Archive of Press Releases and Official Statements

Remarks by Undersecretary of State Marc Grossman to the press

Governors Office, Istanbul
December 9, 2003

Thank you all very much for taking time to be here today.

I thank again the Governor. Thank you very much for your time today.

I visited Turkey today starting in Ankara to do some consultation with the government about some very important business for NATO. I did not feel that it was right and proper for me to leave Turkey without coming here to pay my respects to the Governor and also to have visited with the Mayor this morning.

Our president and our Secretary of State, our Ambassador, our Consul General had already expressed their grief and condolences for the great crime that was perpetrated here in Istanbul in November. I wanted to come myself and to pay this respect to you, the Governor, so I might be able to show our solidarity with all of the people of Istanbul. There are many things, many good things that bind Turkey and the United States together. For one of the hard things that binds us together is that both Turkey and the United States have been victims of terrorism. I came here to say that the United States of America stands with Turkey in this fight against terrorism, and stands in solidarity with the victims of this terrorism, and as Istanbul and the people here recover from this attack and go forward in this great city. And so I thank the Governor again for his time this afternoon and I thank you for the opportunity.

Q: What result do you expect from the elections in Cyprus?

A: Well, obviously the elections in Cyprus are the business of the people of Cyprus. We hope that those elections will be free and fair and transparent. And what we would like to see after the elections is a very rapid return to the negotiating process that has been led, I think, very capably by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan. We support the Annan plan and we hope that all of those who are on the island will find a way to do so, as well.

We think there is an important opportunity here and we hope that everyone will find it in their minds and in their hearts to take it.