US ambassador: ”The terrorist PKK is our common enemy”

Citing his quarter-century in Turkish-US relations, new US Ambassador to Turkey James Jeffrey over the weekend expressed enthusiasm for his new post. "I am very happy to be back in Turkey as ambassador," he said in a statement on the US Embassy website. "This is my fourth assignment here. I've been working in Turkey and in Washington on the US-Turkish relations for a good part of my career. Over the twenty-five years since I first came to Turkey, I've developed a deep appreciation for your country and an abiding respect for the complexity of the Turkish language. There's no country with which I've developed a closer attachment. I'm not saying that simply because I'm ambassador." Touching on the terrorist PKK, he added, "We share the same view of the PKK. It's a terrorist organization that's a common enemy of Turkey, the United States and the broader international community. We have backed up our verbal commitment to assisting Turkey in its efforts to counter the PKK threat with deeds. We're sharing information and supporting Turkey's political and economic steps to counter the PKK's propaganda."