Istanbul, Monday 28 June 2004.
The Prime Minister said today that it is the will of the whole international community for Iraq to take control of its own destiny.
Mr Blair was speaking at a press conference with the Iraqi Foreign and Defence Ministers in Istanbul.
Read the statement in full below
Prime Minister:
Good Morning everyone. First of all can I say how pleased I am to meet the Foreign Minister of Iraq once again, and to meet the Defence Minister for the first time, and I would just like to begin by paying tribute to their courage. These are two people who are engaged in an immensely important struggle, not just on behalf of Iraq, but actually I believe on behalf of the whole region of the wider world, and they deserve our thanks and our support and our gratitude for what they are achieving. As we discovered in the course of our conversation, there is no great surprise, there is a very, very simple question. The vast majority of Iraqi people want the stability and democracy, they want a good way forward. The terrorists, by contrast, and the insurgents, Saddam elements, what they want to do is to stop that progress and cause chaos. And therefore the issue is, how do we as an international community support the efforts of the new Iraqi government, now a government with the support of the whole of the international community, how do we help and support them beat this insurgency and terrorism, and we have got to do everything we can by way of training, and equipment, and support inside and outside of Iraq to make sure that that happens. Because in the end it is the age-old struggle between those who want to decide their system of government and how their country is run through democratic means, and those who want to decide it by whoever has most weapons, whoever has most power in a military or security sense. And this is a hugely important struggle therefore on behalf as I say not just of the people of Iraq, but the wider region and the world, and I am delighted to have had this opportunity to meet both the Foreign and Defence Minister and to exchange views with them, and once again thank you for coming here and talking to me and perhaps you would like to say a few words.
Mr Zebari:
I am very pleased and honoured again to meet the Prime Minister. We benefit a great deal from advice and counsel, in fact I would say even that he has offered us as Iraqis during this difficult period. And also we briefed His Excellency about the latest developments, that we have made some very good progressive progress I would say. In terms of the political process we have a new Security Council resolution that ensured the return of sovereignty to the Iraqi people, to take away the level of occupation, I think that is what we have suffered a great deal from and the Prime Minister has helped us a great deal in fact to achieve that goal and that objective. Now after 30 June it will be up to us to run, to control our country and to manage the security, and it would be an acid test for us to stand up to the challenge, and this is our country, this is our future, and there are many Iraqis in fact who will stand up to the challenge to meet these new challenges. We are here at this NATO Summit to seek more help and assistance for training and equipment inside Iraq, we need them because the main challenge in fact is we need to build our security, military capabilities to be able to rise up to these new challenges and we have had a very good deal of support. We are reaching out to all members of NATO, we are asking them to take Iraq more seriously, it is not a local issue, it has wider implications in the region and even on the international scene. So we are very pleased here, in fact we are confident and we are ready to take up our responsibility, even before June 30. I believe today we will challenge those elements in Iraq - the terrorists, the criminals, the Saddamist anti-democratic forces - by bringing even the date of the handover of sovereignty before June 30 as a sign that we are ready for the challenge.
Mr Shalan:
Let me speak in Arabic, because this is very comfortable to me. We thank His Excellency the Prime Minister for this kind invitation. The big change that has happened in Iraq is a big opportunity for democracy in the area and thanks to the allies, the United Kingdom and the USA that they made this great thing happen. This is the first chance for the Iraqi people to gain their freedom, but the terrorism is an international thing that is taking place nowadays trying to stop this change and the terrorists are trying their best to change the course of our democratic process. The security situation in Iraq is quite stable, although you hear sometimes otherwise, up to 90%, but the car bombs and explosions that are taking place are single incidents that are taking place and it is 100% done by insurgents from outside Iraq. We are determined to go after them and eliminate them and we have plans to do that and execute that. This has been done with the great help of the allied forces, or what we call the MNF forces. We are here, invited by NATO, and they have offered great assistance and help to the new Iraqi Interim Government. We have promised our people that democracy will prevail and we will continue on that course, that is why the Iraqi people have great expectations from this Summit that NATO will commit their help and support in training and equipping our armed forces. We met Their Excellencies, the Foreign Ministers of the NATO countries yesterday. Almost everybody gave their support to our ideas and to help to train and equip the Iraqi army. I and the Iraqi people sincerely thank His Excellency Mr Blair for his support from the beginning until now for the democratic change in Iraq and all the risks that he has taken in doing that, and we promise Mr Tony Blair and the British people who have supported us that democracy will prevail in Iraq and we are here to succeed, with your help.
Question: (Andrew Marr, BBC TV)
It seemed that the Foreign Minister was saying that the transfer of sovereignty has been brought forward to today. Is that correct and can you confirm that?
Prime Minister:
I am not actually in a position right at this moment to confirm that, but I think the important thing is to understand that the will of the whole international community now is that Iraq takes control of its own destiny. Iraq should be run by Iraqis. We are there to help and support from now on, in terms of security particularly. But it is worth just pointing out that already in Iraq many of the basic services, like health and education, are being run by Iraqis now. And I think what is important is to recognise that after this moment that in respect of security, Iraqis will be in charge. We can support and we can help with things like training, but it is important that they are the sovereign power.
Question:
But it does sound like it has been brought forward.
Prime Minister:
I think you will have to wait for an announcement on that until a little bit later.
Question:
Could I ask the Iraqi Foreign Minister what is the significance of the handover of power to you, the transfer of sovereignty? And secondly, isn’t it mildly insulting to the Iraqi people that the debate here amongst NATO leaders will be about whether Iraqi troops can be trained on Iraqi soil or outside because it offended those countries that opposed the war to have them trained within?
Mr Zebari:
Well first of all the significance of the June 30 deadline for the transfer of sovereignty, for us, for Iraqis, is that we will be in charge, that we will run our country, we will be responsible, we will be accountable, these will be our people, how best we manage. We need a different Iraq from Saddam’s Iraq, that would be the main challenge, we would like to see a new free, democratic, pluralistic, federal, united Iraq in place of the dictatorship, the tyranny that Saddam has installed over the past three and a half decades or so, so it is very significant for us, and really we would be responsible for anything we do and we believe in ourselves, in our capabilities, in our future that we will succeed, again with the help of the coalition. Alone we cannot do it, Iraq has gone through a dramatic historical transformation after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein’s regime a year ago by the courageous coalition forces. Now it is not insulting for us for NATO or for other countries to come and help us and assist us, in fact we need that assistance. It is a matter of time until we will be able to stand on our feet, otherwise we have the money, we have the capabilities, we have the resources, we have the people whom we could offer assistance and help to other countries, but at the time because the whole system, the state has collapsed and that is one of the legacies of dictatorship when the head is removed the whole system has collapsed, we have seen it in other places. We need the security, we need the assistance and we need that to take place inside Iraq, we need it because of time constraints and other reasons, that is the only thing, otherwise we do not feel ashamed really.
Question:
Prime Minister, do you feel the appointment of Mr Barroso, bearing in mind that he was a pro-war leader in Europe, is a personal victory over President Chirac? Secondly, have you agreed who the British Commissioner is going to be? And thirdly can we have your comment please on this extraordinary statement from the Treasury warning against lies and distortions being put forward by Derek Scott, one of your former advisers?
Prime Minister:
I think no, no and no are probably the answers on that. No, I am here to discuss this issue really. I think we will have to wait and see. I will make a comment after the appointment tomorrow night. It looks like there is a consensus now in Europe and that is good but I think you will have to wait for my comments until then.
Question:
Have you actually got the Guantanamo detainees returned now to Britain, as is being reported?
Prime Minister:
I am sorry, I don’t mean particularly at this early stage of the day not to be answering any of your questions, but I think there is a court case there, I have got to be careful what I say.
Question:
On the question the Foreign Minister answered we didn’t give you an opportunity just to comment on NATO’s deliberations today.
Prime Minister:
Let’s just wait and see what NATO agrees, but I think NATO will come up with a united position and obviously it is a matter for individual countries as to what help they give, but we are very, very clear that it is in the interests of the whole region and the wider world, let alone the people in Iraq, that we give them every help to deal with the one issue that there is. What is absolutely obvious, talking to the two Ministers, is that Iraq would be moving ahead tremendously on the economy, on civil society, on human rights, on everything, if we can deal with this terrorism and security problem, so that is the thing we need help with and we are there to give it to them.
(END OF TRANSCRIPT)
delicious
digg
facebook
