WHITE HOUSE PRESS PLANE/ANKARA - The spokesman for U.S. National Security Council, Mike Hammer, said Sunday the number one goal of U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Turkey was to repair the relations and eradicate all negative results of the 2003 crisis.
Hammer talked to the AA aboard the White House press plane on the way to Ankara from Prague where a U.S.-EU summit took place.
"The U.S. could have reacted differently to the crisis in 2003. Perhaps then a crisis could have been averted. President Obama wishes to repair the relations with Turkey in his visit," Hammer said.
President Obama had said, after arriving at the White House, that he would visit a Muslim country in the first three months of his presidency.
"Obama's speeches in Turkey will not be directed at the Muslims. However, Turkey is a country where the majority of the population is Muslim. Turkey's identity as a Muslim, secular and democratic country is crucial for us," Hammer said.
Stressing Turkey's role as a 'bridge' between the East and the West, Hammer said that Turkey was a good way for President Obama to conclude his visit to Europe.
A high level official from the White House told the AA correspondent that some of the issues Obama would discuss in Ankara were "Afghanistan, Iraq and the Middle East".
In March, 2003, the Turkish parliament rejected allowing U.S. troops to use its bases ahead of a possible Iraq occupation, causing high tension in relations with the U.S.