    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book I)]
    [April 19, 1995]
    [Pages 549-552]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Exchange With Reporters Prior to Discussions With Prime Minister Tansu
    Ciller of Turkey
    April 19, 1995

    Turkey-U.S. Relations

        The President. Let me say that, as always, it's good to have Prime
    Minister Ciller back in Washington. I welcome her here. Turkey is a
    valued, important ally of the United States, and our relationship will
    become even more important in the years ahead.
        We're about to go into a meeting where we will discuss a number of
    issues, her programs for democratization and for economic reform, the
    Turkish operation in Northern Iraq, which obviously, the United States
    hopes will be limited in duration and scope. We'll talk about Cyprus and
    a number of other issues--whatever the Prime Minister wants to discuss.
    But I'm looking forward to the conversation, and I'm glad she's here.

    Turkish Operations in Iraq

        Q. Do you expect her to set a date for the evacuation from Iraq? And
    is Iraq supporting her drive against the Kurds?
        The President. Why don't you ask her those questions?
        Q. I will. Do you plan to set a date for withdrawal from Iraq? And
    is Iraq supporting this drive against the Kurds? Are there good Kurds
    and bad Kurds?
        Prime Minister Ciller. As you know, we were together in the fight
    against Iraq in the Gulf crisis, and then we were together again with
    the United States in Provide Comfort to protect the Kurdish people in
    Northern Iraq against Saddam's regime. And it so happened, however, that
    Turkey was probably the only ally which paid--who paid very high costs
    because we happen to have a border with Iraq. And Northern Iraq, in
    time, became a no-man's land.
        And this was not a decision that I enjoyed taking, but it so
    happened that the terrorists simply settled in Northern Iraq and planned
    to have operations within my country passing the borders. Any Western
    country in my position would have to have--would take the same kind of
    decision that I did. And we are there only for a limited time. We have
    gotten hold of the bases that we wanted to do. The majority of the job
    is done and over with. The withdrawal will be very soon, as I have said
    from the beginning.
        The reason that I cannot announce a date is because it would not be
    fair for those people

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    up on the mountains, 1,500 feet from the ground--meters from the ground,
    not feet--in the caves, in the snow, and they are approaching our
    borders. What they are doing is searching the caves up on the mountains
    for the guns and the ammunitions that would have been used to kill the
    innocent people in my country.
        So I have to say that I'm very grateful to President Clinton for his
    support and for the fact that they knew about what was happening in
    Northern Iraq, that this became a no-man's land without authority, and
    it's not our making. It is not only our responsibility either. We have
    to think of a way to handle this. Otherwise, Turkey always ends up being
    the only ally to continually pay for this operation and the end result
    of this operation.
        Q. Are you adamantly against the establishment of a state of
    Kurdistan? Isn't this the motive of the rebels?
        Prime Minister Ciller. We are very friendly towards the Kurdish
    people in Northern Iraq. We have nothing against it. In fact, the
    Kurdish people in Northern Iraq were quite happy to see us come in
    because what had happened is that the Kurdish elements had been pushed
    towards south and had to evacuate Northern Iraq because of the
    terrorists. Now that the terrorists have simply run away, there is the
    possibility of these Kurdish elements coming back to Northern Iraq and
    settling.
        We had, as you know, opened up our borders to the Kurdish people in
    Northern Iraq. Close to a million people came over after the Gulf
    crisis, and we sheltered them and we fed them. And last year only, we
    paid $13.5 million in foodstuff to the Kurdish people living in Northern
    Iraq. And every year, we supply the electricity and basic needs. So this
    has nothing to do with the Kurdish people.

    Turkey

        Q. Prime Minister, today in Turkey, 21 people have been arrested on
    allegations of trying to assassinate you. I wondered how you felt about
    your own security, if you were worried about the stability of your
    government.
        Prime Minister Ciller. Well, I am not worried about the security of
    my country or myself. I have a mission, and that mission is a peace
    mission for the area. And that's what I'm going to discuss with
    President Clinton. And Turkey's actual acceptance into the European
    Community and Customs Union, I think, is a historic kind of a
    turnaround. And I have to thank again the President's administration and
    to President Clinton for the very historic support they have given on
    the issue, because had Turkey been separated from Europe, it would have
    meant that fundamentalism would have moved up to the borders of Europe.
    And Turkey, in the area, is the only stable ally from Korea to the Gulf
    crisis.
        We are--look at where we are stationed. North of us is the Soviet
    Union, having disintegrated. The new countries that have emerged have
    their own problems. East to us is Middle East. We are very friendly
    towards Israel--and I was the first Prime Minister to go to Israel--and
    friendly to the Arab world at the same time. And we have good relations
    with the Caspian Sea--new nations that have emerged, such as Azerbaijan
    and Armenia and----

    Cyprus

        Q. How about Greece? Cyprus?
        Prime Minister Ciller. Oh, yes. The whole problem--that's why the
    Customs Union is so important because once--if and when Turkey is
    accepted as a full member into the European Union, as Greece is and as
    Cyprus will, together with the Turkish and the Greek side, the problem
    will be resolved in a very comprehensive way because then we won't have
    anything to fight about, such as migration or migration of labor or some
    of the basic problems that had continued for almost centuries now, as
    far as I'm concerned.

    President's News Conference

        Q. [Inaudible]
        The President. I thought it was good, the press conference. There
    were a lot of questions. There were a broad range of questions. They
    were interesting questions, and I gave straightforward answers, and they
    were brief. So I thought it was good.

    Debt Limit and Budget Legislation

        Q. Mr. President, one thing you didn't get to answer last night is
    that Speaker Gingrich has threatened to put all sorts of legislation
    that you oppose onto the debt ceiling bill and in effect threaten you to
    veto the bill and shut the Government down. Would you do that if there
    was legislation on there you didn't like?
        The President. No President of the United States can ever be, in
    effect, blackmailed by

    [[Page 551]]

    that sort of thing. I'm going to do what I think is right for the people
    of this country. And again--I will say again what I said last night, the
    only thing that's relevant to the American people in this whole process
    is what we do here to affect their lives, and their future, and their
    children's future.
        I have demonstrated my commitment to working through this process.
    We've already signed two good bills. We're working on this line-item
    veto together. We can do a lot of work. We can have a lot of good
    ceremonies out there in the Rose Garden, or we can have the kind of
    conflict that could arise unless there is a real attempt to work these
    things out.
        And I have been very, very clear and forthright about my position
    about these things all along and will continue to be. But a strategy to
    sort of put me in a box would be an error because I will still exercise
    the power of the Presidency in the interest of the American people.

    [At this point, one group of reporters left the room, and another group
    entered.]

        The President. Nice to see you all.

    Turkish Operations in Iraq

        Q. Mr. President, your administration has certainly shown a certain
    degree of understanding of Turkey's incursion in Northern Iraq. How
    willing are you to cooperate in possible secret arrangements for--
    [inaudible]--incursion in this region?
        The President. Well, we're going to discuss that in our meetings.
    And I don't think I should say anything about it until we have meetings.
    But you know, the United States has had a strong relationship with
    Turkey. And I think it's very important that we continue that
    relationship into the future. And in order to do it, we're going to have
    to understand each other's position, each other's problems, each other's
    potential to work together. And I've tried to do that, and I've had a
    good relationship with the Prime Minister. She has been very forceful in
    coming to the United States and stating the interest of the Turkish
    people. And this is one of many things that we will discuss. But I look
    forward to continuing to make progress on all these issues.

    Turkey

        Q. Will human rights and democratization be on the agenda?
        The President. Sure. And the Prime Minister's talked about
    democratization. And I think--you know, for the Europeans, as you move
    toward the Customs Union and other things, these issues are quite
    important. And they're very important to the United States. But I have
    tried to also view them in the context of the imperative to fight
    terrorism and to promote human rights. And I think you have to do both.
    Preserving a democracy in which people have human freedom is a delicate
    operation. And it requires not only a lot of sensitivity and
    understanding, it requires a lot of discipline and respect for other
    people's rights as well. And the biggest threat to human rights all over
    the world today, after the--in the aftermath of the cold war when people
    now know that dictatorial political systems don't work, that
    totalitarian systems don't work, the biggest threat to human rights is
    the reaction caused by terrorism everywhere. And that is something we
    have to be sensitive to, whether it's a car bomb blowing up in the
    Middle East or a religious fanatic taking a vial of sarin into the
    subway in Japan. All these things threaten the fabric of human rights.
    So we have to continue to push governments all over the world to be more
    open to human rights and combat terrorism at the same time.
        Q. Do you have any solution about--[inaudible]--administration?
        The President. We're going to talk about it today. You know, the
    United States has expressed an understanding of what Turkey did, along
    with the hope that civilian casualties could be strictly limited, and
    that the operation would be limited in time and scope. But we're going
    to talk about it. The Prime Minister has probably got some good ideas,
    and we'll discuss it.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:25 a.m. in the Oval Office at the White
    House. A tape was not available for verification of the content of this
    exchange.

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