[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 41 (Monday, October 18, 1993)]
[Pages 2076-2082]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's News Conference With Prime Minister Ciller of Turkey

 October 15, 1993

    The President. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. It's a great 
honor for me to welcome Prime Minister Ciller to Washington today. She 
knows our country well from her student days and many subsequent visits. 
And we had a very good first meeting. We agreed to work together to 
strengthen our relationship and to develop an enhanced partnership 
between the United States and Turkey.
    For centuries, Turkey has stood at the crossroads of continents, 
cultures, and historic eras. As the winds of change have shaped both 
East and West, they have often blown across the Anatolian Plateau. That 
is why Turkey has always offered the world such a rich and fascinating 
mixture of peoples, religions, art, and ideas.
    Like our own Nation, Turkey is a shining example to the world of the 
virtues of cultural diversity. And out relationship with Turkey proves 
that diverse peoples, East and West, Muslim, Christian, and Jew, can 
work closely together toward shared goals.
    Since the time 40 years ago when we stood side by side in Korea, 
Turkey has served the cause of freedom as NATO's southern anchor and has 
been a valued ally of the United States. Turkey was a steadfast member 
of the worldwide coalition that drove Saddam Hussein from Kuwait and 
instituted international sanctions against Iraq. And for that, the 
United States remains very grateful. We've all had to pay a price for 
enforcing the will of the international community, and Turkey in that 
regard has certainly done more than its share. And we are grateful for 
its contribution.
    We discussed Turkey's role in helping to play a stabilizing role in 
a host of regional trouble spots, ranging from the former Yugoslavia, 
through the Caucasus, into Central Asia and, of course, toward the 
Southeast where Iraq and Iran both continue to pose problems for peace 
and stability in the world.
    We also discussed the need to work for an end to the tragic conflict 
in Cyprus, which is dividing too many people in too many ways. I am 
committed to preserving and strengthening our Nation's long tradition of 
close cooperation with Turkey.
    Our security ties must remain strong, our friendship and mutual 
commitment as allies unswerving. But the focus of our relationship can 
now shift from a cold-war emphasis on military assistance to an emphasis 
on shared values and greater political economic cooperation, responsive 
to the needs of our own peoples and the changing world.
    Next month the U.S.-Turkish Joint Economic Commission will convene 
to work on revitalizing our economic relationship. And I look forward to 
the results of that effort and to supporting it. The commission will 
guide a process in which private enterprise will increasingly become the 
dynamic focus of our enhanced partnership. As an economist, the Prime 
Minister is ideally suited to lead this endeavor.
    Today, Turkey is on the cutting edge of change once again. Its 
commitment to democracy fulfills the ideals of Ataturk as Turkey enters 
the 21st century. It's reaching out to the new states of Central Asia, 
even as it strengthens its longstanding ties to the West.
    The Prime Minister represents a new generation of leadership in 
Turkish politics at a time when the world needs new leadership for a new 
era. And at a point when our relationship with Turkey is evolving into a 
new enhanced partnership, it is reassuring to me to know that someone is 
at the helm in Turkey who understands the needs of the ordinary citizens 
of that country, their hopes, their aspirations, and is pursuing 
policies that will give them a chance to fulfill their dreams.
    It is, therefore, a great pleasure, once again, to welcome Prime 
Minister Ciller and to present her to you today.
    Madam Prime Minister.
    Prime Minister Ciller. Thank you, Mr. President. I appreciate your 
kind words about my country and about myself.
    President Clinton and I had good talks. I believe there was a 
meeting of minds. And I think it's natural, since we both represent the 
generation of change, both of us want to do things differently and 
better, I hope.
    Turkey and the United States have a lot in common. However, without 
losing my

[[Page 2077]]

sense of dimension, since the United States is a continent and Turkey is 
a country, I must say that both are dynamic societies and, in some ways, 
both constitute a mosaic.
    My visit takes place at a crucial juncture when our globe is 
witnessing sweeping and unprecedented changes. The collapse of communism 
is a victory for democracy and human rights. As representatives of a new 
generation of leadership, I know President Clinton joins me in welcoming 
these changes. Yet we both understand that they bring new uncertainties, 
challenges, responsibilities, and opportunities. Keeping peace is also a 
challenge. It is in this spirit that we have sent a unit to Somalia.
    During our talks, President Clinton and I discussed at length our 
bilateral relations. I stressed to President Clinton that my government 
is strongly determined to develop, diversify, and further strengthen our 
relations to our mutual benefit, in our mutual interest. I am encouraged 
to see that the American side wishes to reciprocate our political will.
    We discussed issues of mutual interest, such as the Middle East, the 
Gulf, the Russian situation, and the Caucasus. And I must say I am 
elated about the breakthrough in Arab-Israeli reconciliation. The United 
States, over a number of years, has shown steadfast leadership. The 
scene at the White House lawn with President Clinton, Mr. Arafat, and 
Mr. Rabin gave hope to everyone who have longed for peace in the region.
    There is still substantial and difficult work ahead. On the other 
hand, the tragic situation in Bosnia and the aggression in Azerbaijan 
continue. Unilateral moves to keep peace, in particular in the Caucasus, 
are not acceptable.
    Turkey, whose geographic position, literally centers her in the ring 
of fires blazing from the Caucasus and the Balkans, serves as a secular 
democratic model for her neighboring countries, seeking to develop 
pluralistic political systems. Likewise, Turkey's secularism acts to 
deflect the rising tide of fundamentalism. We must help consolidate the 
democratization process within the framework of this new era.
    Turkey is totally committed to this process from Central Asia to the 
very heart of the European continent. And I am confident, Mr. President, 
that you will agree that we have the complete support of the United 
States to assist us in this endeavor. In the long run, strengthening 
democracy in my region of the world not only promotes peace and 
stability there but also advances the cause of global peace.
    We in Turkey are naturally happy over the fact that cold war has 
ended. However, we didn't let ourselves be carried away by the euphoria 
of the times, nor did we minimize the attendant risks. Events have 
proved us right. The threat perception in and around Europe has changed. 
But it has changed in different degrees and manners for each of us. I 
believe the world is passing through a truly transitory phase as recent 
events in the former Eastern Europe and in the Caucasus have shown. 
During such times, it is important for the allies to stick together.
    The Atlantic Alliance continues to be valid. We attach importance to 
the transatlantic link and to continued American engagement and 
leadership in global affairs. After all, in the words of President 
Wilson, ``America was best established not to create wealth but to 
realize a vision, an ideal, and maintain liberty among men.''
    Turkey's founding father, Kemal Ataturk, shared that vision. Way 
back in 1923, he explained it in the following words to an American 
journalist, ``The ideal of the United States is our ideal. Our national 
pact, promulgated in January 1920, is precisely like your Declaration of 
Independence.'' I believe that Turkey and the United States can work 
together in many ways to the benefit of not only our two countries but 
to the benefit of all.
    I would like to conclude by thanking President Clinton for the 
hospitality shown to us during this visit and by expressing my 
satisfaction with our comprehensive and very promising discussions for a 
more peaceful world.
    The President. Helen [Helen Thomas, United Press International].

Presidential Prerogatives

    Q. Mr. President, aren't you weakening the Presidential power by 
committing Congress to set a cutoff date on a foreign policy

[[Page 2078]]

mission, and also to cut off funding? I mean, doesn't this lead to 
future problems?
    The President. In this case, I don't think so, because it's clear 
that the United States' mission in Somalia--when it was announced by 
President Bush, the American people were told it might well be over in 
January, just a matter of a couple of months. It's gone on for a long 
time now. What I asked the Congress to do was to express itself without 
unduly tying my hands. And I had set a deadline of March the 31st.
    The resolution adopted by the Senate last night prescribes that 
date, but also says if there are problems, the President can come back 
and ask for an extension. So under these circumstances, given the unique 
and traumatic events of the last several days for America, I don't have 
a problem with the resolution. I was gratified by the margin by which it 
passed.
    I do caution the American people and the Congress from becoming too 
isolationist on economic or political fronts. This is a time period, as 
I have said to you before I think, that is something like the time our 
country faced at the end of the Second World War, when the country was 
weary, we had paid an enormous price, and we wanted to get back to the 
problems at home. Today we paid an enormous price, trillions of dollars, 
for the victory in the cold war. We know that as the threat of nuclear 
war recedes and we remain the only country in the world with a major 
army, our immediate physical security is not so much threatened by other 
nations, but we have to have a sense of where our national interests are 
and where our values take us.
    And I strongly believe that the mission in Somalia helps to build 
the notion that nations working together can promote peace and freedom 
and can reach across religious and racial lines to build the kind of 
common conditions of humanity that we should be supporting.
    Turkey has supported us in that. General Bir is the United Nations 
Commander. The Prime Minister and I had--perhaps I won't embarrass her 
by saying this--we had a very candid conversation at lunch in which she 
said the Turkish people ask the same questions of the Turkish--why the 
Turkish soldiers are still in Somalia--that the American people ask, and 
we understand that. So the answer to your question is, the exact wording 
of the resolution, which was carefully worked out--and I thank Senator 
Byrd and Senator Dole and Senator Mitchell and Senator Warner, Senator 
Nunn, and all those who worked on it--does not give me pause about the 
erosion of executive authority. What would give me pause is sort of a 
headlong rush into an isolationist position that the United States might 
live to regret.
    Yes, Brit [Brit Hume, ABC News].

Somalia

    Q. Mr. President, may we take it from what you've said and not said 
over the past week that there will be no consequences for anyone in your 
military chain of command as a result of the firefight that led 
ultimately to the loss of 17 American lives in Mogadishu?
    The President. I think that when young Americans are in peril, 
ultimately the President has to bear that responsibility. The President 
is the Commander in Chief. And even if the decisions are made down the 
line somewhere, if they are made in good faith within a span of 
authority granted to a commander, when people are at risk, it sometimes 
doesn't work out. And I know of no reason why anyone but me should bear 
the responsibility for that. If I were to find out someone had disobeyed 
orders or displayed flagrant incompetence, that would perhaps be a 
different thing. I have no reason to believe that that occurred.
    I have said to you many times--I said before the incident in 
Mogadishu that I thought the United Nations had erred, and the United 
States had not pushed them hard enough in resuming the political process 
even while we were attempting to discover who was responsible for 
killing the Pakistani soldiers. I still believe that.
    Anyone from the Turkish press? We'll take a couple of questions from 
you, too.

Turkey

    Q. Mr. President, is the United States inclined to help Turkey for 
the losses suffered over the U.N. sanctions in Iraq, and in what way?
    The President. Well, the Prime Minister and I discussed that today 
because--and I

[[Page 2079]]

guess I should say for the benefit of the American press something the 
press knows, but the American people should be reminded of--we could not 
have conducted the successful operation in the Gulf war, and we 
certainly could not have conducted Operation Provide Comfort to save the 
Kurds in northern Iraq, had it not been for the indispensable support of 
Turkey and the support of Turkey not only for Operation Provide Comfort 
but for the embargo on Iraq. They have paid a significant economic 
price.
    We discussed today some ideas for helping Turkey in that regard, 
some of which did not involve the direct outlay of tax dollars or the 
transfer from one government to another. We agreed there would be 
further discussions between our people today and perhaps tomorrow. And I 
think if we reach an understanding, I should let the Prime Minister 
announce it at the appropriate time if we can work it out. But we're 
going to have a very serious dialog about that in an attempt to 
recognize the significant price that Turkey has paid for supporting not 
only the United States but the world's policies in this regard.
    Q. Is the U.S. giving enough support to Turkey's fights against 
international terrorism threatening its territorial integrity? What is 
the joint policy toward countries supporting PKK's terrorism?
    The President. To both of us, right? Well, that question has become 
far more immediate and important to the United States just in the last 
24 hours as an American citizen has been taken hostage by the PKK. I 
guess I should start by restating our country's policies: We don't 
bargain or negotiate with terrorists. And we intend to work with Turkey. 
It's not fair for us to do, as we've done in the past, to urge Turkey to 
not only be a democratic country but to recognize human rights and then 
not to help the Government of Turkey deal with terrorism within its own 
borders. And so we discussed some ways today that we might cooperate 
further, and I think you will see some more cooperation between our two 
nations on this front.
    Q. Actually, I had a question for the Prime Minister.
    The President. Good. The more, the merrier.

Somalia

    Q. As someone who has troops stationed in Somalia, does it concern 
you at all that the United States is now so committed to withdrawing on 
March 31st? Does it place you in a difficult position?
    Prime Minister Ciller. Well, as Mr. President pointed out, we had a 
very candid conversation on that. And I pointed out to Mr. President 
that our people have concern over the issue as well. But if peace is to 
be maintained and if we will pursue the kind of cooperation we have 
shown in history, we should be acting together. And in that spirit and 
in the belief that this will help peace, we sent troops to Somalia. And 
we intend to have a peaceful solution there, and we hope to support that 
with that belief.
    It is true that my people are concerned over the issue for one more 
reason. They feel that if our troops are in Somalia, then why aren't 
they in Azerbaijan as well? Why aren't we acting together in Azerbaijan 
where there is Armenian invasion? Of course, these are things that we 
further discussed, and there are ways of cooperation on this as well. 
And I feel that we should act together on all grounds and try to have a 
peaceful solution for the world in general.
    Q. Are you thinking about withdrawing your troops around the same 
time as the U.S.?
    Prime Minister Ciller. We haven't discussed the details on that 
during our conversation. As I said, the troops are there for the making 
of peace. And the sooner we make peace, the sooner we will be out of 
that. I know that the Congress has a firm date on that, as of yesterday. 
But it is not something that we have taken up in my country as of yet.
    The President. Let me also remind you of one thing about this. The 
United States went there, as I said, with some people representing that 
we might even be through within a couple of months, on a humanitarian 
mission. The United Nations has decided to adopt the humanitarian 
mission and to try to help keep peace alive to avoid reverting to the 
conditions that existed before we went there.
    That was inevitable and altogether laudable. But there are many 
other things that

[[Page 2080]]

have to be done in the world. And the United States will have borne the 
great mass of that burden. And if we stay through March--we may be able 
to finish our mission before then, but if we stay all the way, we will 
have stayed from December of '92 through the end of March of '94, much, 
much longer than anyone expected us to stay in the beginning, adopting a 
mission that is somewhat broader than the one we undertook in the 
beginning. And I think it will make it easier if there needs to be a 
smaller and less militarily oriented United Nations force continuing to 
work in a peace process. I think it will be easier, not more difficult, 
to do.
    So this is not calling a halt to the international operation itself 
or to the end of our involvement in global affairs, but simply to say 
that to stay a year and 3 months, 4 months, on a mission that was 
originally touted as perhaps as short as 2 months is quite a long time 
and enough in terms of the contribution that we have made in this area. 
So that among other things, we'll be free to fulfill our 
responsibilities in other parts of the world.
    Q. Mr. President, in the last couple of days President Bush, 
Secretary Cheney, former Secretary Baker have all criticized this 
administration's handling of the Somalia policy, from a lot of different 
angles, from naivete to mission creep; that they said we just went there 
to feed people, and that's what we should have done. I'm curious, what 
is your reaction to that criticism, and do you draw the lesson from your 
own experience in Somalia that maybe there really is no such thing as 
pure humanitarian intervention, that some level of political authority 
building or nation building is almost by definition necessary in any of 
these missions?
    The President. First of all, I think it would be inappropriate for 
me to react to what they said. I will say this. It may have been naive 
for anyone to seriously assert in the beginning that you could go into a 
situation as politically and militarily charged as that one, give people 
food, turn around and leave, and expect everything to be hunky dory.
    We tried to limit our mission by turning it over to the United 
Nations. We recognized that in turning it over to the United Nations we 
would have to stay a little while longer while the United Nations sought 
to bring in others to replace us, so that the feeding and the calmness 
of life that does pervade almost all of Somalia could continue. And what 
happened was, after the Pakistani soldiers were killed and the U.N. 
passed the resolution saying that someone ought to be held accountable, 
at the moment the United States was the only country capable of serving 
the police function.
    You can say, ``Well, we should have simply refused to do that and 
said that was someone else's problem.'' Then the question would have 
become, ``Well, what kind of a friend is the United States?'' The 
Pakistanis were there shoulder to shoulder with us; they were ready to 
put themselves in harm's way, just as we were. Should we walk away just 
because it was them that got killed instead of us? This was not an easy 
question.
    The error that was made, for which I think all of the parties must 
take responsibility, including the United States, was that when the 
police function was undertaken, the U.N. mission lowered the political 
dialog so that the people that were involved over there in Mogadishu 
thought, ``This is not police officers,'' to use an American analogy, 
``this is not police officers arresting suspects in a crime. This is a 
military operation designed to take a group out of a dialog about the 
political future of Somalia.'' We never intended that.
    And that's where the U.N. mission went awry. And that's where if 
there was a mission creep, it happened there, and we did not contain it 
quickly enough. I thought I had done so at my speech to the United 
Nations. I did my best there. So I think that, if we're going to analyze 
the error, it seems to me that was where the error occurred.
    And I think we learned a very valuable lesson there. The United 
States should avoid whenever possible being the police officer because 
it raises all these superpower military, all these other questions--and 
in any case, we can't go into any sort of situation like this ever and 
allow the political dialog to collapse, because in the end, all these 
folks, not just in Somalia but everywhere else in the world, ultimately 
have to resolve their own problems and take responsibility for their own 
destiny. So that's the way I would

[[Page 2081]]

characterize what has happened and what I think we have learned.
    And in fairness, I think we ought to give another question or two to 
the Turkish journalists who are here.

Cyprus

    Q. To which extent, Mr. President--to both of you--did you discuss 
the Cyprus issue? To which extent?
    The President. Yes, we discussed the Cyprus issue, and I would like 
to compliment the Prime Minister. I was encouraged. As I think you 
probably know, this has been an important issue to me for some time. The 
Prime Minister expressed her strong support for having the elections in 
northern Cyprus by the end of November and for resuming a dialog on 
confidence-building measures and her hope that she would have a 
constructive relationship with the new Government in Greece. And I think 
for a Turkish Prime Minister, that's about all I could ask right now. I 
was very impressed with what she said, and I look forward to our common 
efforts to try to resolve this in the near future.
    Perhaps she would like to say something about it.
    Prime Minister Ciller. Would you want me to comment on that further?
    Q. Yes, please.
    Prime Minister Ciller. Well, as I am having the 50th government and 
as a new Prime Minister, I feel that a solution in Cyprus should be 
found and as soon as possible. We feel that there are two communities 
there that need to come together. Maybe a new methodology can be 
searched for as well. But the fact remains that a solution should be 
found there at a time when other crises are emerging elsewhere in the 
part of the geography.
    I was very happy to find out about what happened between Israel and 
Palestine. And I have to congratulate the leadership that was shown by 
the President and the United States throughout the history for that. But 
we are dedicated to finding a solution in Cyprus; very much so.
    The only thing that might be of a retardance in that is using of 
this variable in domestic politics. I think we should not let that 
happen. We should not let that happen in Cyrus. We should not let that 
happen in Turkey. We should not let that happen in Greece, as well.

Russia

    Q. Mr. President, on the way flying here, our Prime Minister said 
she has some concerns about Russian advances in the Caucasus, especially 
in Georgia and Azerbaijan, and that this could lead to a trend of new 
Russian expansionism. Do you share this concern?
    The President. Well, I think Russia is like most other large 
countries with several million people, there are different currents and 
different views there. But let me say this: I believe that President 
Yeltsin does not want an imperialist Russia. I think President Yeltsin 
wants a Russia that can rebuild itself from within, economically.
    As you know, in the conflict in Georgia over the last year there was 
all sorts of ambivalence and mixed signals from the Russian army 
stationed there, notwithstanding the position of President Yeltsin at 
times when the span of control seemed in question.
    In terms of Azerbaijan, I think the Prime Minister has made a very 
important point, that the Russians should, of course, be involved in the 
resolution of that crisis, but that for the people to feel good about it 
within the country and Nagorno-Karabakh and beyond, they can't do it 
alone. Someone else should be involved also in some form or fashion. 
That's why the United States has strongly supported the so-called Minsk 
process, in the hope that we won't have an exclusive solution by anyone 
but that there can be a shared sense of responsibility there.
    Thank you very much. Thank you.
    Prime Minister Ciller. Thank you. And I have to thank Mr. President 
one more time for wearing the Turkish manufactured tie. Good sign of 
cooperation. [Laughter]
    The President. That's right. This is my gift from the Prime Minister 
today, so I thought I should wear it.
    Prime Minister Ciller. My people will be proud. Thank you very much 
again.
    The President. Thank you very much.

Note: The President's 29th news conference began at 1:48 p.m. in the 
East Room at the White

[[Page 2082]]

House. In his remarks, he referred to the PKK, the Kurdish communist 
party.