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American Morning

Colin Powell Goes to Turkey

Aired April 02, 2003 - 09:46   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: In the meantime, there is a huge concern on the part of the White House if there is a power vacuum in the northern part of Iraq, would Turkey fill that vacuum? The White house has gone to great efforts to try to prevent something like that happening. That's a large reason as to why Colin Powell was in Ankara, Turkey earlier today.
Sheila MacVicar picks things up from there and joins us now live in the Turkish capital.

Sheila, hello, and good evening there.

SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Bill.

Well, Colin Powell came here to -- actually yesterday in what was a very hastily arrived visit to Ankara. He spent the day seeing Turkish government officials -- the president, the prime minister, the foreign minister -- and we think he's meeting with the chiefs of the Turkish military.

Now you remember how difficult the relationship became between Turkey and the United States when the Turkish parliament voted in the beginning of March not to permit tens of thousands of U.S. troops to cross Turkish territory to enter into northern Iraq to set up a second front, a key part of the U.S. war strategy at that point, one front pushing up from the south, the other front pushing down from the north. Those troops, obviously, have been redeployed. Some have landed in Kuwait again. And there were a lot of very bad feelings at that time.

Today a visit to mend fences, kiss and makeup, if you will. And from the looks of things, when Colin Powell and the Turkish foreign minister emerged for their press conference, it does appear as so that part of the visit was successful.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN POWELL, SECY. OF STATE: The U.S./Turkish relationship is a strong one. It has endured for over 50 years, and we have been with each other and for each other in war and peace over that 50-year period. Especially treasure our relationship within the NATO alliance. Turkey is an important member of the coalition that is now aligned against the regime of Saddam Hussein.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACVICAR: Now you'll recall that -- you mentioned, Bill, this very grave concern on the part of Washington and the White House, the U.S. administration, that there might be more instability coming, that perhaps the Turks were considering about a major incursion of their own forces into northern Iraq. That's a concern that's been growing as we have seen. The Iraqi forces fall back from their positions in the north, move south, and the Kurdish fighters, the Peshmerga, who are working with U.S. soldiers now northern Iraq, moving south.

The Turks view that as perhaps a threat to their own security, their own national interests. And what Colin Powell wanted to do today was, first, to reassure the Turks, in his view, the view of the U.S. administration, there would be no need for any major movement of Turkish forces into northern Iraq and to try to get agreement interest them they would not do such a thing. What they have come up with is a kind of cooperation mechanism, a kind of early-warning system, that should indicate with cooperation from Turkey, the United States and those Kurdish fighters, when they're getting close to the red lines where Turkey might feel itself threatened -- Bill.

HEMMER: Sheila, thank you.

Sheila MacVicar watching the Turkish, U.S. front there in Ankara.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired April 2, 2003 - 09:46   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: In the meantime, there is a huge concern on the part of the White House if there is a power vacuum in the northern part of Iraq, would Turkey fill that vacuum? The White house has gone to great efforts to try to prevent something like that happening. That's a large reason as to why Colin Powell was in Ankara, Turkey earlier today.
Sheila MacVicar picks things up from there and joins us now live in the Turkish capital.

Sheila, hello, and good evening there.

SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Bill.

Well, Colin Powell came here to -- actually yesterday in what was a very hastily arrived visit to Ankara. He spent the day seeing Turkish government officials -- the president, the prime minister, the foreign minister -- and we think he's meeting with the chiefs of the Turkish military.

Now you remember how difficult the relationship became between Turkey and the United States when the Turkish parliament voted in the beginning of March not to permit tens of thousands of U.S. troops to cross Turkish territory to enter into northern Iraq to set up a second front, a key part of the U.S. war strategy at that point, one front pushing up from the south, the other front pushing down from the north. Those troops, obviously, have been redeployed. Some have landed in Kuwait again. And there were a lot of very bad feelings at that time.

Today a visit to mend fences, kiss and makeup, if you will. And from the looks of things, when Colin Powell and the Turkish foreign minister emerged for their press conference, it does appear as so that part of the visit was successful.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN POWELL, SECY. OF STATE: The U.S./Turkish relationship is a strong one. It has endured for over 50 years, and we have been with each other and for each other in war and peace over that 50-year period. Especially treasure our relationship within the NATO alliance. Turkey is an important member of the coalition that is now aligned against the regime of Saddam Hussein.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACVICAR: Now you'll recall that -- you mentioned, Bill, this very grave concern on the part of Washington and the White House, the U.S. administration, that there might be more instability coming, that perhaps the Turks were considering about a major incursion of their own forces into northern Iraq. That's a concern that's been growing as we have seen. The Iraqi forces fall back from their positions in the north, move south, and the Kurdish fighters, the Peshmerga, who are working with U.S. soldiers now northern Iraq, moving south.

The Turks view that as perhaps a threat to their own security, their own national interests. And what Colin Powell wanted to do today was, first, to reassure the Turks, in his view, the view of the U.S. administration, there would be no need for any major movement of Turkish forces into northern Iraq and to try to get agreement interest them they would not do such a thing. What they have come up with is a kind of cooperation mechanism, a kind of early-warning system, that should indicate with cooperation from Turkey, the United States and those Kurdish fighters, when they're getting close to the red lines where Turkey might feel itself threatened -- Bill.

HEMMER: Sheila, thank you.

Sheila MacVicar watching the Turkish, U.S. front there in Ankara.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com