ANKARA (Today’s Zaman)—The newly appointed commander of the United States Central Command said on Tuesday that Turkey and the US would continue to work together on common interests.
Addressing senators during a meeting of Senate Armed Services Committee, CENTCOM’s new commander Gen. James Mattis said Turkey had been an ally of the U.S since the Korean War.
“Turkey has been an ally of ours since the Korean War when they fought alongside us during that difficult period. They stood by us through the Cold War. They stood by us through sanctions against Saddam at a time when it cost them economically severe consequences to their country,” Mattis said.
Describing Turkey as “the only NATO country that is fighting an active insurgency in the southeast corner”, Mattis said, “I believe there is a lot of room for us to continue to work together on common interest”.
“It is part of EUCOM (US European Command) and I will work with (Commander of US European Command) Admiral James Stavridis,” Mattis added.
