Hagel expresses admiration for Turkey and Ataturk

US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel reiterated on Thursday that he admired Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, and the Turkish people and state in his first press conference in the Pentagon. "Ataturk has done something that was very significant that has had a very important sustaining legacy in the world. And sometimes we -- we in the West don't fully appreciate what Ataturk did," said Hagel. Stating that the recent rapprochement between Turkey and Israel is critically important to the region, Hagel said that this would affect Syria, as well as the results in the region.