They have been cooperative recently, very cooperative when they took
the overflight request to the parliament. But because we didn't get
the vote on the 1st of March, we had to modify our plans in a way that
you all are quite familiar with. And people in Congress are looking at
this and wondering whether or not the $1 billion should be included in
a time of tough fiscal circumstances for Turkey. And I will just point
this out to them tomorrow that this -- there is lingering, there's a
lingering sense of disappointment that we have to make sure that we do
nothing more to contribute to in the days and weeks ahead as we push
for the supplemental.
QUESTION: Are you going to sort of discuss the actions of Iran and
Syria with the Turkish authorities as both countries, Iran and Syria,
are neighbor countries to Turkey after the accusations you've made
against Damascus and Tehran last Sunday?
SECRETARY POWELL: I'm sure it'll come up in conversation. My most
recent statement at AIPAC [American Israel Public Affairs Committee]
the other night [March 30] was pointing out the reality that both of
those states continue to support terrorist action. And earlier
statements from [U.S. Defense Secretary] Don Rumsfeld and others in
the administration expressed our concern, particularly with Syria,
with possible or actual transit of equipment and weapons that might
assist Iraq. So I'm sure it'll come up in the course of our
conversation. But I'm here, principally, to talk about our bilateral
relationship and what's happening right now with operation Iraqi
Freedom and after Iraqi Freedom.
With respect to this question, Barry's question, --
QUESTION: Well, what can they do to neutralize the resentment? I mean
people like Lantos are trying to keep the cut light, trying to
cooperate --
SECRETARY POWELL: I think if we see full cooperation in the days ahead
and especially in the aftermath of operation Iraqi Freedom and full
support for humanitarian efforts as well as to support our troops that
are now in Northern Iraq, then I think this would help.
I'm working with the Pentagon now. Admiral Metzger is seeing if there
are any particular requests that we want to put before the Turks, but
we're not looking at any requests that go to the level of, you know,
the kinds of requests we were looking at a month or so ago. These
would be requests having to do with just sustaining the operation, our
operations in Northern Iraq and should be not difficult for the Turks
to accommodate. We're looking for a spirit of accommodation, rapid
turnaround on requests, and the $1 billion is not compensation for
anything that we have asked for, or I am asking for now. It was an
expression of support on the part of the President for Turkey and for
the economic difficulties that it finds itself in or might find itself
in when the supplemental ultimately is passed.
Even when we were going through the exercise with the $6 billion, and
as we were putting that package together, we always recognized that
Turkey would be having some economic needs. It was sort of a baseline.
They would have some economic needs that we might have to deal with
and whatever they might do with respect to troops going through or the
reinforcements going through were increments above that. So the $1
billion is an expression of what we believe Turkey's economic needs
might be. And as you know, that can be scaled up to about $8.5 billion
in loans.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, I know that you are confident of victory in
Iraq and you're confident that once the Iraqis see this better life
that awaits them that things will straighten out, but in the interim,
the longer the war goes on, the more casualties among Iraqi civilians
occur inadvertently, but the more that occur, how concerned are you
about how that is complicating the situation in the Arab world and
heating up emotions?
SECRETARY POWELL: We all would like to see the war brought to a speedy
conclusion but wars are fought and you follow the rhythm of the
battles. And what I'm seeing right now as I look at it is that
everyday they are getting weaker and we are getting stronger.
Everyday a large number of sorties go out of all kinds and they come
back having destroyed more tanks, more artillery, inflicted more
casualties on the Iraqi forces. Those casualties in those forces are
not being replenished. There are no new tanks coming and each day more
coalition forces arrive in the theater. And now the 4th Division is
well into its unloading and moving into the battle area. And so
there's no doubt in my mind about the fact that we will prevail, but I
cannot tell you how long it will take. That goes to the rhythm of the
battles, the rhythm of the war, and the judgments that are made by the
commanders on both sides.
But I think it's inevitable. We all hope it will be soon, because of
some of the concerns that we see in the Arab Street, because we want
to get on with our original mission, which is get rid of the weapons
of mass destruction and start to rebuild this country and society.
I've seen these rhythms and patterns before. When I was -- one of the
quotations that will forever be with me is, "Cut it off and kill it,"
from the Gulf War. But people forget the context in which I said that.
It was a week into the war and we, me and Dick Cheney, were catching
hell. It's all going to heck in a handbasket. The war is not going
well. We saw all these smart weapons on night one. Why is it still
going on? This was about day six or seven. And Secretary Cheney and I
got together and said, "We've, you know, got to go put this into some
context." And we did. We went downstairs. And Mr. Cheney put the
strategic perspective on the map for the press and then I went before
my maps and I described the battle plan and I talked about peeling
back the air defense, I talked about going after command and control
and strategic communications targets in Baghdad. I talked about how we
were isolating the battlefield and how we were doing all of these
things. And then as I slowly made this magnificent Commanding General
Staff Course presentation, I finally got down to where the Iraqi army
was deployed and I said, "You know, okay, so what you've seen is all
of these things, radars going down, air defense going down. So first
we're going to cut it off and then we're going to kill it." It was a
rehearsed line but I didn't think it was that big of a line.
But people forgot that we were preparing and shaping a battlefield,
and everybody had gone from a high on night one to a low by day six,
and then when we had the presentation, everybody kind of realized,
okay, we better just take a deep breath of some smelling salts and
wait for the battle to unfold. And that's what you're seeing now.
QUESTION: Just a quick one. Can you be any more specific about the
military requests you're making of the Turks? Are you particularly
asking for more use of the airfields in the southeast?
SECRETARY POWELL: I can't be specific yet because we haven't gotten
yet from Don and Dick Myers exactly what it is, so I don't want to
prejudge what they might ask me to do. But from what I've seen of the
preliminary request, they are not -- this should not be hard to
accommodate, not a major -- you know, we're not asking for divisions
to come in or anything like that.
(end transcript)
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Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)