USIA - Text: Pelletreau Remarks at Turkish Foreign Ministry, 96-11-01

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TEXT: PELLETREAU REMARKS AT TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTRY NOV. 1

(Cites Turkey for working with US/UK on Northern Iraq) (750)

"We all realize," Pelletreau said November 1, "that when Turkey and the United Kingdom and the United States cooperate toward the goal of achieving a peace and a restabilization of the situation in northern Iraq, we can accomplish more together than any of us could accomplish separately."

The State Department official said that "what we came out with was a blueprint for what needs to happen now to consolidate the cease fire and move on to political reconciliation, which should lead to a real stabilization of the North."

It was also significant, he said, that "we all agreed that we want northern Iraq to be a place that is free of terrorism, free of terrorism against the people of northern Iraq or against any of its neighbors. And we agreed that we are going to cooperate closely together in that regard."

Following is the official text:

(begin text)

ASSISTANT SECRETARY PELLETREAU'S REMARKS AT THE TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTRY

ANKARA, NOVEMBER 1, 1996

We had two days of productive talks. They were at times very frank. They went into a lot of depth and detail on the issues that we needed to discuss. And what we came out with was a blueprint for what needs to happen now to consolidate the cease fire and move on to political reconciliation, which should lead to a real stabilization of the North. It was natural that we focused on the cease fire and how to maintain and strengthen it, how to restore civilian services, how to demarcate the actual cease fire line, and how to organize and put in place a monitoring force in which our Turkoman colleagues are going to play an important role.

It was also significant that we all agreed that we want northern Iraq to be a place that is free of terrorism, free of terrorism against the people of northern Iraq or against any of its neighbors. And we agreed that we are going to cooperate closely together in that regard. We did not discuss as much as we need to the aspects of political reconciliation, such as establishing a temporary local administration, and working out a sharing of customs revenues. Those things need to be discussed more in the future, and they will be part of the agenda for our future meetings. But we did make important progress. Everything we did, as you correctly pointed out, falls within the framework of respect for the unity and the territorial integrity of Iraq. And everything we did was pointed toward the restabilization of the situation in northern Iraq, which is so important to establishing the ground for early implementation of Resolution 986.

Let me pay special tribute to the role of Turkey as host of these talks. We all very much appreciated the facilities made available for our use, and we appreciated the leadership and guidance of Ambassador Oymen. We all realize that when Turkey and the United Kingdom and the United States cooperate toward the goal of achieving a peace and a restabilization of the situation in northern Iraq, we can accomplish more together than any of us could accomplish separately.

I want also to say to our Kurdish colleagues who came and participated in good faith in these sessions, that it is important that you do your utmost to work to preserve this cease fire, to put into effect the different steps that we have now agreed on, and, as you are willing to do that, I want to say that the United States is willing to continue to work with you for the benefit of your people. Thank you very much.

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