US President George W. Bush pledged yesterday that he will fight for Turkey to become a member of the EU, and praised the country as a Moslem nation which embraces democracy and the rule of law.
He held out Turkey as a model for the Middle East as he met with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the start of an official visit to Turkey a day before a summit in Istanbul of the 26-member NATO alliance.
Bush's first-ever visit to Turkey is officially meant to examine ways to strengthen NATO, but he is also using it to bolster the US relationship with Turkey, a key ally in the region and in the campaign against terrorism.
Turks overwhelmingly opposed the war in Iraq and Bush is widely unpopular. His arrival in Ankara was preceded by a series of protests and bomb blasts, including one on Thursday that injured three people outside the hotel where he is staying and one that killed four people and injured 14 others on a bus.
There was no mention during Bush's visit of the Turkish parliament's rejection last year of a US request to let US troops use Turkish bases as a staging point to invade Iraq from the north.
Instead, Bush emphasized his support for Turkey's bid for admission to the EU.
"I will remind people of this good country that I believe you ought to be given a date by the EU for your eventual acceptance into the EU," he said.
"I appreciate so very much the example your country has set on how to be a Moslem country and at the same time a country which embraces democracy and rule of law and freedom," Bush said.
Bush is hoping his talks with Turkish leaders will smooth the US partnership with the only Moslem nation in the Western alliance.
Distrust of US policy in Iraq reaches from the streets to the halls of government. Politicians here worry that if the new government in Baghdad collapses it will destabilize Iraq, Turkey's neighbor.
At the NATO summit, Bush hopes the alliance will formally agree to train Iraqi security forces.
NATO nations tentatively agreed on Saturday to respond to interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's urgent request for military training and equipment. The agreement is expected to be finalized at the summit. The meeting ends tomorrow, a day before the transfer of political power in Iraq.
"Every indication I have now is that NATO is coming together to say that they would be willing to provide police and military training to Iraqi forces," US Secretary of State Colin Powell said on CNN.
In Istanbul, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said yesterday that the NATO mission to train Iraqi forces would involve alliance instructors working both inside and outside the country. However, he told reporters it was too early to say how many NATO military personnel would be going to Iraq or when they would be deployed.
The NATO offer would be a boost for the US, which has sought a wider role by the alliance in Iraq. However, it falls short of earlier US hopes that NATO would deploy troops to help restore order there. Sixteen of the 26 NATO members have individually sent forces to help the US-led coalition.
"NATO has the capability -- and I believe the responsibility -- to help the Iraqi people defeat the terrorist threat that's facing their country," Bush said on Saturday after a US-EU summit in Ireland.
"I hope NATO responds in a positive way because the ultimate success inside of Iraq is going to depend on the ability of the Iraqi citizens to defend themselves," he said.
After Bush's third meeting of the year with Erdogan, he sat down with Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer.
Bush was to fly to Istanbul later in the day to meet with religious leaders and de Hoop Scheffer, and then attend a dinner with leaders in the alliance.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from