ANKARA - U.S. Ambassador in Ankara Eric Edelman paid a courtesy visit to National Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul on Monday.
Gonul said in the meeting that close cooperation between Turkey and the United States dated back to very old days and this cooperation continued by developing further in recent times.
Noting that the United States was a big state which Turkey had the closest cooperation both in NATO and other places, Gonul said that as National Defense Ministry, they worked with the United States in a big partnership structure in the fields of military and defense industry along with their cooperation with this country in NATO. He added that they worked on more than 50 joint projects only in field of defense industry. He said that for this reason, they attributed great importance to the visit of the ambassador.
Noting that former U.S. Ambassador in Ankara Robert Pearson left relations on a good point, Gonul said that he had the impression that new ambassador Edelman was also determined to bring the relations to a better point. He added, ''I have no doubt that he will contribute to U.S.-Turkey relations significantly. We are ready to help him in this issue.''
Edelman said that the United States and Turkey had been good and strong allies for more than 50 years. He added that they wanted to continue good relations.
(GC-AÖ) 01.09.2003