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428081401
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Telephone Conversation with President Turgut Ozal of Turkey, January 30, 1991
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doc
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document
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1
Source metadata
id
428081401
contentType
document
title
Telephone Conversation with President Turgut Ozal of Turkey, January 30, 1991
citationUrl
collections
Records of the National Security Council (George H. W. Bush Administration)
Presidential Telcon Files
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Turkey
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428081401
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30
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1991-01-30
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1
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1991
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nara-archive
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2b938185304e913b
ocrText
SECRET
SECRET
1157
THE WHITE HOUSE
DECLASSIFIED
WASHINGTON
PER E.O. 12958,
AS AMENDED
MEMORANDUM OF TELEPHONE CONVERSATION
32 8/21/09
SUBJECT:
Telephone Conversation with President Turgut Ozal
of Turkey
PARTICIPANTS: The President
President Turgut Ozal
Nicholas Burns, NSC Staff (notetaker)
DATE, TIME
January 30, 1991, 1:15-1:26 p.m.
AND PLACE
The Oval Office
The President: Hello, Turgut. How are you? (f)
President Ozal: Hello, George. How are you? Everything is fine.
I saw your State of the Union message. God bless you. It was a
good speech. (t)
The President: Thank you. I hope you didn't mind my mentioning
your name. I wanted to give you credit on the peace side. (f)
President Ozal: The response from the Congress--the House and
Senate -- was good. (d)
The President: Yes. I think it is a good signal to our friend
in Baghdad. He still thinks there is division in my country. I
told some of the Hill leaders that it sends a good signal. (d)
President Ozal: I think SO. It is misleading. I was just
listening to your Commander briefing on CNN. (c)
The President: Yes, we are watching it now. The war is going
well. I am determined to stay on track. Did you see the
Bessmertnykh joint statement that was issued yesterday? (d)
President Ozal: There was no difference. (f)
The President: There is no difference and there will be no pause
to hope he will come to the table. The problem is with some of
the wording in one of the paragraphs. Reporters thought there
was a difference in our policy and tried to make something out of
it. Please understand that we wouldn't go around behind the
backs of our allies on a new course. There is no difference. We
will pursue the war as you and I have discussed before. (c)
President Ozal: I know your position and am not worried. I
listened to the State of the Union live at 5:00 a.m. in Ankara.
(C)
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Declassify on: OADR
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The President: My God. Get some sleep. (U)
I received your letter and will get back to you as soon as we can
prepare a proper response. I understand your position. One
other thing. I had to postpone the Moscow trip and hope you will
understand I want to make a trip to Turkey and will get back to
you.
(f)
President Ozal: I understand. You have to be in Washington. By
the way, I made a little needling of the Germans. (C)
The President: I saw that. What was their response? (U)
President Ozal: It was good. (U)
The President: Are they mad? (f)
President Ozal: They are not mad. It was the truth. There is
too much discussion in Germany. Genscher is reluctant to admit
that Article V is operational. (8)
The President: I think you got their attention. I've talked to
Kohl several times but have heard no anger from him. (C)
President Ozal: Kohl is okay. Genscher was the problem. (S)
The President: How are things going in your part of the world?
(U)
President Ozal: There is a lot of snow in the southeast. Your
planes are operating out of Incirlik but are having trouble
because of the bad weather. (φ)
The President: I appreciate your letting us use Incirlik. (C)
President Ozal: We have big forces opposite Iraq. And there are
eight Iraqi divisions there. The Iraqis are in a difficult
situation. The people who have escaped say it is really bad.
Many who want to escape are being killed. (C)
The President: We're getting the same thing in the south. They
are discouraged, they have lice and nothing to eat.
(&)
President Ozal: Let me tell you. The Saddam Hussein interview
shows the situation. He is desperate. He wants to make
propaganda. He is a crazy man. (S)
The President: CNN is a good mouthpiece for him. A lot of
people are getting angry with CNN. It simply reports his
programs. (8)
President Ozal: I feel the same way. He is alone. He is now
calling others. He wants to make propaganda. (C)
The President: I think Saddam Hussein is more isolated. The
SECRET
SECRET
BEGRET
dumping of the oil has drawn the environmental world against him
now. They might have been sympathetic. It just turns more
people against him. (L)
President Ozal: You continue to bomb them before sending your
ground forces.
(S)
The President: No question. There is no rush on the ground
campaign. We will do what we have to do. The air campaign is
making real progress.
(R)
President Ozal: We see it. They are trying terrorism in my
country but it is not that important.
(&)
The President: He is trying to say we are bombing civilian
targets but that is not true. Anyway, they show pictures of
craters with grass growing in them.
(c)
There is no change on our end. I am glad you understand there is
no difference in the joint statement.
(c)
President Ozal: I just called to congratulate you for the speech.
(X)
The President: Thank you. (U)
One more question. Are you under control at home? Is everything
okay? (8)
President Ozal: Yes. Everything is okay. There is no problem.
(C)
The President: I won't worry but you are my friend and I've got
to ask you. You're doing just great. Okay. Good-bye. (c)
President Ozal: Good-bye. (U)
-- End of conversation --
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