Clearday-TRForce
04-26-2006, 04:43 AM
http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/photo/42006/m41826.jpg
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Turkey and US to harmonize vision to boost partnership
Washington / ANKARA
Turkey and the United States discussed key issues in their relations and agreed to prepare a "vision document" to present a joint stance on matters of shared concern, as they work out ways to tackle the problem of the presence of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, during a visit to Ankara, pledged more efforts to deal with the presence of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq within a trilateral mechanism involving Turkish, U.S. and Iraqi cooperation, a method that excludes military action on the group's bases in Iraq.
"We have more expectations of the United States against the PKK," Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül told a joint press conference after talks with Rice in Ankara. "The PKK has started to do damage again."
But despite increasing expectations, Gül confidently said relations with the United States had a solid base and the two top officials confirmed that the strategic partnership between the two countries was well in place.
Rice, for her part, praised Turkey's democratic model in the region and said joint efforts for democracy in the Middle East would continue. In remarks en route to Greece, her first stop on her Europe tour, Rice qualified Turkey as one of the strongest supporters of the Greater Middle East Initiative, "because the Turks make very clear that they see absolutely no conflict between the practice of Islam and democracy, and Turkey itself is a very good example of that."
TDN
Turkey, US praise Abbas’ ability
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Ankara
While strongly voicing Turkey's commitment to support the Palestinian people, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has expressed his confidence in Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.
Speaking to reporters following a meeting with Abbas, Erdoğan said the Palestinian cause was Turkey's own cause and that Abbas' all-embracing leadership would respond to the need for solidarity among the Palestinian people.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, during a joint press conference in Ankara with her Turkish counterpart, Abdullah Gül, also praised Abbas, noting the contrasting reactions to a recent suicide attack in Tel Aviv by Hamas, in reference to Abbas' condemnation of the attack.
Rice on Tuesday crossed the same path as Palestinian leader Abbas at the airport in Ankara Tuesday, but the two did not meet. Rice arrived from Athens at the Turkish capital in the middle of the afternoon. Some 30 minutes later, the president of the Palestinian Authority left Ankara, after a two-day visit, and headed for Oslo on board the personal plane of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
The United States has suspended all financial aid to the Palestinian government which is now in the hands of the radical Hamas movement, which Washington considers a terrorist organization. But Rice said her missing an encounter with Abbas was not intentional.
At a joint press conference with Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül, Rice described the Palestinian leader as a respectable politician. "I have talked to President Abbas very often. I would have been very happy to greet him at the airport," she said.
"I think I wasn't aware that our paths had really crossed," she said. Rice added that Abbas "is still the elected president of the Palestinian Authority."
"We have respect for him and he demonstrated again just the other day that he is an honorable man in the way that he condemned the attack on civilians in Israel... so he is someone who we want to see supported."
The suicide bombing in Tel Aviv earlier this month left nine people dead and dozens injured.
Abbas's comments were "in stark contrast," Rice said, to the statements from Hamas, "which had an opportunity to demonstrate that it understood the requirements of governing and instead decided to justify attacks on civilians, on innocents."
TDN
regards,
CDTRF
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Turkey and US to harmonize vision to boost partnership
Washington / ANKARA
Turkey and the United States discussed key issues in their relations and agreed to prepare a "vision document" to present a joint stance on matters of shared concern, as they work out ways to tackle the problem of the presence of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, during a visit to Ankara, pledged more efforts to deal with the presence of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq within a trilateral mechanism involving Turkish, U.S. and Iraqi cooperation, a method that excludes military action on the group's bases in Iraq.
"We have more expectations of the United States against the PKK," Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül told a joint press conference after talks with Rice in Ankara. "The PKK has started to do damage again."
But despite increasing expectations, Gül confidently said relations with the United States had a solid base and the two top officials confirmed that the strategic partnership between the two countries was well in place.
Rice, for her part, praised Turkey's democratic model in the region and said joint efforts for democracy in the Middle East would continue. In remarks en route to Greece, her first stop on her Europe tour, Rice qualified Turkey as one of the strongest supporters of the Greater Middle East Initiative, "because the Turks make very clear that they see absolutely no conflict between the practice of Islam and democracy, and Turkey itself is a very good example of that."
TDN
Turkey, US praise Abbas’ ability
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Ankara
While strongly voicing Turkey's commitment to support the Palestinian people, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has expressed his confidence in Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.
Speaking to reporters following a meeting with Abbas, Erdoğan said the Palestinian cause was Turkey's own cause and that Abbas' all-embracing leadership would respond to the need for solidarity among the Palestinian people.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, during a joint press conference in Ankara with her Turkish counterpart, Abdullah Gül, also praised Abbas, noting the contrasting reactions to a recent suicide attack in Tel Aviv by Hamas, in reference to Abbas' condemnation of the attack.
Rice on Tuesday crossed the same path as Palestinian leader Abbas at the airport in Ankara Tuesday, but the two did not meet. Rice arrived from Athens at the Turkish capital in the middle of the afternoon. Some 30 minutes later, the president of the Palestinian Authority left Ankara, after a two-day visit, and headed for Oslo on board the personal plane of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
The United States has suspended all financial aid to the Palestinian government which is now in the hands of the radical Hamas movement, which Washington considers a terrorist organization. But Rice said her missing an encounter with Abbas was not intentional.
At a joint press conference with Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül, Rice described the Palestinian leader as a respectable politician. "I have talked to President Abbas very often. I would have been very happy to greet him at the airport," she said.
"I think I wasn't aware that our paths had really crossed," she said. Rice added that Abbas "is still the elected president of the Palestinian Authority."
"We have respect for him and he demonstrated again just the other day that he is an honorable man in the way that he condemned the attack on civilians in Israel... so he is someone who we want to see supported."
The suicide bombing in Tel Aviv earlier this month left nine people dead and dozens injured.
Abbas's comments were "in stark contrast," Rice said, to the statements from Hamas, "which had an opportunity to demonstrate that it understood the requirements of governing and instead decided to justify attacks on civilians, on innocents."
TDN
regards,
CDTRF