[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 41, Number 23 (Monday, June 13, 2005)]
[Pages 955-956]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Following Discussions With Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan 
of Turkey

June 8, 2005

    President Bush. Mr. Prime Minister, welcome to the Oval Office. 
We've had an extensive visit about a lot of issues, and the reason why 
is because Turkey and the United States has an important strategic 
relationship. I told the Prime Minister how grateful I was that he was 
a--is a strong supporter of the broader Middle Eastern initiative. 
Turkey's democracy is an important example for the people in the broader 
Middle East, and I want to thank you for your leadership.
    Along these lines, I thanked the Prime Minister for Turkey's 
leadership role in Afghanistan. I was most impressed by his report from 
his trip to Afghanistan and his deep concern for the conditions of the 
people there and his desire to work with the United States and NATO 
countries to help improve the lives of the children, for example, in 
Afghanistan.
    We discussed a lot of foreign policy and shared interests between 
our countries. And one of the most important foreign policy initiatives 
of my administration--and I know the Prime Minister shares the same 
desire--is to work with the Palestinians so they can have their own 
state, their own democracy, living side by side in peace with Israel.
    And finally, we discussed the domestic issues. We discussed our 
economies, and the Prime Minister reminded me that the--in his judgment, 
Turkey is a good place for U.S.

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investment. I listened very carefully to what he had to say, but we 
spent--all in all, it was a very rich and important discussion.
    Mr. Prime Minister, thank you for coming.
    Prime Minister Erdogan. Thank you, Mr. President. In our meeting 
with the President, we discussed and evaluated the political partnership 
that we have with the United States, and we looked into the future with 
regard to our relations. I can summarize the main titles of our 
discussion as freedom, democracy, rule of law, fight against terrorism, 
security, and human rights.
    We also had an opportunity to talk about the broader Middle East 
initiative, with regard to regional developments. We also discussed the 
Cyprus issue. And we were able to discuss with some depth the issues 
with regard to Israel, Palestine, the situation in Iraq, Afghanistan.
    We discussed and I'm confident that we will continue to have the 
same kind of solidarity we've had in Turkish-U.S. relations in the past, 
in the future as well.
    I also mentioned to the President that Turkey is open to any new 
investment as a country now of stability and security. And we were very 
happy to see that the President agreed that he had a positive view on 
investments.
    And we're happy that we were able to confirm that our strategic 
relationship will move and will take place in the future, as it has been 
done in the past.
    Thank you.
    President Bush. Thank you, sir. Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 11:25 a.m. in the Oval Office at the White 
House. Prime Minister Erdogan spoke in Turkish, and his remarks were 
translated by an interpreter.