Middle East Digest: October 17, 2007

Bureau of Public Affairs
October 17, 2007

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The Middle East Digest provides text and audio from the Daily Press Briefing. For the full briefings, please visit http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/

From the Daily Briefing of October 17, 2007

QUESTION: Can I have a reaction to the vote in Turkish parliament?

MR. CASEY: Well, I think the President addressed that, in part. Understand that this vote has taken place. I would note that many Turkish officials, including senior leadership, have indicated that this vote does not mean that action will be taken. We certainly continue to urge Turkish authorities to exercise restraint in terms of their response to what is a common problem of PKK terrorism in Northern Iraq. We do not want to see any unilateral military steps taken, because we don't believe that that will solve the problem. In fact, we believe it will make it harder to ultimately deal with the threats and challenges posed.

We'll certainly continue to talk with the Turkish Government and with Turkish officials, as we move forward in the days ahead. I would note, as well as the President did, that Iraqi Vice President Al-Hashimi has been and I believe continues to be in Turkey to have discussions with Turkish officials on this issue. That's important because again the real way to resolve this is through dialogue between the Turks and the Iraqis and in development of a collective and common approach to this problem. And it is a problem not only for the Turks, but it is a problem, an acknowledged problem by the Iraqis and certainly it's a concern for us, too, because we do consider the PKK a terrorist organization.

QUESTION: Can you give an update on specific diplomatic activities, specific calls? Has the Secretary made any calls?

MR. CASEY: Well, there are a few things that are out there. The Secretary, as you know, is on travel and she's not made any additional calls to Turkish officials on this issue. I do know that our Ambassador Ross Wilson has been actively engaged with authorities there in Ankara. Nick Burns remains in contact with the Turkish Ambassador as well as other officials. And certainly I know Ambassador Fried -- Dan Fried, our Assistant Secretary for European Affairs -- is also continuing his engagement.

Although, same officials as well have been working on a related issue, which is to talk to staff members and members of Congress about our concerns and our continued opposition to the resolution that recently passed the committee in the House. We want to make clear to members of Congress that this resolution is one that is not going to serve the purposes of Turkish-Armenian reconciliation. It's not going to serve U.S. national interests and, in fact, stands a good risk of harming our bilateral relations with a country that is a friend and ally and is vital to our military's efforts in Iraq and elsewhere.

I'm pleased to note and we're pleased to note over the last 24 hours that there have been a number of members of Congress who have now come out and publicly stated that they've changed their view and will no longer be supporting this resolution. Certainly, we would hope that trend would continue. And again, we're committed to doing what we can to work with members of Congress to see that this resolution's ultimately defeated.

Follow up or?

QUESTION: Different subject.

MR. CASEY: Sure.

QUESTION: I think you touched on this yesterday. I apologize. But Libya and its seat on the Security Council, can you give me the official U.S. line on that?

MR. CASEY: Well, first of all, we welcome the election of all the new members of the Council. I believe that is Libya, Burkina Faso, Croatia and Costa Rica. These are, of course, the rotating non-permanent seats on the Council. We would hope to be able to work with all those countries in the coming two years on the many issues that the Council's going to have to face. And there are some big issues that the Council will be dealing with, from Iran's nuclear program to efforts at achieving peace in Darfur to a wide stretch of issues related to the Middle East that the Council tends to deal with. With specific reference to Libya, I do know that there have been some concerns raised by a number of individuals who are representing or are family members of those who have been victims of the terrible history of support for terrorism in the past that Libya's engaged in. We have made it clear to them and to the Libyan Government that resolving those outstanding claims and those issues remains a primary part of our bilateral relations with Libya and it's something that we raised with the Libyans on a regular basis and will continue to do so. Believe it's important to ultimately achieve a equitable solution to those concerns.

QUESTION: Any updates on prospects of a Rice visit to Libya?

MR. CASEY: Don't have anything new for you.

Charlie, did you have something?

QUESTION: I know you spoke about it earlier, but could you speak on camera, giving us an update on the Pat Kennedy review, the whereabouts of his team and what you may expect in the coming days?

MR. CASEY: Sure, let me talk a little bit about it. As you know, and this is in relation to the issue of personal security contractors in Iraq, we have three active processes underway.

The first is a FBI-led, State Department-supported investigation in Baghdad into the incident of October 16th.

The second is a U.S.-Iraqi joint commission which is looking at the broader issue of how we and the Iraqis can come to a common understanding of the operations of personal security details and contractors in Iraq. That body has met, I believe, on two occasions in its full components, eight members on each side led by our Deputy Chief of Mission in Baghdad from the American side. They've also had a number of other working sessions with other officials as well, and I expect that work to continue.

The third piece, of course, is Patrick Kennedy, now our nominee for Under Secretary for Management, senior-level review into the broader question of how we protect our diplomats in Iraq. I think the fundamental reason for this is everyone understands that our diplomats play a critical role in helping advance our national security objectives in Iraq. We need to make sure that they can do their job and do their job safely. But what Pat and his group is looking at, of course, is the full range of how we provide for their protection to look and see if now, three years after Embassy Baghdad was formally established, we might need to make some adjustments to those policies.

Pat and his group have now finished their time in Iraq and Pat himself has now returned to Washington. The other members of the team, I believe, if not here yet, are en route. They will be continuing, as I understand it, to work on their review and recommendations here in Washington for a little while longer, and then when they're ready will present their review and recommendations to the Secretary. I don't have a specific time when that will occur, though I would expect it would happen in the not-too-distant future. The Secretary has instructed that this review be completed as quickly as possible, and I'm sure she'll be very interested once she gets back from her travel and hearing from Pat and the other members of the committee.

Thank you.