    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2007, Book II)]
    [November 5, 2007]
    [Pages 1427-1430]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Following a Meeting With Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
    Erdogan of Turkey and an Exchange With
    Reporters
    November 5, 2007

        President Bush. Mr. Prime Minister, welcome back to the Oval Office.
    As usual, we had a very constructive conversation. Turkey is a strategic
    partner and strong ally of America. I value our friendship at the state
    level, at the personal level.
        We had a long discussion about a common concern, and that concern is
    the PKK. PKK is a terrorist organization. They're an enemy of Turkey,
    they're an enemy of Iraq, and they're an enemy of the United States. We
    have talked about how we can work together to protect ourselves from the
    PKK.
        We talked about the need to have better intelligence sharing. In
    order to chase down people who murder people, you need good
    intelligence. And we talked about the need for our military to stay in
    constant contact. To this end, the Prime Minister and I have set up a
    tripartite arrangement, for his number-two man in the military to stay
    in touch with our number-two man and General Petraeus.
        The Prime Minister strongly urged that the United States work with
    leaders in Iraq to cut off money flows to the PKK. The point is, is that
    I made it very clear to the Prime Minister we want to work in a close
    way to deal with this problem.
        We discussed a lot of other issues. I do want to thank Prime
    Minister Erdogan of Turkey for hosting the Neighbors Conference. It was
    a very important conference to help the people of Iraq realize the
    blessings of liberty. Thank you, sir.
        And finally, I briefed the Prime Minister on Secretary Rice's recent phone call with President
    Musharraf. I asked the Secretary to call
    him to convey this message: that we expect there to be elections as soon
    as possible, and that the President should remove his military uniform.
    Previous to his decision, we made it clear that these emergency measures
    were--would undermine democracy. Having said that, I did remind the
    Prime Minister that President Musharraf has been a strong fighter
    against extremists and radicals, that he understands the dangers posed
    by radicals and extremists. After all, they tried to kill him three or
    four times. And our hope is that he will restore democracy as quickly as
    possible.
        And I thank you for your leadership and the strong example your
    country has set. And I've had a chance to personally congratulate you on
    your party's rather significant victory.
        Welcome.
        Prime Minister Erdogan. First of all, I'd like to thank the
    President. I would like to express that I'm very pleased to have this
    opportunity to meet after our brief discussions during the U.N. General
    Assembly.
        The focus of our discussions today was mostly on terrorism,
    international terrorism, and also the PKK and the activities of the PKK
    terrorist organization in northern Iraq. As strategic partners, we are
    fighting jointly against international terrorism in the world.

    [[Page 1428]]

    As part of our joint efforts to combat terrorism, we spoke about what we
    can do against the separatist terrorist organization, which has deployed
    itself in northern Iraq.
        As you know, on the 17th of October, the Turkish parliament
    overwhelmingly--almost every single member of the Turkish parliament--
    gave an authority to our Government--the authority, the mandate, in
    other words, to do a military cross-border incursion, if necessary. This
    is a mandate for a cross-border operation that solely aims the PKK. It
    cannot and it does not cover civilians.
        On this point, of course, we place priority on intelligence sharing.
    It is important to work jointly and in solidarity with our strategic
    partner, the United States, because they have declared the PKK as a
    terrorist organization. And it is important that we fight jointly
    against the leaders, the murderers of this organization.
        We are working not just to fight against terrorism; we're working
    together to establish peace in the world in general. For this, we worked
    together in Somalia and Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo. We are currently
    engaged in a similar effort in Afghanistan. And we are of the opinion
    that it is necessary to continue to work to fight against international
    terrorism. I believe that this is what we must do to achieve peace and
    order in the region. And we have had an opportunity to extensively
    discuss these issues.
        We have had an opportunity to discuss various issues, such as
    dissolving of the terrorist camps, the capture of leaders of the
    terrorist organization, or other steps that may be necessary: cutting
    off logistical support, et cetera. And we believe that it is very
    important for us to work jointly on a diplomatic, political, and
    military level and cooperate.
        It is my wish that this work that we do take up jointly will yield
    results in the shortest time possible because this is also important for
    stability of Iraq itself and stability of northern Iraq, because their
    stability is our stability. And any kind of disorder or difficulty,
    there is also a difficulty, a disorder for us, a problem for us.
        There is a lot of difficulty in the region in general. And I believe
    that it falls to us; it's a responsibility for us as strategic partners
    to work to ensure that we overcome these difficulties and solve them. I
    have also seen that the President and I agree on these points, and I'm
    very happy to see that.
        With respect to Pakistan, it is also our desire to see a return to
    democracy in the shortest time possible. We as Turkey have always been
    against extremism, and we will continue to be against it, because the
    way out never is through extremism. The middle of the road is the
    correct way to go. And therefore, I believe it will be important to make
    sure people follow that path, as opposed to others. And we will share
    our views and opinion in our discussions with our Pakistani colleagues.
        It will also be proper to have the elections take place in Pakistan
    as planned. And I believe that there lies the bright future for the
    country of Pakistan.
        President Bush. Okay, thanks.
        We'll take two questions a side. Jennifer [Jennifer Loven,
    Associated Press]. Hold on a second.

    Pakistan

        Q. Thank you, sir. It was just last week that you said again that
    your administration stands with people who yearn for liberty. How does
    that square with continuing to partner with Pakistan, given what's going
    on now and given that President Musharraf has gone back on promises
    before?
        President Bush. As I said earlier in my statement, that we made it
    clear to the President that we would hope
    he wouldn't have declared the emergency powers he declared. Now that
    he's made that decision, I hope now that he hurry back to elections. And
    at the same time, we want to continue working with him to fight these
    terrorists and extremists who not only have tried to

    [[Page 1429]]

    kill him but have used parts of his country from which to launch attacks
    into Afghanistan and/or are plotting attacks on America.
        You call on who you want. Yes.

    Turkey and Iraq

        Q. Mr. President, what would be your reaction if there would be a
    Turkish operation into northern Iraq?
        President Bush. First of all, I don't like to answer hypothetical
    questions. But I can tell you that we--he asked what would my reaction
    be if there was an attack. Well, that's a hypothetical question. But
    what we did talk about is to make sure that there is good enough
    intelligence so that we can help deal with a common problem, and that
    problem is a terrorist organization called PKK. And we need to know, in
    any of these actions, who they are and where they are in order to make
    any strategy effective.
        And therefore, step one is to make sure that our intelligence
    sharing is good. The problem oftentimes is that faulty intelligence
    means that we can't solve the problem. Good, sound intelligence
    delivered on a real-time basis, using modern technology will make it
    much easier to deal effectively with people who are using murder as a
    weapon to achieve political objectives.
        As I said in my opening statement, the PKK is an enemy of Turkey, a
    free Iraq, and the United States of America. And it's in our joint
    interest to work effectively to deal with the problem.
        Caren [Caren Bohan, Reuters].

    Democracy in Pakistan

        Q. Mr. President, you've called on President Musharraf to restore
    democracy as quickly as possible. What will be the consequences if he
    doesn't take your advice, and how seriously are you weighing a cut in
    U.S. aid?
        President Bush. Once again, it's a hypothetical question. I
    certainly hope he does take my advice and the advice of the Prime
    Minister of Turkey and the advice of a lot of other figures. And so
    that's--all we can do is continue to work with the President, as well as
    others in the Pak Government, to make it abundantly clear the position
    of the United States. And then obviously, we'll deal with it if
    something other than that happens.
        Q. Do you have any leverage though?

    Situation in Northern Iraq

        Q. Mr. President, do we expect any concrete steps from U.S. against
    PKK in northern Iraq, especially in military way?
        President Bush. Well, the first thing that happened was, as a result
    of the Prime Minister's good leadership, Turkish soldiers were released.
    I know this was very much on his mind. I know that because he has
    constantly talked to my Government about seeing if we can't work
    together to get these people released. And the point I bring up is that
    there is at least one effective measure for people in Turkey to see that
    when we work together, we can accomplish important objectives.
        And so it's--again, I repeat to you, it's fine to speculate about
    what may not--what may or may not happen, but nothing can happen until
    you have good intelligence. And we need to know where people are hiding;
    we need to know what they're doing. We believe we can work closely with
    our Turkish allies as well as concerned citizens in Iraq to find that
    kind of intelligence.
        I've assured the Prime Minister that we're working very carefully
    and closely with people in the Kurdish part of Iraq to help deal with
    the movement of these people, to help locate and find and stop the
    leadership of the PKK from continuing doing what they're doing. The
    first step in that direction was the release of the soldiers.
        We understand there's transit issues in airports; we understand that
    there is issues with money. What the Turkish people need to come away
    with from this meeting is that, one, the Prime Minister has impressed

    [[Page 1430]]

    upon me the seriousness of the problem--I understand it; two, he expects
    there to be action, and I agree. And we've taken some steps along those
    lines.
        Thank you very much.
        Q. Mr. President, did you misjudge President Musharraf?

    Note: The President spoke at 2:43 p.m. in the Oval Office at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to General David H. Petraeus, USA,
    commanding general, Multi-National Force--Iraq; and President Pervez
    Musharraf of Pakistan. Prime Minister Erdogan spoke in Turkish, and his
    remarks were translated by an interpreter.