Statements by U.S. Officials

Attorney General Michael Mukasey’s Remarks to the Press Prior to his Departure at Esenboga Airport, Ankara

February 15, 2008

A/G Mukasey:           Good afternoon.  I’m pleased to be here in Ankara.  During my visit I met with Minister of Justice Sahin and Minister of Interior Atalay to discuss some of the important issues that bind our two nations.  Turkey is a strong partner and a friend of the U.S.  And I’m here to express our appreciation for that. 

First and for most, our friendship has shown our joint commitment to fighting terrorists and I want to thank Turkey and its brave professionals for their cooperation and those efforts. 

When they met in November of last year, President Bush and Prime Minister Erdogan pledged to increase our military cooperation and intelligence sharing to counter the terrorist threat Turkey faces from the PKK and the resulting threat to stability in Iraq.  That cooperation has been active and successful and it continues.  We’re working together in a variety of ways in Iraq, in Europe and here in Turkey to reduce and eventually eliminate the PKK threat.

Like other terrorist challenges we face, this is a complex problem.  There’s not one simple answer.  But I’m here to offer the continuing cooperation of our U.S. law enforcement and prosecutors and to let you know that the U.S. is committed to standing side by side with Turkey to meet this challenge. 

Turkey has seen a rise in Al-Qaeda activity, as seen in the fatal Istanbul bombings in 2003.  The recent investigations and arrests in Gaziantep resulted in a tragic loss of life, the life of police officer Ahmet Kandil.  We will work together to ensure that Al-Qaeda does not find harbor in Turkey or the U.S. or anywhere else that our laws can reach. 

Our two countries can maintain and expand our collaboration on this and other judicial and law enforcement matters.  The strength of our laws and the police, prosecutors and judges who implement them are some of our best tools.  The talks we’ve had today have been productive.  I look forward to continuing to explore ways to strengthen our partnership.  Thank you very much.

Q:        Do you plan to take action to extradite PKK leaders from northern Iraq to Turkey?

A/G Mukasey:           We’ve discussed ways of fighting the PKK and our two governments have agreed to cooperate fully in fighting the PKK and other terrorist organizations. 

Q:        Some diplomatic sources said you will talk about the financial assets of people related to Al-Qaeda in Turkey. Was this on your agenda?

A/G Mukasey:           We discussed a broad range of ways to cooperate against Al-Qaeda as well against the PKK.  And this has been a long standing relationship with Turkey in law enforcement.  We discussed ways, all ways, of building on it including anti-terrorism efforts, including anti-drug efforts, efforts against organized crime, cyber crime and other matters relating to law enforcement.  Thank you.