On Friday, February 10, the American-Turkish Council hosted a luncheon at the Willard Hotel in honor of Turkey’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmet Davutoglu, who was in Washington for talks with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other senior government officials. Accompanying the Minister were advisors Ali Sarikaya, Amb. Gurcan Balik, and the Director General for Americas Amb. Ebru B. Gokdenizler. Turkey’s Amb. to the United States Namik Tan also joined the group.
On Friday, February 10, the American-Turkish Council hosted a luncheon at the Willard Hotel in honor of Turkey’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmet Davutoglu, who was in Washington for talks with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other senior government officials. Accompanying the Minister were advisors Ali Sarikaya, Amb. Gurcan Balik, and the Director General for Americas Amb. Ebru B. Gokdenizler. Turkey’s Amb. to the United States Namik Tan also joined the group.
Amb. Miriam Sapiro, Deputy US Trade Representative; Jose Fernandez, Asst. Secretary of State for Economic, Energy and Business Affairs; Michael C. Camunez, Asst. Secretary of Commerce for Market Access and Compliance and the US Ambassador to Iraq, James Jeffrey, were among the US Government guests at the luncheon. ATC Chairman Emeritus Brent Scowcroft hosted the luncheon in the absence of Chairman Richard L. Armitage, and a large group of ATC corporate members and guests attended. We are grateful to Pfizer Inc. for sponsoring the luncheon and to Turkish Airlines as the associate sponsor.
In his address, Minister Davutoglu spoke of the truly excellent relationship that now prevails between Turkey and the U.S. He called attention to Turkey’s emergence as a stable democracy with a healthy economy, uniquely positioned in an enormously strategic part of the globe, yet sandwiched between an unstable Arab region and an economically turbulent Europe. He called attention to the common purpose of Washington and Ankara to expand our bilateral economic partnership to a level more in keeping with the high level of our political and security relations and more reflective of a truly “model” partnership.
Minister Davutoglu discussed Syria at length and said Turkey, since last August, has openly sided with the Syrian people and called for the al-Asad regime to step aside. He noted that Turkey is, in principle, against any foreign intervention, but on the other hand Turkey and the international community could not stand by and remain silent in the face of brutal oppression of Syrian citizens by an autocratic regime. He said Turkey would continue to work with the Arab League and the U.S. on political, diplomatic and economic actions that could bring humanitarian relief and political pressure.
Pfizer’s Regional President for Europe and India, Ahmet Goksun, also made brief remarks in which he emphasized the importance of Turkey as a market and regional producer/distributor for Pfizer and other American companies.
ATC thanks the Foreign Minister, our sponsors and our guests.
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