We will continue to stand beside Turkey: US Envoy Ricciardone

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

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The United States will remain an ally of Turkey in tense times as in normal times, U.S. Ambassador to Ankara Francis Ricciardone said on June 19.

“We are a friend and an ally of Turkey. We are allies in tense times as well as in less tense times. We consider Turkey’s power important,” Ricciardone said, following his meeting with Yalçın Akdoğan, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s adviser, in the headquarters of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Ankara. 

“We value common interests as partners. We value the democratic, growing and dynamic economy of Turkey,” he told reporters. “I believe that our relations are still strong and healthy and it will continue as so. We trust in Turkish democracy.”

Even though Riccardione didn’t directly mention the Gezi Park protests, he said that the United States did not intervene in “your internal matters.” “We will continue to be beside you,” he stressed.