For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
June 8, 2005
President Welcomes Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan to the White House
The Oval Office
11:25 A.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: 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. 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 and he had a positive view
on investments.
And we're happy that we were able to confirm that our strategic
relationship will move and take place in the future, as it has been
done in the past.
Thank you.
PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you, sir. Thank you.
END 11:31 A.M. EDT
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