Turkey conf live-blog #1

First substantial speaker up is Omer Celik. He’s speaking in Turkish, very rapidly.
Translation:
I was asked as I came what is purpose of visit to DC. I said it is not to soften or harden anyone’s views but only to explain Turkey’s position.
As the person in AK Party who’s in charge of foreign policy, I want to talk abt recent events w/ Israel and UN vote on Iran sanctions.
First, the hardening of Isr-Turkey relns dates back to Israeli op agt Gaza.

PM Olmert and PM Erdogan were working on the Israeli-Syria diplomacy; and in last meeting they reach agreement on 99% of outstanding issues, and Olmert was in Ankara for that. Then Olmert said he needed to go back to Israel to work on last small couple issues. We never heard back from him but heard only the Gaza operation was launched…
Recently in the international waters, a civilian humanitarian ship that was carrying people from different countries; it was attacked and nine people including a US citizen of Turkish origin were killed.
This is one of the most tragic incidents of Turkish history. Throughout the long years of the Cold War we were opposed to the Soviet Union but they never harmed us. And now a country that we’ve long been friends with has killed nine of our citizens and actually persecuted one of them.
In our talks here, we gather that some people were questioning identities and motives of those on the ship… Our expectation from Israel is that it should issue an apology to Turkey and shd support the establishment of an international commission under the auspices of the UN Secretary-General.
If the Israeli side don’t meet our requirements then our relations will further deteriorate. The commission the Israelis have announced has no credibility. The support that some of our NATO allies, alongside whom our soldiers risk their lives, have given to the Israeli commission has been disappointing.
Our position is not due to opposition to the Israeli state, or to anti-Semitism. We unreservedly support Israel’s right to exist. We think Turkey’s support for Israel is important for both countries.
I’ve been present at meetings our PM has had with PM’s Sharon and Olmert and seen that relations were good.
However, since the Gaza operation we’ve seen the Israeli government doing its best to derail our bilateral relationship.
To my American friends who urge us to surmount this crisis, we say we have heard your advice but have you also given similar advice to the Israeli side? And they say not yet.
Our expectation from the administration here is to support a credible and impartial international investigation which will meet the needs of the Turkish people.
Given the possible events from Iraq to Lebanon Turkish-Israeli relationship should be productive but instead it looks like two Formula One cars heading for a crash.
Our American friends ask us do we know the consequences of losing our relationship with Israel and we ask them do they know the consequences for Israel of losing its relationship with Turkey?
We need the support of the US in surmounting this crisis and in supporting the establishment of the independent international commission.
And now a few words about the Security Council and sanctions issue.
First, though, I’ll note that these are two quite separate issues.
Turkey received an invitation from the west to take part in the nuclear negotiations with the Iranian side. Since the western community cannot deal directly with Iran, they asked Turkey to help and Turkey gladly accepted.
As a result, Turkey and Brazil both persuaded Iran to engage in unprecedented serious negotiations on nuclear issues. I’m sure most of you know the details and the substance of this deal, which was about the transfer of enriched uranium for one year and certain provisions about Iran’s inspections regime.
The objective of preventing Iran getting nuclear weapons is a joint interest of Turkey and the US. We are categorically opposed to Iran getting nuclear weapons. But we are also opposed to anyone in the region having a nuclear weapon…
There have now been four sanctions packages at the UN against Iran. The first three were not successful. This fourth one was a softer version that took the interests of China and Russia into account. So imagine a scenario where an Iranian ship sails into the Persian Gulf and there are allegations against its cargo and a Gulf country is asked to board the ship and check the allegations. Can you imagine the result?
The reason we voted no in the Security Council was to ensure the continuation of negotiations between Iran and the western world.
There were those who presented the No vote as if Turkey was turning its back on the west or sliding to the east, but nothing could be further from the truth.
With its vote, Turkey declared that the Tehran deal is still on the table. If Turkey hadn’t voted like that, we might have seen very unfavorable developments in Iraq or in Lebanon. If there is a hot conflict between Iran and the west, then Iraq will destabilize and probably the government of Lebanon will slide into instability and we’ll see more instability throughout the region.
By casting a No vote Turkey helped prevent these possible instabilities and shored up the chances for stability in the Middle East, an interest that it shares with the US.
After a short while, I believe that the meaning of Turkey’s No vote and its impact on our shared interests in the Middle East will be well understood. Just yesterday the ambassadors of US, France, and Germany visited our Foreign Ministry in Ankara and they said Turkey’s efforts were appreciated.
Let me make this analogy. In the past when we reached out to make good relations with Syria, we received similar criticisms from the west… but we continued our outreach to Syria and we always told the Syrians to adhere to the desires of the international community and look now the US is returning an ambassador to Syria.
Now, sadly I have to stop
[End of Celik presentation]