 Good afternoon. Welcome to the Center for Strategic and International Studies. My name is Heather Conley. I'm Senior Vice President for our Europe and Eurasia Studies here at the Center. And we could not be more delighted to welcome the speaker of the Turkish Parliament, Speaker Yemal Cicek, a distinguished political figure in Turkey and has had an incredibly long and distinguished record. The speaker joined the Justice and Development Party and served as the Minister of Justice from 2003 to 2007. And Speaker Cicek has served as Deputy Prime Minister from 2007 to 2011. And in 2011, he was elected as Speaker of the Parliament. We look forward to the speaker's remarks. After his remarks, we will go to a question and answer, a moderated discussion, and then welcome our audience to participate. Just one word on translation. When Speaker Cicek speaks, we will have consecutive translation. But when we go to our question period, it will be simultaneous in English. So with that, and we look forward to our conversation with Speaker Cicek speaking to Turkish-U.S. relations in a very challenging global picture. Speaker Cicek, we welcome you. The floor is yours. Thank you. Very valuable speakers, valuable participants. First of all, I would like to express my gratitude for finding the opportunity to meet with such an important group with such an important community. I would like to thank you for the opportunity and your efforts to establish this important institution. Distinguished guests and participants, first of all, I would like to say that I feel very much honored and privileged to speak in front of such a distinguished group of people. And I would like to thank the officials of this institution for giving me the opportunity to address you and also to the audience for your participation. Speak louder. Distinguished guests, right now we are in a period where there are shifts in the power balances in terms of the economic and social spheres and where there now is a search for a new order. And that's where we stand at the moment. The United States of America and Europe, after the global economic crisis that has left the most economic and social spheres in history, after the global economic crisis in South Africa and in the Middle East, and after the global economic crisis in some countries, have made the current situation even more exciting. The attack on the basic parameters of the Russian rule and the attack on Ukraine, has led to a more problematic state of security and security. The United States and Europe has gone through certain very economic, very difficult economic bottlenecks and after a global economic crisis. And this was followed by very important internal conflicts in the North Africa and in the Middle East. And then we have seen problems in Russia and in Ukraine. And so all of these brought us to a place where we turned our attention to the matters of global security and safety. Right now, Turkey is confronted with new risks in this region. And it is also a democratic and secular country. And it's a very important and effective actor. In its region, and it has a very strong cultural heritage. Therefore, it is in a position to encourage peace and stability in its region. In this geography where Turkey is located, there are many conflicts which have not been solved yet, or which are frozen at the moment. Therefore, we have to have a foreign policy which has many dimensions and which has many layers. In this environment, there are many conflicts and many difficulties in the background. But Turkey is attaching very much importance to democracy, human rights, rule of law and also liberalization. And it has many bilateral relations in different countries. Therefore, Turkey wants stability and peace in its region. Both countries have overlapping to a very significant extent foreign policy and foreign politics agendas. This situation is also paving the way for cooperation, bilateral cooperation on common issues. And at the same time, it makes both countries inevitable for ensuring international peace and stability. However, at this point, sometimes Turkey and the United States can defend their common and shared purposes and ideals in an effective way through different means. And even though they have differences of opinion from time to time, they can meet at a common denominator for solving critical problems. And also, both countries are very close allies which have the ability to positively contribute to the international order. Distinguished guests, today in an area which extends from the Middle East to Ukraine, in Syria and Iraq Particular, there are very much ground shaking transformations for the regional status quo. And this transformation which is experiencing the region at the moment also makes us question the validity of traditional models in our evaluation and perspective towards the region. In this way, the situation in Syria continues to be fundamental and effective in the process of transformation and transformation. The destruction and humanness created by the Syrian occupation has now reached the critical dimensions. The DASH terrorist organization has made a crisis in the Syrian regime, and the occupation in the country has made it harder to get out of it. There is a conjuncture where terrorism is increasing its effectiveness in the southern geography and where the ethnic and sectarian fault lines are becoming deeper and where regional cooperation dynamics cannot be operated. So this conjuncture is in a very unfortunate environment. Undoubtedly, in this transformation and change process, which is very much hurting many people at the moment, is still a main factor in the existing situation in Syria. The conflict in Syria is creating destruction and a human tragedy, and this tragedy is at very significant levels at the moment. ISIL terrorist organization has been strengthened because of the regime in Syria and because of the crisis it created, and it's made the conflict in the country even more complex and it creates a very important bottleneck. We are ready to do more, but the only thing I want to emphasize is that the DASH is going to win with the help of Syria. As long as the Assad regime is in place, it will not be possible for the DASH to win from the root of terrorism, which is the most ruthless terrorist organization in history. Syria will follow other threats. The way to eliminate the end of the conflict in this country and to forgive the threats of the DASH and its similar threats can be experienced and it is a real political turning point. Another important point I would like to emphasize is that the fight against the DASH should not be used by the PKK and anti-terrorist groups in the region. Terror, religion, ethnic groups, whatever the ideological situation may be, should be avoided and taken into consideration. Turkey is supporting the international coalition which has been formed in order to fight against ISIL and we are ready to do more than this. However, what I would like to emphasize here is that a struggle against the DASH can be achieved and can be won only and by only having stability in Syria again. And as Assad regime stays in its place, DASH, which is the cruelest terrorist organization in the history, cannot be eradicated. And other threats which are originating from Syria are going to be following one another. In order to end this conflict in this country and in order to get rid of ISIL and some other similar threats, we have to have a viable, a doable and a true political transformation in that country. And another point that I would like to emphasize here is that the struggle against ISIL should not serve to show PKK or other similar groups legitimate in this region. And terrorism should be condemned regardless of its religion, ethnic background, ideological stance, and it should be condemned without making any discrimination. And another thing that I would like to mention here is that international community should not make any distinction between terrorist organizations and it should not be putting different names or objectives behind the names of these terrorist organizations and they should be condemned all the same. It is well known that when DASH becomes everything, there should be a threat to Turkey. And our country's struggle against this terrorism should be kept in mind. We are a country with a boundary of 1295 kilometers with the geography of DASH. It should not be forgotten that in order to prevent the need for foreign terrorist fighters to enter Syria, and to fight against the DASH's control of oil, it is necessary to bring all the problems that fall on the ground at the point of the life of the Eid Donat program. It should be recognized as a country which exerts a lot of effort for fighting against this terrorist organization. And DASH is effective in a geography where Turkey has a border with a length of 1295 kilometers and we should not forget that. Turkey is fulfilling all of its responsibilities regarding prohibiting and preventing the transversing of foreign fighters or foreign terrorists into Syria and fighting against oil smuggling by ISIL members and also carrying out the train and equip program which is targeting the opposition forces. In the public opinion, there may be some lacking information or information contamination or disinformation about what Turkey is doing against ISIL. Therefore, in order to clarify this and elaborate on that in a further way, I would like to give you some figures. In Iraq, there are more than 20,000 ISIL terrorists coming from more than 80 countries. At first, we have a border that is close to 1,300 kilometers. In order to prevent the transition from these borders, Turkey has banned Turkey from entering Turkey with its own resources and information sources. This is the first number. First of all, it should be kept in memory. This is 1,300 kilometers and Turkey has banned the entrance of 12,550 people from 93 countries. This is the first figure that I would like to share with you. And Turkey deported 1,200 people, 16 of them are US nationals, coming from 78 different countries. There are 13 border gates in this region and 8 of them have been shut down by Turkey. Two of them are used for commercial purposes and three of them are used for humanitarian crossing purposes. Therefore, by shutting down the border, Turkey is also effectively fighting against ISIL terrorist organization. In Turkey, there are 225,000 of these 2,000,000 people in the regions where Turkey is located. And there is another point that I would like to share with you. There is another point that I would like to emphasize here. From both Syria and Iraq, because of the terrorist threats and because of the conflicts, 2 million people have come to Turkey. And Turkey is hosting them with its own opportunities and possibilities. 225,000 of them are staying in camps established by Turkey and the remaining of them are staying in different places in Turkey. Out of its own national budget, Turkey has spent 5.5 billion dollars for daily expenses and international community contributed to this number by only 260 million dollars. The total number of refugees is around 130,000. On the one hand, Turkey is helping 2 million people. But the whole world can only open up to 130,000 people. This is a demonstration of the responsibility carried under the conditions of Turkey. So these 2 million people have different ethnic and religious backgrounds and they're coming from Syria and Iraq, as I said before. There are 2 million people in Turkey, but in the rest of the world, globally speaking, there are only 130,000 people. So comparing these figures, we can just understand what kind of a responsibility Turkey is fulfilling in the face of the refugees and the Syrian crisis at the moment. We estimate how much you have spent for border crossings between Turkey and Iraq. Around 18 billion dollars. Around 20,000 of them are safe. That's about 1,000 meters of iron or iron wire. But compared to that, it's more than 100,000 of them can escape from Mexico and come to America. The reason for this is that Turkey is already in a very difficult region as a geography, especially in the case of the Iraq border. We have to give these figures in order to determine the decision that Turkey has made. In a better way, but this is very difficult as you can acknowledge and as you can imagine, because this is something that you see for the border crossings between Mexico and the United States. You have spent 18 billion dollars in order to eliminate the crossings and you are employing more than 20,000 security officers and you are using meters long wires in order to prevent this. But there are still 100,000 of people who can cross the border so you can understand and imagine how difficult this is. So I'm just telling you this because when you are considering the position of Turkey here, please take account of all these matters into respect because the Iraqi border is already a very difficult border for Turkey. It is not just a humanitarian problem, it is not just an economic problem. Especially in terms of Turkey, there has been a time-to-time criminal problem. There have been issues related to the KAMU system and I want to tell you honestly that I have brought a lot of problems along with education and health. Turkey has to deal with such a very large problem and if it is necessary to make it clear again, it should be essential for Russia to resist in the fight against the devil. Without this resistance, it is not very fair to wait for all the responsibility of the economy and other problems and to wait for everything to be taken away from Turkey. With this, we see that the necessary efforts can begin only after the events have exploded. We are waiting for the 100% decision made in the fight against the devil in Turkey. Therefore, in this context, I may well say that Turkey is faced with a multidimensional problem and fighting against ISIL, frankly speaking, is not the sole or is not the responsibility of Turkey only but it requires international cooperation and solidarity. Sometimes coordination and cooperation can start after bad events and sad events emerge and Turkey would like to see a 100% commitment and determination that it has with its allies as well in fighting against ISIL. Unfortunately, in 2010, the foreign and international management agreement will not be able to take the country to a political and security crisis. Our foresight and our friends have come to the right path. In addition, the terrorist groups from the Syrian conflict and chaos environment and the groups from the Iraqi politics have been able to take action for their dark purposes. Unfortunately, as of 2010, increasing exclusionists and sectarian management understanding is taking the country to a political bottleneck and a security crisis and the estimations and the forecast that we had regarding that has come true. And the chaos and conflict in Syria is feeding some terrorist organizations and equipping them and the excluded groups from the Iraqi politics have been abused for their own dark purposes and objectives. It is important to take care of the terrorist groups in Iraq, not only for Turkey but also for the regional and regional institutions. However, it is important to take care of the system of the excluded groups before everything comes to an end. On the other hand, this existing conjecture, where ISIL is in the Middle East, is the most important thing in the Middle East. It is important to take care of the system of the excluded groups before everything comes to an end. This existing conjecture, where ISIL is considered to be a threat for the sects and for ethnic groups, should be considered as an opportunity. And there should be a large and inclusive solidarity environment. Iraq should be cleared of safe havens for terrorists and it should have internal stability and peace. This is important not only for Turkey, which is a bordering country but also for instilling stability in this region and in globe as a whole. However, this is only possible by embedding the excluded segments and populations into the system and to carry out structural reforms without any delay. As Turkey, we do not have any prejudices against anyone and we believe that the mentalities are important rather than the names. With this understanding in mind, we have provided our full support for the new administration in Iraq and this is a very important possibility and they should be given a chance for stripping themselves of their past mistakes and for having true integration with the international community. Therefore, in recent times, in some countries, in some public organizations, PKK should be considered as a terrorist organization and should be considered as a human aid institution and should be considered as an illusion. Therefore, the U.S. and the U.S. should be together in front of all terrorist organizations and should be part of this collaboration. ISIL is not the only terrorist organization operating in that geography. PKK is another terrorist organization which has an ethnic background and it is active in Turkey for about 30 years and it has claimed 40,000 lives until now. Just because it is fighting against ISIL does not mean that it is not a terrorist organization anymore. It's a terrorist organization but in some media outlets we just see that PKK is presented as a humanitarian organization rather than a terrorist organization just because it's fighting against ISIL and this creates an illusion. So we expect the international community not to make any difference between terrorist organizations and accept them as they are. If you have further questions about these matters, I will be more than happy to answer them during the Q&A session. But right now, I would like to talk about the U.S. and its members of the U.S. and its members of the U.S. and its members of the U.S. and their members of the U.S. I would like to talk about the U.S. and its members of the U.S. in this session. But right now I would like to talk about a very important issue which is happening in the neighbor geography of Turkey which is Ukraine and Ukraine is going through one of the deepest crises in its history and this creates a very negative environment. And the Ukrainian peninsula which is the source for the Ukrainian crisis and Ukrainian debate has been the mainland Crimean Tatars, millions of which have been living in Turkey for decades. And the international community, including Turkey, does not recognize the annexation of Crimea because it is illegal. Distinguished guests, now with your permission, I would like to talk about the Cyprus issue very briefly. Turkey, as Turkey, since the beginning, we want a fair, permanent, and a comprehensive solution for the Cyprus issue right from the beginning. And we are still determined for such type of a solution. But in a period where we want fast finalization of the negotiation process, the Greek dispute part started unilateral drilling activities in Eastern Mediterranean. And the measures taken by the Cypriot Turks in order to protect their principal rights were shown as a reason for not sitting and participating in the negotiation process. And this has been a very unfortunate development. The Cyprus-Rum side will start again by returning to the negotiating table. The Cyprus-Rum will live on again, and our hope is that in 2015, this agreement will last for 50 years in Cyprus and be a solution. We want the Greek dispute part to come back to the negotiation table and we want negotiations to start once again. And this will actually blossom the hope for a solution in the Cyprus issue. And we want 2015 to be a year where this dispute that has been ongoing for the past 50 years will come to an end. The Cyprus-Rum side will continue to do so. But unfortunately, the critical part of the dispute and the conflict between the two parties has been completely reduced. It is important for the Cyprus-Rum side to feel the influence and sustainability. The Cyprus-Rum side will continue to do so. The Cyprus-Rum side will continue to do so. The Cyprus-Rum side will continue to do so. Distinguished guests, there is another matter that I would like to touch upon. That is the Caucasian. Caucasia has always been a trade and transportation bridge that connects Europe to the Middle East and to Asia throughout its history. And it is the host for very rich energy resources. But unfortunately, the ethnic clashes and frozen disputes in this critical region prevents it from using its full potential. But from this point on, we have to instill the right dialogue, interaction and solidarity in this region. Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia are taking very important concrete steps in order to achieve this endeavor. For better progress and more progress in this region, including Karabakh, the frozen problems should have fair and permanent solutions. And Armenia, with which we have a shared past and a shared border, should be a part of this regional plan. I would like to emphasize our closeness. There is no change in our will to normalize our relations with Armenia. However, in the course of 24 people in Armenia, we see that all the new developments coming from our country should not be omitted. We see that Turkey's efforts to normalize its energy in order to advance the process and to promote its activities against Turkey in the course of the year. At this point, we have a very sincere and open-hearted approach towards Armenia, who is our neighbor. And we have an unchanged will to have our relations with Armenia normalized. However, in the process which is approaching towards 24th of April, despite all the good intention initiatives on our part, we cannot get a positive answer from them. And instead of carrying this normalization process forward, they use their energy to focus on and concentrate on anti-Turkey activities within the scope of the anniversary of 1915 events. I would like to thank our president and our prime minister. The clear messages and explanations he gave about these events are important steps in this direction. The World War I is under the conditions of difficulties. In 1915, really, the painful and sad events in the Anatolian history have been a year. Because if there is a war, there is pain. And for every society and for everyone in the society, it is not for the Armenians. In the First World War, 20 million people died. And the most important parts of this war have been generated in our geography. Of course, from the pain of this war, in the Armenians, Turks, Kurds, Arabs, all the different groups living in Anatolia have taken the fate of these pains. This is the case for all the Anatolians. And there are many reasons for this. In this period, it is a matter of human and scientific responsibility to evaluate with a fair memory perspective. In this regard, we have opened all our archives. We also have to make sure that in the Armenians, in the archives here in Bosnia, whatever information or information should be put into this and these scientific institutions should come out. This is the normalization of Turkish-Armenian relationships. And this was mentioned also in the condolence messages and the statements made by the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister of the Turkish Republic on the 23rd of April, 2014. And these messages and statements are very important steps for this endeavor. The First World War was a war that was performed under very difficult conditions. And 1915 is a year where there was true sadness and suffering in all parts of Anatolia. Because when there is war, there is pain. And this pain is valid for all segments of society, not only for Armenian people, but for all the people of Kurdish origin or Arab origin living in Anatolia. And a significant proportion of this war was performed in Anatolian geography. And this is valid for all the communities of Anatolia and there were many reasons for that. There should be a fair perspective in terms of the memory, collective memory, while evaluating this period and it's the humanitarian, it's the human and scientific responsibility for all of us. We have opened all of our archives and all of our documents. We made them available to the historians and for the researchers. And we hope that the other parties will also open their archives and resources for further elaboration by historians and scientists on this matter. I would like to As a speaker of the Turkish Parliament, I would like to very frankly and honestly state something in your presence today. We are the country which once all the matters pertaining to 1915 events revealed as soon as possible. We want all the people to be revealed who provoked them, who encouraged them and we also want to see what really happened and we want this to be revealed and unveiled on the basis of scientific facts and documents. And this way we would like to eliminate all kind of abuse and we want everything to come to surface. At this point, I would like to express my condolences to the President of Turkey. At this point, I would like to look at the two relations between Turkey's regional and American relations. Distinguished guests, by taking all these matters into consideration, we have to look at the relations between Turkey and the United States. As I mentioned before, there is a very close and strong alliance and partnership between Turkey and the United States for more than 50 years and the foreign politics agenda of both countries is increasing day by day and they have some overlapping priorities and this relationship and partnership is going on at a very satisfactory level. As Turkey, we are pleased with this change and especially with our relations. And we want to develop this in every field. In particular, our world, especially from the 11th century attacks, has entered into a changing period when the speed and results of the Russian conflict that has come to the scene have not been cut off. We are always witnessing that this process continues. We need more common will and movement in the Russian plan today. That is the reason. Today, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Daesh, the fight against Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Libya, Egypt and the Middle East, such as the Paris Agreement, the developments that have been taking place in the past, have made the relations between Turkey and the United States even greater. In order to solve these issues, Turkey and the United States are working more closely and it is a must for the new strategies and solutions to solve the problems. Like the Somali, the Balkans, the Afghans, the common experiences that are completely different from each other have shown how Turkey and the United States can successfully implement their strategies. Turkey is very much happy to see that there is a very significant transformation and the current situation of the conflict that is taking place in the Middle East. Turkey is very much happy to see that there is a very significant transformation and the current situation of the relations between the two countries are progressing very well. Since the end of the Cold War and especially after the 9-11 attacks, there have been unpredicted and very fast developments and changes which sometimes caused some tribalances in the international conjuncture. And this process is still going on in the world and we can all see that together. In the international platform, we need more shared will and the ability to act together at this point. This is more than ever actually. Just because of that today, because of the developments like the ones happening in Syria, in Iraq, fight against ISIL, Afghanistan, Yemen, Libya, Egypt and the Middle East peace process. And these developments have given even more meaning to the relations between Turkey and the United States. In order to come to a solution and a settlement for all of these issues, Turkey and the United States should work closer than ever and they should go to the grassroots of these problems and they should produce together strategic solutions for this problem. This is something that we see as essential. The Balkans, Afghanistan, Somalia and all the related and shared experiences that Varsh lived through in completely different geographies can exhibit how Turkey and the United States can together pioneer a very important strategic success at different levels and both countries have different superiorities over one another in different areas and if we have consensus on effective cooperation strategies, I think this relation can be even further successful on different platforms. We want Turkey and the United States to have a better understanding of the common sense of cooperation and to move forward in the future. This is why we want to do more trade with the United States. We expect more investment from the companies in the United States and Turkey. In fact, in this direction, our country has the necessary infrastructure and the efforts are in progress. Especially in the field of research, development and technology, we want to work together more closely with the United States. On the other hand, we want to work closely with the United States and the European Union on transatlantic trade and investment partners on the way. We want to show the importance of the cooperation between Turkey and the United States to ensure the liberalization of bilateral trade We want the Turkish-American relationship to progress in line with the model partnership concept and just because of that, we want to have more trade and commerce with the United States and we want the U.S. firms to invest more in Turkey. The existing infrastructure is suitable for that in our country and there are many incentives for the firms to do so. Especially in the fields of R&D and technology, we would like to have more intensive cooperation with the United States. On the other hand, taking the transatlantic trade and investment partnership as our point of departure between the United States and the EU, we would like to focus on regulations and arrangements which will ensure more liberalization for the bilateral trade between the two countries. And I think these are very important points for us. Finally, distinguished guests, I would like to say that we are ready to fulfill any kind of responsibility that falls on the shoulders of Turkey in order to further strengthen our bilateral and international cooperation in every field. And I think this is our shared responsibility and this partnership and cooperation is going to be needed even more in the future in this conjuncture in this region. Thank you very much. Mr. Speaker, thank you. My goodness, that was a very rich discussion. I'll let you get your headset on there. And just a note to our translator. If you could speak very clearly and loudly in the microphone when you translate it, it was a little hard to hear up front. Oh my goodness, we twisted that cord for you, didn't we? Thank you, sir, so much. Thank you. Okay, thank you all. Thank you all for your attention. We have about a half an hour. Mr. Speaker, I'm going to ask you just a few questions and then we will turn to our audience, special instructions to the audience because we're running a little short of time. We'd just like you to identify yourself, your affiliation, and just a very brief question. We want to take a few questions and allow the speaker to respond to them. Mr. Speaker, there was one part of the world that you didn't cover and that is Europe and Turkey's relationship with the European Union. You have been a staunch supporter of the EU accession process and so I'd like to ask, what are your thoughts on the EU-Turkish relationship? Cyprus remains a challenge. The customs union has just been under discussion, perhaps opening, enhancing the customs union. Please share your thoughts with us on the relationship between the European Union and Turkey. After a while, Turkish meals were very delicious and varied, but I didn't see a single kilo of people around the table. I said that in 1963, this side of the EU-Turkish agreement passed 52 years ago. We've been running for 52 years after the EU-Turkish union and that's why we didn't keep a kilo. Therefore, the EU-Turkish union is our 52-year-old adventure. We ran, God willing, but we couldn't get to a certain point. This is our strategic choice and our state policy. We want to be a part of the EU-Turkish union. This is our strategy, but we don't have the time to talk about it. Some countries are blocking some of their initiatives. Some countries are blocking some of their initiatives. Some countries are blocking some of their initiatives. Some countries are blocking some of their initiatives. We don't have the time to talk about it. Therefore, we want to be a part of the EU-Turkish union. Thank you. We'll have the translator. Thank you very much. Well, we had a visitor, actually the president of a European Union country recently and we were having lunch together and this country is very much supporting the membership of Turkey to the European Union. He said during lunch that you have very delicious food, very diverse food in the Turkish cuisine, but around this table I cannot see any overweight people. I said, Ankara Agreement was in 1963 and for about 52 years we have been running behind the European Union. That's why we are not overweight because of running, I said. And this is a journey of 52 years and we have been running behind the European Union for such a long time and at this point I think both parties should make a self-criticism. Becoming a part of the European Union is a strategic preference that Turkey makes and it's a state policy as well, but we are negotiating countries as a status at the moment but right now we cannot see any chapters which can be negotiated because some countries are blocking some chapters and the other countries are blocking other chapters so we can't find any chapters to negotiate at the moment. There are no open criteria. There are no closed criteria. What are we going to negotiate? There is a serious uncertainty in the middle. That's why we, Samimi, need to be at least ready to get out of these obstacles and at the beginning of the negotiations, we need to revive them. Turkey is showing a challenge in this direction. For example, Samimi must be established in an independent ministry. I want to bring this to your attention. Frankly speaking, we cannot talk about a unilateral love here. It should be bilateral and it should have a response. And we Turkish... Turkey wants to become a part and to be a part of the accession period and to be a part of the European Union and we want the approach from the other side to be fair and we want them to eliminate double standards in that respect. Some chapters do not have opening criteria. Some chapters do not have closing criteria and there is at the moment, because of that, uncertainty about what to negotiate in the negotiating process. We would like to revitalize the negotiation at least in the middle of the negotiations and at the beginning of the negotiations. We would like to revitalize the negotiation at least in three chapters and Turkey is spending efforts, sincere efforts for that purpose. But the biggest indication for that is we have a dedicated ministry for EU affairs. If it did not attach very much importance to the EU affairs and being a part of the European Union, we wouldn't have established a dedicated ministry for that and we wouldn't have allocated so much money from our national budget. Excellent. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One issue of great interest for the European Union is clearly energy. And as you mentioned the crisis in Ukraine, I hope you can describe for us Turkey's relationship with Moscow today. When President Putin visited Ankara, he talked about a new project called Turkish Stream, which would bring energy through Turkey to the EU border. And I would be interested in your reflections over the relationship between Turkey and Russia and particularly as it relates to energy. Thank you very much. This is also an important question for us and at the same time a question for Turkey. Because Turkey is a country that is outside of its own energy needs. Energy security, low-energy security and the diversification of energy sources is a very important issue for us as well. Thank you very much. This is a very important question and at the same time a very important problem for us as well Turkey is for its own energy needs and requirements is very much dependent on outside resources and it's importing its energy requirement to a great extent. And supply, security for energy and the diversification of energy resources are two important points for Turkey. For this we, on one side, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey are both bringing oil and natural gas to Turkey. Including Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and the sources that will be obtained from there we are supporting Turkey and the Western countries and the European countries with all kinds of efforts on the issue of energy. On the other hand, we are supporting the Middle East, Iraq, oil, natural gas and we, Turkey, in this sense, in order to have an energy corridor our own needs and we want to meet with other friends and neighbors' needs. This is our sincere effort and our determination. In this direction, a significant step has been taken with the TANAP project. It is important that our Russian relations are in this sense and in Febkal. Because we are also considering the importance of our oil, natural gas in Russia. Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey have been cooperating in this respect for many years in terms of the oil and natural gas resources and we want these resources these energy resources to come to Turkey from Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan as well and traverse Turkey in order to reach to Western countries and we would like Turkey to be a corridor for that and for the Middle Eastern resources and Iraqi resources for both oil and natural gas we want Turkey to be an energy corridor there as well and through Turkey we want them to pass and to go to other countries and we want to use these resources for its own needs for Turkey's own needs but at the same time to take them to other countries as well and one of the recent examples which is Trans Anatolia pipeline project and in this context our relations with Russia are very important for us because a significant amount of our oil and natural gas needs are covered by Russia. If the terror events in the Middle East and if this chaos continues if the oil crisis continues in the north of Turkey then energy production and energy security will not be solved and we will have to find out what we are facing if the problems in Caucasia the Karabakh problem continues and if terrorist attacks and chaos in the Middle East continue and if the Ukrainian crisis in the north continue then we will be confronted with such a big problem that Turkey will not be able to solve that by itself In terms of energy security it is important that other countries are faced with energy needs therefore our peace and stability is not a big deal it is a challenge that requires a lot and of course it is important for meeting the energy requirements and needs of the other countries therefore peace and stability are important in this conjecture from every perspective the use of energy and a new security problem will arise in the region and the possibilities that will arise from here will be solved in a moment from the perspective of Europe from Turkey from the perspective of Europe from the perspective of Europe from the perspective of Europe from the perspective of Europe in terms of energy I would like to stress one more point and that's the drilling of the resources in Eastern Mediterranean the Greek Cypriot part is unilaterally using underground resources in the Eastern Mediterranean and this causes a new problem in terms of security and in terms of supply as well and it is going to create a new problem the newly found resources in the Eastern Mediterranean to other countries over Turkey as well for that purpose I think the Cyprus issue should be resolved as soon as possible and the Greek Cypriot part should come back to the negotiating table in order to solve this problem which has been going on for the past 50 years one last question before I turn to the audience on June 7th Turkey holds its parliamentary elections you will be finished as Speaker of the Parliament you will be ending your term I'm wondering if you could tell us what you plan to do after taking a long vacation a well earned vacation after Speaker of the Parliament what your political future is Mr. Speaker and any predictions for the June 7th elections I want to continue when we think about the conditions in the region we need it therefore we will find a job for ourselves this is not our permanent job I'm a lawyer I'm a lawyer, I'm a lawyer I'll find a job for myself don't worry I want the June 7th elections to be fruitful to be useful the results peace, stability and prosperity to go on in the region these are important matters and concepts if you think about the situation in the region and this is not my permanent job I'll find a business for myself I'm a lawyer myself and I'll find my I'll find myself a job and I'm not going to be jobless I think maybe we can work together with you CSIS may have an opening an opening exactly CSIS there is there is a very prominent lawyer called Nasreddin Hoca in Turkish narration and in Turkish narratives and there is a joke about him one day he climbed a tree with a rope tied to his waist and people asked why are you climbing this tree with a rope on your waist and he said maybe there is a road towards the sky after the tree and so I don't know what future will bring for me wonderful with that I know there are plenty of questions in the audience we have some microphones oh my goodness we have lots of hands going up and just literally less than 10 minutes again colleagues I would ask that you state your name your affiliation and a very brief question please no comments and so Marcin why don't we come across I think we'll hit this line right here again brevity is great and I will cut you off if you don't or if you aren't brief thank you I am Ali Aslan Washington correspondent of Zaman newspaper Mr. Speaker there was a letter sent by 74 U.S. Senators to Secretary John Kerry urging him to address deteriorating press freedoms in Turkey and the chairman of the Turkey U.S. friendship caucus in Turkish Parliament that letter and I wonder how would you comment on that he said this is part of a smear campaign against Turkey and he said Gulenist movement cooperated with the Jewish and Armenian lobbies he's actually in the audience as well Mr. Shahbandishti so what is your comment about these remarks and also that letter we'll take one or two questions if that's okay I'm Alan McOffs came with the Center for American Progress Mr. Speaker you have worked for two of the giants of Turkish history you were in Turgut Ozal's motherland party and of course Tayyip Erdogan or at least it was his Ock Party both were Prime Ministers both became presidents both were becoming president believed said they believed in a strong presidential system Mr. Ozal did not succeed Mr. Erdogan obviously wants this badly like to know you're also of course one of the large figures one of the great figures of recent Turkish history in your view should the dominant institution in Turkey be the parliament as historically has been the case or should it be the presidency Mr. Speaker okay both we can do now I'll start with the second question I'll answer it in the first I'll leave it to you this is a matter of the presidency system a matter that has been discussed for a long time and for this if we only evaluate the beginning is it a yes or no we have no chance to get out of this yes or no the reason for this is Turkey from 1955 to 65 65 years if we take a look at the times of the military 60 years 30 years 30 years 30 years 30 years 30 years 30 years 30 years 30 years 30 years The responsibility of a military is not a They have come to Turkey on the basis of a very practical and pragmatic point of view. This is discussed during the elections. However, in the process of making an analysis, our opposition parties have expressed that the parliamentary system will not be the right one. However, I would like to point out that the worst is today's situation. In other words, Turkey needs to be saved from today's situation. Because today's situation cannot save itself from the conflict between Turkey and the kurum. They couldn't save themselves either in the past. Unfortunately, today's situation is no longer possible in our opinion. I will not be answering the first question. I will come back to the first question, actually. But if I am to answer the second question, the presidency system has been discussed for a long time in Turkey. And this requires a long debate, actually, and a long clarification. And it's not a questionnaire question that I can answer as yes or no, because it requires a very long elaboration on that. But if you think about a period since 1950s or 60s, we are excluding the period when there was coup d'etat and military administration. We can talk about a 60-year period. And in half of this period, in 30 years, there was a single party government. And in the other half, in the other 30 years, there was a coalition of three parties or four parties or even less or more. And the coalitions in the government always created a problem and always created a period where there were some troubles. That's why the late Mr. Rezal, Mr. Demirel and Mr. Erdogan have been talking about the presidency system because they wanted to get rid of the problems and troubles caused by the coalitions in the government. They are just actually making a very pragmatic and a practical point in that. And right now, as we approach towards the elections, this matter is still on the agenda. And in the constitution-making process, some opposition parties are saying that there should be no presidency system, but rather a parliamentary system in Turkey. But what I'm going to say is that the current situation is the worst situation. And it is not very sustainable because it causes conflicts between the institutions. So I think regardless of what happens, we should get rid of the current situation. This is the shortest answer that I can give. This is the shortest answer that I can give in this limited period of time, but this requires a long debate and discussion. As I said before, we looked into the systems in the world, in your system and in the European systems as well, but I'm sure this is going to make the agenda of Turkish institutions busy after the elections. In a way, the history of the human rights and freedoms is a history of demanding justice and freedom. Since the past, human rights, freedom of expression, freedom of expression, and freedom of action have been a long struggle in terms of freedom of expression. A significant amount of struggle in order to attain and enjoy their rights for religion, for assembly and for organization. Turkey is no exception in that respect, and Turkey has been the place where there have been long struggles for freedom of expression. And Turkey is no exception in that respect, and Turkey has been the place where there have been long struggles for enjoying the liberties and rights by people and in order to enjoy the other formations and the other structures which may be built over the freedoms and rights. And Turkey has paid a price for that and also spent a lot of effort for that. This is the first one. The second one is that the European Human Rights Court, which is responsible for this court, has accepted its judgment in the event of the final decision. The third one is that the European Union wants to be completely free from the rights and freedoms that we accept as the world of freedom and rights. And Turkey is pursuing a certain path in order to achieve its aims and in order to give the liberties and freedoms and rights to its citizens. And Turkey is pursuing a certain path in order to achieve its aims and in order to give the liberties and freedoms and rights to its citizens. And there are certain indications for that. For example, it's a Founder's State for Council of Europe. And also it recognizes and supports the European Human Rights Convention and the European Court of Human Rights, which is an institution responsible for interpreting the convention. Turkey is recognizing this court and its judicial authority is recognized by Turkey. And Turkey is, as I said before, trying to become a full member to the European Union which is seen as the freedom of rights and the liberties by different parts for the past 52 years. And there is no place for those countries which do not recognize basic and fundamental rights and freedoms within the European Union. And Turkey is not a country like that. That's why it's running behind the European Union for the past 52 years. And I think there is lack of information or disinformation regarding the process in Turkey for that endeavor. And during the term of the 57th government, the party of our colleagues was a member to that government as well as was a part of that government as well. For the candidacy of Turkey and for starting of the negotiations with the European Union, Turkey accepted the Copenhagen criteria and carried out some legal, institutional and structural reforms for that purpose. For example, we made very important changes in our constitution. The basic rights and freedoms are made before the law in our country. That was the change in the 90th constitution. Second, the Human Rights Act was introduced in 2010 against the appeal of the rights and freedoms. The Human Rights Act was established. And similar things have been done in the prohibitions. I would like to point out the subject first. For that purpose, we have made very significant changes and amendments in the constitution in order to provide the basic rights and freedoms to people. And the international law regarding that supersedes the national law. And this was introduced to our constitution by making an amendment in the 90th article in the Constitution of Turkey. And in case of a violation of basic rights and fundamental rights and freedoms, in 2010 the right to individual petition to the Constitutional Court of Turkey was brought to the disposal of Turkish citizens. And the Human Rights Institution was established for that purpose as well. So first of all these facts, given facts, should be known. And then I will be talking about a concrete example regarding that. There are mechanisms at the point of comparison. What are they? There is the right to the Constitution. The European Human Rights Court has accepted the judicial effect. There is no need to apply that. First of all, if there is a violation that comes out of these mechanisms, the law should be evaluated based on that. But I generally see this. In the outside world, the law is not based on the basic rights. It is being evaluated with more political principles. Then it is very difficult to determine where to start and where to stop. Because it is important to determine whether the truth will be revealed or not. Otherwise, another purpose will be achieved here. We need to take a good look at that. In Turkey, people or institutions or organizations or individuals, when they think that there is a violation on their fundamental rights or freedoms, they can use certain mechanisms in order to remedy this situation. For example, international law, the national laws and the Constitution can be used for that purpose. The remedies are provided in that. For example, there is the right for applying individually to the Constitutional Court or the judicial authority of the European Court of Human Rights has been recognized by the Turkish state. In the outside world, sometimes the criticisms are made or the evaluations are made not based on legal grounds but rather on political grounds. So in that case, you cannot understand where the process starts and where it ends. So these matters are important for unveiling the truth, but sometimes they can be shifting us towards another direction. These freedoms do not bring the ability to criminalize people. No matter what their role is, no matter what they do, if they criminalize them, they will not see the law in front of them, they will not see the law in front of them, they will have to be punished. If they do something wrong, they will have to be punished by democracy and the Constitution. If we do not understand these issues, then in the case of the Constitutional Court of Human Rights, there is a saying that says, according to the Constitutional Court of Human Rights, the judge or the judge makes a decision. If I explain it, there will be a different result. If someone else explains it, there will be a different result. We cannot be anywhere else. But at this point, my friends and my colleagues, we should come to an understanding. We should come to a consensus. If we're talking about democracy, if we're talking about human rights, and if we're talking about the rule of law, everyone should be treated equally before the law. So if enjoying the rights or enjoying the freedoms does not give the right to commit a crime to certain people, and if they carry out something, if they perform something, if this act requires punishment according to the law, then punishing this person or these organizations is the requirement of democracy and a legal order. Otherwise, if we cannot come to a consensus on these matters, I can say something, and the other people's case can say something, and a just and fair decision cannot be made on the basis of the sayings of people or the narrations of people. So the political evaluations can be made by other people, but I'm a lawyer, as I said, and I would like to make a legal interpretation of this matter. According to our civil code, the first article, and we adopted our civil code from Switzerland in 1920s, and the first article of our civil code says that if there is an abuse of right, the law cannot safeguard that. So the abuse or misuse of rights cannot be protected by law. Mr. Speaker, thank you so much. I'm about to be in trouble with your embassy because I'm going to make you late for your next appointment, but thank you for your very detailed presentation, particularly your comments on Syria and the human tragedy. Thank you to our audience. The initiative translation is a little challenging, and I thank you for your patience with us. Please join me with your applause and thanking the speaker.