Secretary visits France, Turkey, Greece, and Italy

US Department of State Bulletin, June, 1986

Secretary Visits France, Turkey, Greece, and Italy

Secretary Shultz departed Washington, D.C., March 20, 1986, to visit Paris (March 21-22), Istanbul (March 22-24), Ankara (March 24-25), Athens (March 25-28), and Rome (March 28-30). He returned to Washington on March 30.

Following are toasts and opening statements from news conferences made on various occasions during the trip.

DINNER TOAST, ANKARA, MAR. 24, 1986(1)

We last dined together only a little over a year ago, Mr. Prime Minister [Turgut Ozal] during your very successful visit to the United States. We have a saying about visits like that: You took the town by storm. That's the way it is said. Everybody in my country [inaudible]. You came as the representative of one of our most important allies, as the leader of a dynamic country committed to democracy, to an open economy, and to the defensive alliance of free nations united in NATO. Your keen intellect and enthusiasm greatly impressed official Washington, and Americans learned much about Turkey through your visit.

The 3 days we have just spent in Turkey confirm what you told us last year. The treasures of your past, which we saw in Istanbul, helped me to understand the magnificent heritage that inspires Turkey today. We have met a warm and hospitable people who clearly value our friendship. We have seen for ourselves the dynamism of the Turkish business community. We have seen evidence of the Turkish people's determination to improve their lives through hard work and the competition of the marketplace. Sailing up the Bosphorus, that historic, strategic crossroad, and looking north to the Black Sea, I gained a special appreciation of Turkey's unique position on the front line of NATO's defense.

Shared democratic ideals, and the determination to defend those ideals, are the very foundation of Turkish-American friendship. Since 1947, we have pledged our support to one another against assault from those who oppose the democratic way of life. Turkey joined us in NATO, and in Korea, because you recognized the danger to yourselves and to your friends and knew that none of us could oppose totalitarianism alone. That common threat still exists, and we need one another today as we needed one another then.

The United States gives high priority to its security relationship with Turkey. Since 1980, we have provided Turkey over $3 billion in military assistance, in addition to substantial equipment and technology transfers. We are committed to continuing high levels of assistance, for we know that in helping you to be strong, we are strengthening our own security as well.

Prime Minister Ozal, you said at Davos last year that true democracy is not possible without freedom in the marketplace. We agree wholeheartedly with that point of view.

The stability and security of Turkey are vital to the well-being of its citizens and to us as your ally. Economic growth is the foundation of that stability. The bold economic policies your government has adopted are the best guarantee of long-term growth and a promising future.

The United States has welcomed, any by its policy decisions, strongly supported, Turkey's economic revolution. Since you introduced your reforms in 1980, the United States has provided Turkey with $1.4 billion in balance of payments assistance and has rescheduled $720 million in debt in order to provide Turkish economic planners with more running room.

The U.S. economic policies have played a major role in the recent decline in global interest rates which will ease pressure on Turkish debt repayment, will ease pressure on our own debt payment. For every 1% drop in interest rates, as we calculate in Turkey's annual debt service obligations drop by over $100 million. So it ain't hay. Bilateral investment and tax treaties--the first already concluded, the second to be worked out soon--will further develop relations between our economic and business communities.

In 1985, trade between our two countries reached $1.9 billion, two-way trade, more than double what it was in 1983. Textiles and steel present special problems, of course, as they do in world trade generally. But there can be some progress even in textiles, and there is every reason why our trade as a whole will continue to grow.

Military partnership and economic cooperation are essential elements of the U.S.-Turkey relationship, but there is more: Turkey's attachment to democracy is profound. It finds expression in a free press and spirited public debate.

The U.S.-Turkish political dialogue on regional and international issues is expanding. We value Turkish support for the UN Secretary General's Cyprus initiative. We benefit from Turkey's special insights into developments in the Middle East, Southwest Asia, and East-West issues. We talked about some of these matters this afternoon, much to my benefit.

Both our nations are committed to fighting the calculated brutality of terrorism, which has claimed to many Turkish and American victims. The United States has prosecuted terrorists who attack Turkish officials. We intend to cooperate with Turkey in thwarting the terrorist conspiracy directed against all democratic societies.