 President for studies here at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and I want to thank you for joining us for this important afternoon and the opportunity to hear the remarks from the Foreign Minister of Turkey. He will be talking about absolutely vital issues today of the Middle East-Turkey's relationship with NATO, the Iranian nuclear negotiations, all super important issues in the United States, Europe, Middle East, and global implications. We are honored to have Foreign Minister Chavasholu here in from Ankara. He will be making his remarks as we spoke, and then we'll be taking questions and offering a discussion before he has to depart. As we mentioned, there's no challenge of difficult issues confronting Turkey, its allies, and other states in the region. He will be addressing those. One of them that we've worked on here at Carnegie in particular is the challenge posed by Iran's nuclear program and the diplomatic effort to deal with that. We've just published a book here with a colleague Sinan Ugan and I, and so it's available outside if anyone is interested on Turkey's nuclear future looking forward. But as I say, the minister will speak and cover a whole range of these issues, and then we'll have a discussion from thereafter. Minister Chavasholu is a minister since the last two years, but previously he was the minister of European Union Affairs and also is one of the founding leaders of the JK Party in Turkey. So with no further ado, Mr. Minister, please. Thank you so much for the introduction. Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. It's a real pleasure to be here with you all today. Let me thank Ambassador Burns in his absence and the Carnegie Endowment for the wonderful reception. I'm here in Washington, D.C. on an invitation from my good friend, Secretary Kerry. I will also meet with counterparts from the administration and have contacts on the Hill. Of course I value all those meetings that I'm going to have during my stay, but I'm equally pleased to address you at this century old institution. Over the years, Carnegie Endowment turned into a truly global think tank. It has contributed to the international peace through creative ideas and strategic thinking. I am sure you know the famous quote, every great dream begins with a dreamer. The institution has been home to the many dreamers of the peace. That is why I am very happy to have an opportunity to talk to you under this roof about the state of play in Middle East and Turkey's role. This is a topic on which there has been much debate here in this town. And I know that not all the comments have been positive. So I appreciate the opportunity to speak about our dream, our vision of new and different Middle East, one that rises on peace, stability and cooperation. Ladies and gentlemen, today the Middle East is largely in a state of turmoil. But the same Middle East has contributed greatly to the philosophical, cultural and scientific progress of humankind throughout history. President Obama himself highlighted some of these contributions in his historic Cairo speech. And we believe that this region still has the potential to create great things. So then the question is, how do we turn this potential into concrete achievements? After decades of oppression and wars, we witnessed the Arab Supreme. The people that transformation process started to shake the foundations, very foundations of the century old status quo in the region. In this process we played a very positive and supportive role as Turkey. We extended around $3 billion of financial assistance as well as political and technical expertise to the Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Yemen. We also contributed to the efforts of the European Union as well as the Council of Europe, Venice Commission in all these countries. But the transformation process is currently characterized by a massive challenge. Let me identify some of them and also share my views for dealing with all these challenges. The conflict in Syria affects Turkey the most. The situation has become more complicated with the emergence of Daesh or ISIL, you say here in the United States. In other words, the situation in Syria has become a serious national security concern for my country, Turkey. We have provided significant contributions to the international coalition as an active member. We have mobilized our military and other resources in its support. So we agree on the existence of a major threat in our immediate neighborhood. But we also say that the selective approach focusing just on fighting terrorism will not remedy the situation in Syria and even in Iraq. The political vacuum in Syria has to be filled with a representative government based on the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people. This is the only way to bring a sort of stability in Syria. The Geneva Declaration clearly identifies the necessary roadmap for achieving this kind of political solution. The parties for any negotiations to end the conflict are clear. These are the Syrian National Coalition and the regime. The coalition is recognized by 114 countries and 13 international organizations as the legitimate opposition. However, after Geneva 2 negotiations, the regime thinks that it has a free hand to continue its violence against the people. This has to stop. The international community must exert pressure on the regime so that it will sit down at the negotiation table. We have been working closely with the United States to find a way to move forward for a political solution in Syria. Our efforts on implementing training and acute program is a clear testimony. This program aims to create areas inside Syria that are safe. It will also provide a foothold for Syrians willing to fight Daesh. Ladies and gentlemen, Iraq has been in continuous crisis for many years. Daesh is the latest episode in the drama and maybe the most complicated one. The terrorist organization has occupied more than one-third of Iraq, which is equal to the size of Croatia in a short time. This was surprising for many. But we had been warning about this possibility for a long time. Why was Iraq faced with such a crisis? What is the reason behind? Simply because of the sectarian and oppressive policies of the previous government after the departure of American troops. So there is a need for a policy that reaches out to oppressed people and the regime and should regain their trust and the confidence, I mean the current administration. And new Iraqi government under Abadi started well and gained international support. And Turkey has been also fully support this new inclusive Abadi government in Iraq. But it is again our duty to remind the Iraqi government that it needs to do more for winning the others of the country. Promises must turn into concrete actions without further delay. In Iraq in a short term there might be some military successes. But lack of confidence between the people and the government is unfortunately continuing. Military successes will not be enough. There is a need for political and humanitarian steps taken at the same time. Decreed and the other liberated cities should be held and run by the locals. People shouldn't feel that they have come under another term of oppression in Iraq. Iraq cannot be governed as before Daesh. It should evolve into a functioning federal state. This is not something new, obviously. It was also foreseen in the Iraqi constitution. We know the task at hand is not easy and we shouldn't put undue pressure on the new government. But unfortunately the urgency is all too evident. That is why we are providing political, military and humanitarian support to Iraq. And we are carrying out a training and acute program for the Kurdish regional government, KRG and Muslim National Guard Units. We have already trained more than 1,600 Beshmerges in KRG. And on the humanitarian side we are hosting nearly 2 million people from Syria and Iraq combined. Our expenditure has reached almost 6 billion dollars, whereas we receive only 300 million dollar worth support from the international community. We are also doing our part to stop the flow of foreign terrorist fighters. We have taken all the necessary measures. We have set up a no entry list which now involves more than 12,800 people. And we have captured and deported around 1,300 people in this context. And about half of them we didn't have any information from the source countries, thanks to the sensitive work of our security and also intelligence. We have captured and deported them to the source countries and we inform all those source countries of these foreign fighters. But this is not an issue that Turkey can solve on its own. We need improved information sharing and more international cooperation, particularly from the source countries. And the source countries should also start asking themselves the hardest question. Who is really the weakest link in this chain? In addition to Syria and Iraq we see sectarianism as a general threat to the region in the Middle East. There is a standard message that we give to all actors and parties. Sectarian based policies create no win situation. All lose in sectarian struggles including first and foremost those who favor these policies. Yemen is the most recent example pointing at such dangers. In both Yemen and Libya what we need is political dialogue, meaningful political dialogue. We need political solutions based on the national compromise and consensus in both those two countries. Ladies and gentlemen, as a cornerstone of peace and stability in the Middle East, Egypt is another potential risk for the region. Egypt is an important country for the Muslim world. Egypt is important for the Middle East and Egypt is a very crucial country for not only Northern Africa but for the whole continent. Egyptian leadership pushes those people. They see as opposition underground and towards radicalism. Our concern is that if the current trend is left unchecked a new and more violent social outburst in Egypt will be inevitable. Egypt's deep and structural problems can only be solved in a liberal and efficient political environment. Therefore we encourage all parties to advocate the establishment of an inclusive political system in Egypt too. Ladies and gentlemen, of course one cannot speak about the Middle East without touching upon the Palestinian issue because it remains the core challenge in the region. And actually we all know parameters of the solution. A state of Israel living side by side with an independent and sovereign state of Palestine on 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital. Yet despite the best and most sincere efforts of my dear friend Secretary Kerry, the two-state solution is in a coma. You all know the recent Palestinian initiative regarding UN Security Council resolution to initiate a peace conference. Such a resolution will make the Israeli side sit down for serious negotiations for a two-state solution. Unfortunately this initiative like others trying to open the way to peace failed at the United Nations Security Council. The main body responsible for protecting international peace and security once again proved incapable of performing its task. Dear guests, ladies and gentlemen, yes the general picture in the Middle East is not very promising. But there are also reasons for being hopeful and to be optimistic as well. Look at the political process in Tunisia. This country shows us that a legitimate political solution is possible to the problems faced by the countries in transition. The Tunisian people deserve our full support and solidarity. We are also very pleased with the political understanding reached between the P5 plus one and Iran in Lausanne. We always advocated diplomacy as the only possible option for a solution to the issue of Iran's nuclear program. That is why we hope that the ongoing negotiations result in a comprehensive agreement by the end of June this year. As always we are ready to offer our active support to the process. We also hope that a final and satisfactory solution to the nuclear issue might motivate our Iranian neighbors and brothers to facilitate the resolution of other regional problems. In short our approach in the Middle East is based on finding comprehensive, political and inclusive solutions. So let me put what we imagine into a picture. A secure and stable Middle East where the energy and trade rules interconnected East Mediterranean resources to all directions. A region which no longer makes the headlines with death tolls but rather with cooperation projects and success stories. Turkey is doing its part to invest in a common future in the region. We are putting a lot of efforts in increasing and liberalizing trade, lifting visas, expanding investments in the region. On the humanitarian side being the third largest donor and humanitarian aid in the world, we continue to extend our helping hand throughout the region. We are trying to ease the pains not only in Syria but also in Iraq and Palestine. In Iraq we are among the first to come to the help by sending 750 trucks containing food kits, tents, bedding, blankets, medicines and medical equipment. Our official humanitarian assistance to Gaza only last year is more than 19 million dollars. And we will continue to work for a better future for everyone in the Middle East. Ladies and gentlemen dear guests, I know our topic is Middle East. But speaking as the Turkish Foreign Minister in Washington, I will not be doing my job in full if I don't mention two other issues. Two issues which have created mistrust and confrontation in our region for a long time. First, Cyprus. We have a window of opportunity to find a political settlement to a problem that has been with us for more than 50 years. And we believe 2015 will be an important year for the settlement of the Cyprus issue. Our commitment for a solution is as strong as ever. We expect the negotiations to resume very soon after the elections in the north. And the Turkish side is ready to go to the extra mile to make a lasting settlement possible before the end of this year. But ultimately it takes two to tango. And what is needed for settlement is true political will. If Greek Cypriots side and the Greeks showed a similar strong political will, there is no reason why a settlement cannot be reached by the end of this year. As always, the active involvement of the U.S. will be important in the critical period ahead. Second, the Turkish-Armenian relations. We have been working since 2009 to overcome the division between these two ancient peoples. Two people who for centuries coexisted in peace and harmony. Let me underline this point. Turkey shares the suffering of Armenians. We try with patience and resolve to establish empathy between two peoples. We continue to believe that we can build a peaceful common future only through dialogue. In this context, our President's message last year on the events of 1915 was a historic step. The recent statement of our Prime Minister in January, I mean, was another step forward representing our humane perspective. And couple of hours ago, Prime Minister Davutoglu extended his condolences to the Ottoman Armenians who lost their lives under the tragic circumstances of World War I. And he also announced that in parallel to the remembrance ceremonies around the world, our ceremony will also be held at Armenian patriarchy in Istanbul on 24th of April. This is another step of historic significance. And we will continue on this path. And we will continue to work for a framework that both addresses the historic aspects of the problem and also helps solve the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. Dear guests, ladies and gentlemen, geography is destiny. And today we stand at the crossroads for the region. We in Turkey believe in the promise of our region and its peoples. We are willing and able to stand up to the existing challenges. And so is the United States. The history of Turkish-American relations is full of success stories we wrote by working together. Our past achievements in Afghanistan, in the Balkans and elsewhere is testimony to what we can do together in the future. That is what gives me the confidence to say that Turkey and the United States will continue to work as close partners. Because by working together we have a better chance of creating a bright future we imagine for the Middle East. Thank you very much. Can I answer the questions? If you don't mind? Yes, please. He's going to stay here. For technical reasons, it's better. No, it's much better for the vision. Okay. Thank the foreign minister for those who called. We're going to take questions and we will do it in the normal way that we do things here, which is raise your hand. I'll call on several questioners. We'll take several questions together. The foreign minister has been kind enough to stay to address those questions. Please again, there will be many people who want to ask questions. So make your question very brief and also in the form of a question, please. And also please introduce yourself before you start. So let's start with these three right here in this row. Thanks, George. Barbara Slavin from the Atlantic Council and lmonitor.com. Mr. Minister, how do you square your views with those of the Saudis, particularly when it comes to an issue like Yemen? Your prime minister was recently in Iran. You've called for a political solution there. But you are also, I believe, supporting the Saudi effort, which is now bombing the country with no apparent result. So how do you bring people to the table here? And if I may also ask a question, another question. Is Turkey taking a position on the direct supply of weapons to the Kurds in Iraq? Thanks. Kurds in Iraq? Just hold that question for one second and then I'll pass it here. We'll start with you, Michael, after. Michael Gordon, New York Times. And a different subject, sir. You mentioned the negotiations with Iran. The details aren't known, but the basic principles are known. It will extend breakout time to a year for a period of 10 years. But breakout time will shrink after that. No facilities will be closed. And Iran will be allowed to do research and development on centrifuges. What is Turkey's position on this agreement since the main elements are known? And are there any circumstances in which Turkey would feel that it should pursue the development of nuclear technology on its own as a precaution against an Iranian breakout? What would those circumstances be? Thank you. Well, unfortunately, the situation is Yemen is concerned for all of us. And Uttis took the control of the whole country. And democratically elected president had to leave the country due to the security concerns. Of course, due to the invitation of the legitimate president, Saudi Arabia let GCC countries had the operation. And this operation became legitimate. And in principle, we supported this operation. And we announced that if they need, we can support, we can give them logistic support and intelligence as well. But so far, we haven't received any demand from the Saudi Arabia let coalition. But at the end, Turkey is for political solution and immediate ceasefire. And humanitarian aid, we are very sensitive in that. And broad-based political dialogue, meaningful political dialogue. And possibly national unity administration or government in Yemen. That is what we need. And that is Turkey's position. And I was with Erdogan in Tehran. And he was very straight with our Iranian counterpart that what Iran is doing, their sectarian policies ambitious in the region is not helpful and not helping their interests either. So we were very clear with Iran. But Iran should be also involved in the process, in this process that I mentioned in Yemen. They should also use their influence on who it is that they should withdraw. And they should be ceasefire and meaningful dialogue and so on. And regarding the basic principles, the current achievement between the five plus one and Iran, we are fully supporting this process and we are fully supporting the achievements. And we haven't underestimated, we shouldn't underestimate the achievements made in this process. And we also spent a lot of efforts together with Brazil in 2010. And it was not easy to convince Iran. Iran is our brotherly country, our neighbor, but it is not always easy to make deal with Iran. We haven't even changed the gas agreement that Turkey signed long years ago. And hopefully we can find a solution to that as well. But we are fully supporting this process. And we are against nuclear weapons in our neighborhood. Not only in Iran, but we are against nuclear weapons. And Turkey has no intention to have a nuclear weapon. We didn't, and we will not have nuclear weapons. Thank you. Yes, I'm Tom Deval here at the Carnegie Endowment. Minister, thank you for your remarks. I'm going to ask you an Armenian question without mentioning the word genocide, apart from just now. You already did. I already did, yes. But you yourself today and also the Prime Minister and the President have gone much further than Turkish officials in past in acknowledging the suffering of the Armenians. But as you yourself would know, the situation on the ground is still very bad. The border is closed. And to give one other example, very few working churches, Armenian churches in Turkey, many churches still in ruins. I wonder if you can share any concrete steps that your government will and can take to advance reconciliation with the Armenians. Thank you. Well, first of all, regarding the Armenians living in Turkey, we have around 40,000 Armenian citizens. I think there are two candidates as well from different parties. One of them is from my party. They are enjoying all the rights. They are also enjoying the rights that the Turkish government and state has been giving back. I mean, this is not something that we give it for free, but it was their rights taken in the past in Turkey. But it's not only them that all the religious minorities have been enjoying all that. We have been giving their properties back. We have been renovating the church, chapels, and synagogues. We just integrated a grand synagogue in Edirne recently, and Turkey restored it. And we restored Armenian church in Akhtamar Island in Lake One. And Armenians get together every year for worship in that church. And we need to do more. And we are supporting the Patriarch as well. Patriarchy in Istanbul, base in Istanbul, and also Armenian foundations. And our citizens plus another roughly 40,000 Armenian migrants also enjoying living in Turkey. We know that they had to leave Armenia because of unemployment and poor economy. And they are irregular migrants. I don't like to use word illegal as the former president of the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe. They are not illegal people, but they are irregular migrants. We tolerate that they stay in Turkey. And regarding the Turkey-Armenian issue and reconciliation, we are for reconciliation. And we have been spending a lot of efforts, particularly since 2009. Of course, this year Armenian-Armenian diaspora focused to influence the world public opinion on the events of 1915. So we are not expecting any positive response from our Armenian friends. But we understood that we have to look forward and we need to overcome all these issues. And the statements of President Erdogan and the Prime Minister Davutoglu's two statements are a kind of turning point in Turkey as well. So we have been taking courageous steps towards reconciliation. I hope that Armenia and our Armenian friends also understand that we need reconciliation. And we will not give up as Turkey and we should continue to spend efforts towards reconciliation. Thanks, George. I am Mahir Zanal from Turkey's Today Saman Daily. Mr. Prime Minister, I am wondering if you remember last year your government- Did you call me Prime Minister? Thank you. Sorry, Mr. Prime Minister. I was wondering if you remember last year your government kicked me and my family out of Turkey because I tweeted a single report on Twitter. And also, your government has recently arrested journalists like Karajan Mehmet Baran. So how do you reconcile these incidents with the democracy and the media freedom in Turkey? Thank you. Thank you. I don't have a question, but my name is Abdul Halim Brigel. I am originally from Somalia. I am a Somali-American. And I thank Foreign Minister and welcoming him here. The success for Turkey, everyone knows it's Somalia. So thank you for your government, for your people. And Mr. Erdogan, who went to Mogadishu in 2011, during that time no one was going to Mogadishu today, Mogadishu and Somalia, it stands where we are because of that leadership and division that Mr. Erdogan showed. I went on the Somali – the Turkish – Istanbul Conference on Somalia. And at that time I met with Mr. Erdogan when he was the Prime Minister. And I promised him at the time I say to him, I don't know what to give you as a gift because, you know, it was very quick. So today I have a gift here. I will give it to the embassy. Thank you. It's a book. It's not any book. It's the Quran. Our book, you know, is the defined word of Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And this is where Daesh al-Shabaab is the same book that's read by 1.1 billion Muslims. That has been hijacked by a bunch of criminals. So thank you very much. And I will give it to the embassy. Thank you. Well, media freedom is crucial for democratic societies. And as a former President of the Parliamentary Assembly, which is the home of rule of law, democracy and fundamental rights, I am fully for free media and freedom of expression. However, in democratic societies and countries, nobody is immune from persecutions because of his or her profession. And regarding the journalists in Turkey, the latest committee to protect journalists, CPEJ, reported seven journalists imprisoned in Turkey. And when you look at the list, none of them are persecuted for their journalistic work. And as a matter of fact, five of them charged with serious crimes such as homicide, causing injury with weapons, bank robbery, forgery, throwing Molotov cocktails to the security officers. And two of these journalists have been released. And we see the similar cases in other democratic countries as well. For instance, following the news of the world phone hacking scandal in the UK, the news editor of the said newspaper Ian Edmondson was sentenced to eight months. And the calls on editor of the news world world was also sentenced to 18 months in jail for conspiring to hack phones in 2014. And there are also other similar cases I have to give here in Italy, Greece, as well as this country, the United States. For instance, Francesco Gangemi, the 79-year-old editor of the monthly magazine to debate the debate. And Alessandro Salusti, editor-in-chief of the Milan-based Daily, are present for charge of libel, perjury and criminal defamation. Let me give you another example. There is also another example in Greece, but since it is our good neighbor, I don't want to give this example. Another example from this country, Barack Brown. He is a U.S. journalist and he has been sentenced to 63 months of imprisonment in January 2015 for involvement in activities of activist group called Anonymous. So for me, even one journalist in prison because of his or her journalistic words is unacceptable. So it's for Turkey. Therefore, Turkey cannot tolerate any parallel structure, particularly opposite structures in the state structures. And no democratic country can tolerate this either. Thank you. Thank you very much. My name is Tyler Thompson. I'm with United for Syria. I was hoping that you could expand on, we've been hearing that Turkey backs the idea of either a no-fly zone or some sort of protected zone to save Syrian civilians along the Turkish border. And I'm wondering if you could sort of expand on what the Turkish policy is on that and also explain any roadblocks or obstacles that the United States may be presenting in the future for protecting civilians. Can you repeat the last part of your question, the obstacles in the United States? The obstacles that the United States might present to Turkey in implementing this type of protected area. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Foreign Minister, for your address. Given your extensive experience in the European affairs, in your tenure at the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly, I just wonder if you can comment on the fact that on April 15, 2015, the European Parliament has adopted a resolution which officially recognizes the tragic events that have faced Armenians during the Ottoman Empire as a genocide and where it calls upon the European Council and the European Commission and Turkey as well to recognize the events as the genocide and to come to term with your past and thus pave a way for genuine reconciliation between Turkish and Armenian people. Thank you very much. Thank you for the questions. Before I answer this question, I forgot to respond to my Somalian friend. Thank you very much for the gift, first of all, and we are doing our best to support Somalian people and we just built a hospital with 200 beds and Turkey is running this hospital now, but hopefully in five years' time we will hand over to the Somalian that we are training them right now, the doctors and the staff, and then hopefully they will be able to run that hospital. And we also built hospitals in other African countries including Sudan and serving not only those people of those countries but citizens of other African countries and we are developing, we are supporting the development projects in almost all African countries and we will continue. And thank you very much for the gift once again. Regarding the safe zone, Turkey proposed safe zone with air cover or no-fly zone. We know the realities of the region very well and as I mentioned in my introductory speech, we warn our allies and other countries in the coalition right now about the possible developments in Syria and also in Iraq. Unfortunately, our recommendations or advices were not taken in the account. Now including United States, our friends regret that they didn't. Now we are proposing a safe zone because it's a mass in Syria. First of all, we need safe areas. Now we are implementing the train and equip program and we need safe zones in Syria for the success of this program in the ground. Secondly, you know how many refugees living in the neighboring countries, Syrian refugees including Turkey, more than 4 million. And you know how many IDPs in Syria, more than 8 million. And who is helping these vulnerable people? Turkey is doing its best and we are supplying whatever they need particularly in the camps. Now around 240,000 of them living in the 25 camps that we built. Another 38,000 living in the camps, 3 camps that we built in Northern Iraq. And we are supplying education, healthcare and food and everything. Now the budget of World Food Organization is run out. And we have to support those vulnerable people living in Turkey, not only in the camps, but in all over the Turkey. But these people deserve better. Can we give proper education to the children? There are 500,000 Syrians in Turkey at the age of education. And we have been able to give education to only 140,000 of them. What will happen to another 360,000 Syrian children? And we have more than 100,000 Nile burn Syrian babies in Turkey. So what I mean, this zone is also essential to relocate all these refugees and also IDPs. Our guests in Turkey are living in better conditions than the ones living in other neighboring countries. I'm not blaming them because they are also doing best, but they cannot afford actually. Particularly Lebanon and Jordan. So we need to relocate these people in this safe zone with all the infrastructure that they need. School, hospitals and whatever they need. So that's why we propose this safe zone. And the main problem is here, how as the coalition is going to enhance the security for this safe zone, whether it should be supported by no-fly zone or air cover. Obviously, we think different here with the United States. Or United States have different proposals or different ideas of this safe zone and no-fly zone. But if we agree, we should do together. We should implement together with the United States. So Turkey is not insisting to enhance the safe zone or no-fly zone as its own self. But unfortunately, few coalition members like France gave full support. But other core countries, the core members of the coalition have different opinion on this safe zone. But we will continue to try to convince our allies. And regarding the Armenian issue and the European decision of the European Parliament, it's a Euro-skeptic party, I think, made this proposal. It doesn't matter who did, but this resolution is not legally binding and it's not binding. And to our mind, the politicians, national parliaments and the European parliaments or parliamentary assemblies of international organizations shouldn't give such decision. We shouldn't politicize this issue. And I know as a politician, it is not that easy to decide about the history. I also wrote a lot of reports for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on missing persons in the Balkans and so on. And I wrote one of the most difficult reports for the Parliamentary Assembly on mass famine. Mass famine in 1932 and 1933 or Holodomor or Golodomor. So it was not an easy job. And I visited Kazakhstan, Russia, Caucasus, part of Russia, Ukraine and also Belarus for fact-finding visit. And I met everybody. Then President of Ukraine Yushchenko was obviously for genocide. And he arranged a group of scientists to meet me. And during the meeting, at the end of the meeting, 40% of those scientists, historians told me that it was a genocide. And 30% of them said, no, it was not genocide. And another 30% said, we don't have idea or I don't have idea. So as a politician, how can I decide whether it was or it was not a genocide? In my report, I said crime against humanity for mass famine in 1932 and 1933. Well, who is going to decide whether it was a genocide or not? Obviously, genocide is not a generic term. It's a legal term. And to our mind, historians should also decide. That's why we propose Armenia to set up a joint committee of historians and scientists. And we proposed to open the archives. And this joint committee shouldn't be limited with Armenian and Turkish scientists and the scientists, historians from third countries could also participate. And the third countries should also open the archives. And we committed in our letter, in the letter of Prime Minister Erdogan, we committed to accept the outcome of this study. So what else do you expect from Turkey? Why don't we set up this joint committee of historians? Let them study, let open the archive, and we will accept the outcome. Otherwise, it's easy to convince parliamentarians to sign the resolution or to adopt the resolution, but it doesn't help to solve the problem. It didn't. In the past, the national parliaments of some countries in Europe, in Latin America, adopted such resolutions. But it didn't help. I think Turkey and Armenia and Turkish and Armenian people should solve this issue together. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks very much. You have peace and stability in Europe, and then you have chaos in the Middle East. Do you ever regret having invested so much effort and attention in your Middle East policy? And are you ever concerned that Bashar al-Assad, if he stays much longer in power, is going to suck Turkey into the vortex of Middle East and chaos? Thank you. Thank you very much. It's true that despite all the challenges that European societies have been facing, like economic and financial crisis, migration issues, and integration, and also international crime and organized crime and international terrorism, climate change, I can name more, all these challenges, the European continent is still the most stable and most developed and most democratic continent. And we never regret for investing in Middle East. You cannot always succeed. But we should do our best to support the Middle Eastern people. And we should support the countries suffering from all these crises. That's why we give full support to the new Iraqi government, inclusive government. And regarding Syria, yes, we have to eradicate the bloody terrorist organization, Daesh. But meanwhile, we should also eradicate the root causes of the problem. Yesterday, there was no Daesh in Middle East in Iraq and Syria. There was al-Qaeda. Daesh was emerged from al-Qaeda in Iraq. Then they got support from different circles, and they moved to Syria, and they got a lot of support from the regime. That's why they have these Russian, Chinese, and Serbian-made weapons in their hand. And then when they feel themselves strong enough, they went back to Iraq, they captured Mosul, and they also kept our consulate staff as hostage for 102 days. And at the end, we were able to bring them through a smooth operation. That's another story. But in Mosul, the Shia militias of Maliki, around 70,000 of them left Mosul. And they left all these heavy weapons behind, and Daesh got them. Tanks, artillery, and even missiles. And all these heavy weapons, American-made weapons. Now Daesh has American and Russian-made weapons in their hands. And they advance in both Syria and Iraq with all this power. But if we don't eradicate the root causes, yesterday it was al-Qaeda, then al-Nusra, then Daesh, and tomorrow we don't know who is going to be emerged as a terrorist organization. So the current situation and the regime is the fertile ground for the radicalization and terrorism in Syria. Therefore Assad must go. And we cannot unite the people of Syria around Assad anymore, because this regime is killing. As long as Assad stays, they will continue killing people through the barrel bombs, through the chemical weapons, through the crawling gas, and air bombings. And Aleppo is very strategic town, and around 2 million civilians living there. Therefore we never regret where we stand for the Middle East. And Turkish foreign policy is a multi-dimensional one anyway. And this multi-dimensional and proactive policy is complementary. We cannot alternative to each other. Thank you very much. For Marks and especially for your taking all these questions and addressing them, wish you well on the rest of your stay here. And please come back and join us again. Thank you. He's going to come out very quickly, and then we'll all open. Everyone can stay seated, please, just for a moment. Thank you very much.