August 25, 2011, My Qs and As with the State Dpt. Spokesperson Victoria Nuland

TURKEY-NATO ADAPTIVE MISSILE SYSTEM TALKS/AGREEMENT

QUESTION:  Will you confirm press reports that Turkey and U.S. recently agreed on the NATO’s phased adaptive missile system a couple days ago?

MS. NULAND:  My understanding is that the talks continue, that our team is still in Turkey working on this.  But we, as you know, strongly support this phased adaptive approach, and we want as many allies as are comfortable to participate in this NATO system.

QUESTION:  So no final --

MS. NULAND:  The team is still talking is my understanding.

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LIBYAN FLAG AT UN- B.RHODES' 'CORE PRINCIPALS' FOR INTERVENTION

QUESTION:  A couple of quick questions.  First, Turkish Foreign Minister Davutoglu said that he would like to see TNC or new Libya flag in UN convention next month.  Do you think – would you support to that? 

MS. NULAND:  I think we’d all like to see that.  I think we’d all like to see that.

QUESTION:  Do you also agree that – rebels suggest that 90 percent of Tripoli is under their control.  Do you agree with that?  There are different news report on -- 

MS. NULAND:  I don't think we’re in a position here to evaluate the security situation, neighborhood by neighborhood, in Tripoli.  You’ve see what we’ve seen.  The situation remains fluid.  There is still fighting, so --

QUESTION:  Ben Rhodes, deputy national security advisor – yesterday, he had an interview, and he said that there are two core principles going forward for interventions.  One of – is local – relying on local forces and second is a burden sharing.  Are you ready or in a position to lay out such a vision for future interventions?

MS. NULAND:  I think we’ve spoken here, for the last couple of days, about a policy that was based, first and foremost, on supporting the Libyan people in their aspiration for a democratic future.  And second, that was rooted in U.S. leadership to build an unprecedentedly large international community of common action.  So that has been our focus on the military support side, the political support side, the economic support side. 

Yesterday, I outlined the speed of some of the steps that we were able to take, that the international community was able to take to support the Libyan people, but this is their victory.  This is their time.  It’s not over till it’s over.  But the principle that the United States would support and would help rally the international community to support the legitimate aspirations of the Libyan people was the under-girding principle here and will remain so.

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BURNS-DAVUTOGLU MEETING

QUESTION:  Under^[1] Secretary Burns had a meeting with Foreign Minister Davutoglu.  Was the Syrian ongoing violence part of the meeting?  Would you be able to elaborate on that part of the meeting?

MS. NULAND:  I don’t have any specifics from the meeting, except that I know that there was an intention from – by Deputy Secretary Burns to talk about Syria.  It’s been something that we and Turkey have been closely working on together as we try to ratchet up the pressure on the Asad regime.

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