December 9, 2009 - Washington, DC - A two-day working visit by Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan to Washington and his meeting with President Barack Obama was used by the two leaders to reiterate their mutual commitment to strengthening what was termed a “model partnership” between the two countries.
According to statements by President Obama and Prime Minister Erdogan during a press conference following their meeting on December 7, the two leaders discussed critical issues such strategic cooperation between the two allies in Afghanistan and Iraq, regional issues, including Iran’s nuclear program, and bilateral relations between the two countries.
In his remarks, President Obama stated: “There are strong ties between our countries as a consequence of the Turkish American community that has been established here” and called Turkey a “great country, growing in influence around the world.”
President Obama thanked Prime Minister Erdogan and the Turkish people “for their outstanding contributions to stabilizing Afghanistan” and stated the importance of a joint role in advancing stability and prosperity in Iraq. The President noted the important that Turkey can be “an important player” in moving Iran to pursue peaceful nuclear energy while “abiding by international rules and norms”. President Obama also pledged US support to Turkey to fight terrorism and expressed his condolences for the PKK attacks that killed seven troops in Turkey on December 7. He also congratulated the Turkish Prime Minister on “courageous steps that he has taken around the issue of normalizing Turkish/Armenian relations, and encouraged him to continue to move forward along this path, as well as advancing domestic policies toward religious and ethnic minorities.
The President also announced a joint decision to establish a strategic working group headed by Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and US Trade Representative Ron Kirk and their Turkish counterparts, Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan and Minister of State for Economic Affairs Zafer Caglayan, with the goal to improve economic and commercial ties between the two countries.
In his remarks, Prime Minister Erdogan thanked the President for making Turkey part of his first international trip and developing a new “model partnership” concept for US-Turkey relations. He reiterated his resolve to continue to build on Turkey’s bilateral relations with the United States in all areas.
The Prime Minister emphasized that Turkey has taken over for the third time the command of the ISAF forces in Afghanistan and has sent additional troops to the country to fulfill that mission.
The Prime Minister stated that he discussed with President Obama relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia and that he called upon the members of the Minsk Group -- the United States, Russia, and France -- to “add more impetus” to move negotiations to end the conflict over Nagorno Karabakh forward, emphasizing that “the normalization process between Turkey and Armenia is very much related” to this issue.
Prime Minister Erdogan also underscored his commitment to fight international terrorism and stated that “terrorism is the enemy of all mankind” and that “wherever a terrorist attack takes place our reaction is always the same, because terrorism does not have a religion -- a homeland.”
The Prime Minister also stated that Turkey “ready to do whatever we can to ensure a diplomatic solution to the nuclear issue in our region.” He stated that Turkey continues to stand ready to mediate between Israel and the Palestinians as well between Israel and Syria in an effort to achieve global peace.