( Hurriyet ) - The US State Department's Undersecretary of Political Affairs, Nicholas Burns, arrived yesterday in Istanbul and told press members "We are lending one hundred percent support to Turkey in its struggle against the PKK."
Burns, who caused a minor flurry yesterday at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport by entering the normal passport lines and picking up his own luggage, while embassy officials had been expecting him to use the airport's VIP salon, visited both the Fener Greek Orthodox Patriarchate and the Suleymaniye Mosque yesterday.
On his exit from the Greek Patriarchate yesterday, Burns made statements about US support for Turkey in the fight against PKK generated terror. Said Burns further: "The US is a friend of Turkey's. We want to strengthen our relations with the Turkish government. We are supporting the Turkish government in its struggle against the PKK. We see the PKK as a terrorist organization. We are not supporting the PKK. In the meetings I will hold, I will reiterate that we are lending Turkey one hundred percent support in all this."