Turkey, the U.S. re-affirm strong cooperation against terrorism

ISTANBUL (A.A) - July 17, 2011 - Turkish foreign minister has said Turkey and the United States had renewed commitment for cooperation against terrorism.
"We have re-affirmed our resolute position to use bilateral relations for the most effective cooperation in combating terrorism. We have underlined the need for international cooperation against terrorism," Ahmet Davutoglu told Saturday a joint press conference with his U.S. counterpart, Hillary Clinton, after a meeting in Istanbul.         
Davutoglu said Turkish-U.S. relations were among "the most sophisticated and deeply-rooted diplomatic relations of the modern times," adding that the Obama administration was strongly committed to the continuation of that tradition.
"Obama's 'model partnership' proved to be of utmost importance with a series of high level contacts over the last three years. We are determined to boost our ties with the U.S. to their highest levels not only in security but also in economic and diplomatic issues," Davutoglu said.
The Turkish foreign minister said his meeting with Clinton covered a wide-array of topics developments in Cyprus, Caucasus, Balkans, the Middle East as well as Turkey's relations with Armenia, Israel and the European Union.   
Responding to a question on Syria, Davutoglu said Turkey's approach to the Syrian issue depended on a series of principles. 
"We've got two basic principles. The first one is that we want our peaceful and brotherly countries in the region, to continue the political will in a more democratic way. Of course, they have to consider the demands of the society. If there is a political system which doesn't consider the demand of the public, then it won't be viable for that political system to survive. That's why in Syria we feel the need to experience a reformation process which takes into account the demand of the public society. And of course, this transformation should not be carried out in a way that brings about conflict and also violence," Davutoglu said. 
Davutoglu said Turkey urged the Syrian government to start the transformation process at once and refrain from using excessive violence on the public. 
"One of the most important principle of a political transformation is to have an opposition, of course. I hope that the Syrian country has opposition parties, and we would like the opposition parties to raise their voice and to have a common point of view in the end. We want the Syria's stability to be strengthened and we want a more sound and viable political system within Syria," he said.