"Daniel Fried Interview by Ali H. Aslan, Zaman
Thursday, 6 July 2006, 10:22 am
Press Release: US State Department
Daniel Fried, Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs
Interview by Ali H. Aslan, Zaman, Turkey
Washington, DC
July 3, 2006
QUESTION: So, Turkish Foreign Minister Gul is coming to town …
AMBASSADOR FRIED: We are looking forward to the visit of Foreign Minister Gul. And there is a tremendous amount of work we are doing with Turkey, in the world, in the region. And I think that a lot of the issues are tough. Cyprus is tough. All the issues are complicated. But we are able to work with Turkey as real partners, and we are certainly looking forward to this upcoming visit. And I must say that I've been impressed by how much Turkey has done, partly because of the EU accession process – but really because of its own internal dynamics – to realize a strategic vision of itself as a European country and yet stay true to its traditional Turkish values, which is easy to say and hard to do. But I certainly think that Turkey is closer to this than ever before. "
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