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White House Press Briefing by Dana Perino 10/18/07 (Turkey, Iraq and the PKK)
— Thursday, October 18, 2007 — Q The Iraqi Prime Minister said today that his government would expect only limited Turkish air strikes in northern Iraq against the Kurdish rebels, and not an actual all-out offensive on the ground there. Could the U.S. live with that? MS. PERINO: Well, what we have said is that -- the President said yesterday what we want to see is for Turkey to not send additional troops into that region. The President said yesterday there's a small contingent there that have been there for a few years. That's been a longstanding presence. What you have now is the Americans and the Iraqis working together with the Turks to work together against the PKK, a terrorist organization, which we would like to see eradicated in the region as well. What was very positive was that Prime Minister Maliki send his Vice President, Hashimi, to Turkey yesterday in order to work with them. That's where you see -- that's what a good neighbor does. In the world of international politics, you want neighbors to be talking with one another and working together to solve problems. So I think that that is an encouraging sign, and we have asked Turkey to refrain from doing anything more. Q Can I follow on that? MS. PERINO: You want to follow? Okay. Q Turkey's justice minister says the President is basically being hypocritical by opposing Turkish military action in northern Iraq. He says the same justification the U.S. used to go after al Qaeda in Afghanistan is the justification that Turkey would use to go after the PKK in northern Iraq. MS. PERINO: I haven't seen the justice minister's comments. What I can say is that we have Ambassador Crocker, our ambassador in Iraq, and our ambassador into Turkey, as well as General Petraeus working closely with the Turks to help solve the problem. And also you have the Iraqis participating, as well. We think that's the way to help solve this issue. I understand that he's making a point about terrorists attacking their country, that this is something that the Iraqis and the Americans have said that they would help the Turks help eradicate, and to end the PKK terrorist influence in that region. And so we'll continue to try to work it that way. We don't think that a larger-scale incursion is necessary to help solve the problem. Q I think the point he's making is two-fold; one is a point of rights, and the other is that the efforts by the U.S. and Iraq have not solved the problem yet, and so Turkey -- MS. PERINO: Well, I think that we saw yesterday the Iraqis saying that they are going to work with the Turks, and they will redouble their efforts to help them. And I think that's the appropriate way to help solve this. Dana Perino | Iraq | Middle East | PKK | Press Briefing | Turkey | White House Press Corps Labels: Dana Perino, Iraq, Middle East, PKK, Press Briefing, Turkey, White House Press Corps
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 8:22 PM  Air Force One Press Gaggle by Tony Fratto 10/15/07 (Armenian Genocide Resolution) — Monday, October 15, 2007 — Q On the Armenian genocide resolution, yesterday Speaker Pelosi said she has not heard -- has not received a telephone call from the President. Will he be calling her? MR. FRATTO: I don't have -- I don't know anything about plans for a phone call. But there should be no question of the President's views on this issue and the damage that this resolution can do to our U.S. foreign policy interests. This isn't just a view that's expressed by the administration; this is a view that's been expressed by at least, I believe eight former Secretaries of State on a bipartisan basis, a number of former Defense Secretaries, by our Turkish allies, by independent experts, that this is an important time for U.S.-Turkish relations, and we would strongly encourage the Speaker not to bring this to a vote, and should it come to a vote, we will strongly encourage members not to support it. This is not the best way to deal with this issue. It is, admittedly, a tragic historical event, which has been well documented, but there are better ways to deal with this issue than -- the most important outcome that I think everyone would like to see are improved Turkish and Armenian relations. And so we encourage the Turks and Armenian authorities to resolve this issue between themselves, and not for the U.S. House of Representatives to insert itself and make this -- make the prospects for resolving the issue more difficult. We should be trying to make it less difficult. Air Force One | Armenia | Genocide | Iraq | Middle East Labels: Air Force One, Armenia, Genocide, Iraq, Middle East, Press Gaggle, Resolutions, Tony Fratto, Turkey, White House Press Corps
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 8:41 PM White House Press Briefing by Dana Perino 10/10/07 (Armenian Genocide Resolution) — Wednesday, October 10, 2007 — Q The President said today that the Armenia genocide resolution was not the right response to the historic mass killings. What is the -- what does he consider to be the correct response? MS. PERINO: One thing the President has done every year since he got here is issue a presidential message. This year it was on April 24, 2007. And one of the things the President said in it -- and I quote -- is that "I join my fellow Americans and Armenian people around the world in commemorating this tragedy and honoring the memory of the innocent lives that were taken. The world must never forget this painful chapter of its history." The statement is much longer than that, but the President believes that that is the way to deal with this historic tragic situation. Q What does he think, in real terms, the consequences of passing the resolution would be? MS. PERINO: Well, I think you also heard from Secretary -- the President and Secretary Rice and Secretary Gates heard from General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker and Admiral Fallon this morning and they got an update on it. We've obviously heard from the Turkish government over time that they do not want to see this resolution passed in the House of Representatives. It's come up over the years. But also, right now we have 160,000 of our troops in harm's way in Iraq, and Turkey has been a very valuable ally and their strong reaction -- negative reaction -- about this resolution is what caused the President to come out today and ask members of Congress to oppose it. Q What do we think that Turkey will do? MS. PERINO: Well, I think that's a hypothetical and I'm not going to comment on it. I'd refer you to the Turks for any comment that they want to make on it. I just know that Secretary Rice and Secretary Gates felt strongly enough, after hearing from the commanders on the ground, that they needed to go and make a public statement asking Congress to oppose it. Q Is Turkey blackmailing the United States? MS. PERINO: Absolutely not. I think that they've made their position very clear over the years. And the President has also, through presidential messages, made it clear how we feel about the Armenian people, and understand the heartache and frustration that they feel about what happened in 1915. Q Turkey has not shown hesitancy in the past to influence United States' thinking by either allowing troops to come through or there's landing rights issues. There's lots of ways in which they can influence. So if the war on terror -- they know their role in the United States war on terror, and they're saying, don't do this, what else are you supposed to make of it? MS. PERINO: Well, I think that they are making their points clear, just like we make our points clear to other governments, as well. And we do believe that the Turks and the Armenians should have a discussion and work this out amongst themselves. And they are having discussions. We've encouraged those and I think that's the -- where it is best dealt with. The United States House of Representatives has a lot of business before it, including passing any of our -- or getting conferees appointed to the appropriations bills so that we can actually get the budget underway. So there's a lot of work that they could be doing rather than this. Q One last follow. In terms of understanding sort of the power of the word "genocide," what is the biggest problem the Turks have communicated that they have an issue with it being called a genocide as opposed to a tragedy? MS. PERINO: I'll have to refer you to this Turkish government for that. I don't -- I'm not going to speak for them. Armenia | Dana Perino | Genocide | Press Briefing | Resolutions | Turkey | White House Press Corps Labels: Armenia, Dana Perino, Genocide, Press Briefing, Resolutions, Turkey, White House Press Corps
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 6:30 PM
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