Rice: Turkey is very important for US

Rice made a briefing for foreign journalists. Stressing that Turkey’s importance stemmed from its success in harboring Islam and democracy together, Rice said dispatch of Turkish soldiers to Iraq was not removed from the agenda, and noted that the process still continued.

Replying to questions of reporters about Turkey-U.S. relations, Rice said Turkish-U.S. relations were going through the strongest period. He said Turkey was a NATO member for more than 50 years, adding Turkey and U.S. made close cooperation in political and economical areas.

Rice said U.S. made cooperation with Turkey in every field, not only on dispatch of soldiers.

Pointing out that his administration was pleased over Turkey’s proposal to send soldiers, Rice said this was an extremely sensitive issue, but that process still continued.

Rice said Turkey was their most important ally, and continued to be so, noting that Turkey and U.S. acted together in many regions of the world. He said U.S. supported Turkey’s access to the EU under right conditions.

Rice said Turkey and U.S. had deep economic and financial relations, noting that the two countries also had very strong relations in fight against terrorism.

Rice said Turkey was important for the future of the EU and the Middle East, noting that Turkey had principles of democracy and Islam together and shows that those can exist together.