Turkey, US Affirm 'Indispensable' Partnership

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, April 29, 2003

Turkey, US Affirm 'Indispensable' Partnership

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Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Robert Wexler, a US House Representative, affirmed at their meeting on Monday that Turkey and the United States were "indispensable" partners in the region.

The Prime Ministry Press Center said Erdogan and Wexler discussed bilateral and regional issues within the scope of the strategic partnership relations between the two countries.

Wexler, a Florida Democrat and co-chairman of the Turkey Friendship Group, said the Turkish premier's message during their talks was that the country's face was still towards the West, adding that this would contribute to Turkey-US relations.

Wexler told a press briefing in the US Embassy that the bilateral relations benefited both sides to date.

Relations between Turkey and the United States have been strained since Turkey's parliament in March blocked a motion that would have allowed deployment of 60,000 US troops in Turkey to invade neighboring Iraq.

The US Congress' approval of the one-billion-dollar aid package to Turkey reaffirmed the strategic partnership between the two countries, Wexler said.

He said he went to Turkey with certain question marks about Turkey's relations with the United States. But he was leaving the country in a more optimistic way.

It was Wexler's second visit to Turkey to mend the soured US-Turkish relations. He was expected to leave Ankara on Tuesday morning.

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