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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
January 8, 2008
President Bush Meets with President Gul of Turkey
South Lawn
In Focus: Global Diplomacy
11:54 A.M. EST
PRESIDENT BUSH: It's been my honor to welcome the President of Turkey
here. Mr. President, I'm glad you're here. This is not his first trip to
Washington. I can remember many a time you sitting in the Oval Office as
the Foreign Minister, and now you come representing the -- representing a
great strategic partner as its President.
Turkey is a strategic partner of the United States. Relations between the
United States and Turkey are important for our country. And we have worked
hard to make them strong and I believe they are strong. We deal with
common problems. One such problem is our continuing fight against a common
enemy, and that's terrorists, and such a common enemy as the PKK. It's an
enemy to Turkey, it's an enemy to Iraq, and it's an enemy to people who
want to live in peace.
The United States, along with Turkey, are confronting these folks. And we
will continue to confront them for the sake of peace. I strongly believe
that Europe will benefit with Turkey as a member of the European Union. I
have held this position ever since I've been the President; I feel it as
strongly today as when I first articulated it. I think Turkey sets a
fantastic example for nations around the world to see where it's possible
to have a democracy coexist with a great religion like Islam. And that's
important. I view Turkey as a bridge between Europe and the Islamic world,
a constructive bridge. And so I believe it's in the interest of peace that
Turkey be admitted into the EU.
We talked about energy and the need for all of us to help secure more
energy supplies. We talked about -- I'm about to brief the President on my
trip to the Middle East. I know he's deeply concerned about whether or not
it's possible to achieve a two-state solution in the Middle East; I believe
it is. And I'm looking forward to sharing the strategy.
All in all, we've had a very constructive conversation, and that's what
you'd expect when you're -- when two friends are in the room together.
So Mr. President, thank you for coming, and welcome.
PRESIDENT GUL: Thank you, Mr. President. (As translated.) I would like
to thank the President for his invitation here. Turkey and the United
States are longstanding allies and the relationship between our two
countries continue to be strengthened. We have -- we share a common vision
and we work together, and the relations between the two countries are such
that they have an impact not only on the two countries, but also on a
regional and global scale.
Our relations are important, and we will continue to work together to
ensure that peace, stability and prosperity continue to grow around the
world. And we are also working against our common enemy, the PKK, and we
have once again underlined the importance of our cooperation in fighting
against the PKK. And I would like to thank the President for his
determination as well on this regard.
As the President has said, we have discussed some other important issues
such as energy and the issues with respect to the Middle East. The
President is engaged very much in efforts to ensure peace in the Middle
East, and we believe that these are important efforts which can yield
results.
We also discussed Iraq and we will continue to discuss issues such as Iraq,
the Balkans and other issues. And I would like to thank the President for
this meeting very much.
PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you very much, Mr. President.
END 11:59 A.M. EST
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