honored to be ask to represent our country and our government. madam chair, members of the committee, thank you for this opportunity to appear before you. i welcome any questions you may have. >> thank you very much. before we go on to ambassador ricciardoan, i understand the ambassador from the -- ricciardone, i understand the ambassador from the czech is here. i don't know if there are any members of the diplomatic corps here, but welcome to all of you. so, ambassador ricciardone. >> madam chair, members of the committee. i am proud to be here before you today as president obama nominee, ambassador of turkey, having served in that capacity as a recessed appointee since the past january. i am glad of the president and

ms. clinton. joining me is my partner, long before iran and everywhere. she's with me. our daughters were unable to join us. we all have family connections to turkey. maria studied and taught there as well. during my 33-year career in the foreign service, i had the pleasure and privilege of having served in turkey previously three times. and through this period i've observed turkey's continuing transformation into a more democratic and more open and more economically vibrant modern state and as a player with growing influence on the world stage. throughout this change and development has been one constant and that's been turkey's continued partnership with the united states and the nato alliance.

it's part of the g-20 and has one of the fastest growing economies in the world. noting turkey's history as a majority muslim nation and as a secular democracy that respects the rule of law, president obama cited turkey's critical role in helping to shape the mutual understanding and stability not only in its neighborhood but around the world. if confirmed, i will continue to do everything i can to reinforce turkish american cooperation in support of our common goals which are rooted in the security alliance and our shared democratic values. for decades turkey and the united states have cooperated sensenbrennerively to promote -- intensively to promote the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, resolving regional conflicts, promoting energy security, expanding trade and investment and economic development, and essential and integral to all of those, strengthening democracy, human rights and the rule of law. several such strategic

priorities merge in the cases of particular and immediate consequence, including in iraq and afghanistan. the quest for peace between israel and all its neighbors and iran's evidence pursuit of nuclear -- evident pursuit of nuclear weapons. other conflicts, as you mentioned, madam chair, requires no less sustained and intensive joint cooperation including the unresolved issues of cyprus and the normalization relationships with armenia. i have been privileged to serve in ankara during the arab spring, which i tried for the nato role in libya, to democracy in egypt and in collaboration with my friend in syria to pressure the regime in syria to cease its brutal repression and to heed the will of its people. just as the turkish government has played a role in promoting these political transitions, its government and private

sector are also keen to support economic development in egypt and tunisia that are so critical to the long-term stability in the region by increasing their trade and investment in those countries. and wherever possible, turkey as a government and turkish firms are looking for partnerships with american firms. while we share many goals with turkey, one of the most important is countering global terrorism and networks, and turkey has been one of our strongest partners in their pursuit. just last month, turkish security officials arrested an alleged al qaeda cell that was plotting to bomb western interests in turkey, including the united states embassy. we support turkey's own foremost security objectives of defeating the terrorist violence which the p.k.k. tnsd to perpetrate and has led to the deaths of 30,000 turks since the 19 0's. we strongly support -- 1980's. we strongly support the human rights and the economic situation for the kurds and their democratic participation as full citizens.

and the rice, also, of other communities of vulnerable groups in turkey. as the united states maintains its long-standing support for turkey's aspirations to join the european union, we will continue to press for the reforms required for anticipation. it's important to note the turkish citizens themselves are demanding further progress on promoting human rights and the rule of law, including freedom of speech and replidgeous freedom. and in my return to turkey it's been my privilege to meet with the heads of each of the religious minorities, the ancient jewish community of istanbul. his all holiness, bartholomew ii, who i met with first lady clinton. the head of the syriani church and head of the armenian church as well as the baha'i community leader. it has a constitutional reform process to strengthen turkey's

democracy. we regard freedom of expression essential to democracy and we believe the reform process offers the unique opportunity to protect journalists, to nongovernmental organizations and to minorities. . the president and secretary have established economic cooperation with turkey as a strategic priority and have emphasized the support of american firms and promoting turkish american trade and investment. during the president's april, 2000, meeting with turkish president, both leaders agreed to elevate our economic relations to the level of our already strong political and military relations. . tur see is the leading focus in the export initialtive to double u.s. exports globally in five years. it's been a special privethroge return over these last six months to strengthen the communications between our two peoples in all fields on private as well as official

endeavors. i know this committee in the senate has strongly spothed public diplomacy and i've tried to make a special effort to communicate with the turkish people and bring private groups together. i think communications between americans and turks must be a primary way to advance our interests in all issues we face today. madam chair, ranking member, if confirmed to continue my service as ambassador, i will trust to your support and advice and that of your colleagues and constituents who are interested in the interest the united states has at stake in turkey. thank you so much for this hearing. >> thank you. ambassador ford. >> thank you, madam chair. madam chair, senator lugar, senator, i am honored to appear before you today. i'm grateful for the trust and confidence placed in me by

president obama and secretary clinton in renominating me to serve as united states ambassador to the syrian arab republic. at a time when it is more critical than ever that our voice be heard clearly by the syrian regime and more importantly by the syrian people themselves. under the president's recess appointment, i have been working in syria since late january. i have to say, it has not been an easy job but the strategic stakes and strategic opportunities for us that we have in syria now are quite dramatic and there's a hugely important story about the struggle for human dignity now under way in syria. i arrived in syria about a month before the protests started. in the past five months, those protests have grown slowly in size and they now extend across all of syria.

the protesters demand respect for their basic rights, freedom of speech, freedom to march peacefully and they demand an end to corruption and above all they demand that their government treat them with dignity. i want to emphasize here, we talked about the arab spring in washington, the keyword is dignity. treating people with dignity. the government's response has been brutal. it has been outrageous. nearly 2,000 people have been killed by the syria security forces. thousands more arrested and held in barbaric conditions. one cannot but have admiration for the protesters' courage and their ingenuity in that they have stayed generally peaceful despite bullets, beatings and the constant risk of arrest and torture. in my five months there, sorry,

six months, i have seen two principles in front of me, first to insist to the syrian officials and convince them that open manager space for the syrian people to express themselveses is vital for the credibility of those officials, to the credibility of that government and for syria more largely. there have been a few small positive steps taken by the government. they have released many political prisoners. they have allowed some meetings by the political opposition. however, as i said, in general, their behavior has been atrocious and their recent actions that we read about in the newspaper these days only underline again that the syrian government is unwilling to lead the democratic transitions that the syrian people themselves demand.

my second vital function in damascus is to work with the syrian opposition. i have spent enormous amounts of time discussing with them their ideas for the future and discussing with them the kinds of questions that other syrian -- syrians and the international community will ask about them. it's really important now to give syrians an ear and to amplify their voices, especially when the international media is barred from syria. i have been trying to draw the attention of the syrian regime and the attention of the international community to the legitimate grievances the syrian people have with their government. the syrian people want to be heard. i wish the members of this committee could have seen how enthusiastic the protesters were to have a chance to talk

to the american ambassador. the crisis in syria, however is not about the united states directly. as i said, it offers us opportunities to promote respect for our principles and our ideals. the syrian crisis offers us opportunities eventually to reinforce stability and peace in the middle east. but syrians, syrians must resolve the crisis. the manner in which the crisis is resolved has to be a syrian one. my job is to help establish the space for syrian activists and syrian thinkers, for syrian business people and for the syrian people generally to develop and organize the political transition that must occur if syria is to be stable

again. syria's 23 million people are already thinking about what happens when assad is no longer president of syria. i believe we and the syrian people share a vision of what syria could be, an open and democratic country where governance is based on consent of the governed. a unified and tolerant country where arabs and kurds, sunnis, christians and jews see themselves as syrians first and celebrate syria's rich cultural diversity. a strong country, at peace with its neighbors, and exercising a stabilizing influence in the region. a strong country that plays a responsible role in the broader international community and a country that does not support

iranian efforts to destabilize the region or give support to terrorist groups like hezbollah. as the president said on july 31, syria will be a better place when the democratic transition goes forward. i and my team in damascus, my colleagues at the department of state and throughout the u.s. government and most importantly the syrian people are working to make that vision a reality. madam chair, thank you for this opportunity to address the committee and i look forward to responding to questions at the appropriate time. the speaker pro tempore: thank you all very -- thank you all -- >> thank you all very much for your testimony. as i indicated in introducing ambassadorsizen and ricciardone, you were recess

appointments. i'd like you each to address the situation that required your recess appointment and why you believe the senate should confirm you this. >> madam chair, as you noted, the czeches are some of our closest allies in the region and the world, and an ambassador was needed after a hiatus to work on critical issues like afghanistan, iran, israel and the potential $27.5 billion civil nuclear export opportunity worth thousands of u.s. jobs. it's my understanding that my nomination was held over concerns about a personnel matter handled by my office when i worked in the white house. we attempted to resolve those concerns but were unable to do so. given the important security and economic issues on which we

work with the czechs, the president determined a recess poim was appropriate and necessary. since my arile in prague, we have made strong progress on all those issues, afghanistan, iran, israel, the nuclear contract and many other important areas in the relationship. those remain as vital as ever. i believe that progress, the energy that not only i have put in, but the entire embassy team in prague, together, have put in, and the good works that they and we have done, i think, is the best case for the continued presence of an ambassador in the czech republic. >> thank you. mr. ricciardoni. >> thank you for the opportunity to address that question. as you pointed out yourself, senator lugar pointed out, turkey is a pivotal country, a critical place geographically

and very tense moments of conflict throughout the region. it has influence in all of those issues that are of strategic concern to the united states. moreover, internally, it is going through a hugely important and deliberate process of change. the turkish people deciding their own direction and future. they do look to us as they go through this, they care about what we think. we have an extraordinarily talented embassy team that i found on arrival in january. there's one now even through our transition. they do the heavy lifting diplomacy every day they do a lot without an ambassador but the fact is having an ambassador present improves united states' access, having someone to talk every day to different institutions in government and the civilians and the public in a way that cannot be done. i'm grateful that the president appointed me.

i'm grateful to have been there in particular throughout this period of the arab spring with so much going on in the region, where turkey has swung in and helped play a stabilizing role in those transitions. i regret i was unable to resolve the concerns of an individual member of the senate, former member of the senate. i would be honored and grateful to address any concerns from any member. regarding my past service, my current service in turkey or anywhere else. i thank you for the opportunity to address some of that today if there are concerns. >> thank you. as i understand, part of the questioning had -- or questions that were raised had to do with your tenure in iraq and ambassador to egypt. were there any particular concerns you would like to address today that were raised? >> i was very proud of my service not only in iraq but

before saddam hussein went down, i worked with the iraqi opposition, the democratic opposition to saddam hussein under president clinton and secretary albright. my job was to help organize and support, invigorate the iraqis who were working for a post-saddam future. it was a privilege to be part of that. i did that to the best of my ability and openly worked with members of the congress who were keenly interested. if there are particular questions, i'm not sure -- i'm sure i must have antagonized members of the iraqi opposition. i worked very closely in egypt with not only the government but very much civil society and the theory of the case we had was, we had to press on all fronts, starting with the very stubborn president mubarak, who was committed and set in his

ways with the people around him, with his government, with his state and very much with civil society. i was privileged to go to the headquarters of opposition movements to continue the flow of funding provided by the united states through usaid to civil society groups. i understand that remains an issue with the government of egypt but i was proud to continue to do that and i took up the issue with president mubarak himself and told him we were determined to keep doing that. again, i'm glad to answer any particular questions that may come up. i've made it a point to meet with all the religious community leaders, one of the great experiences of my life to have a passover seder in cairo while the imprecations of the pharaoh were being called down. i met with his holiness the pope many, many times and sought his advice on how best

to advance the cause of freedom for egypt's christians. i met with the greek patriarch and the russian orthodox tai taye trashing, i took up the cause of the baha'is with mubarak himself and had a small success on that front. i worked hard and won some and lost others but that's the nature of our business. glad, again, to address any particular questions on that. >> thank you for the effort to clarify some of those concerns that had been raised. i was very surprised, as i'm sure a lot of other people were, to see so many of turkey's generals step down over the weekend. i just wondered if you could give us your assessment of what that means for the civilian government, what it means in terms of the military, how do we interpret what happened? >> thank you, madam chair. as to what this means for

turkey, its democracy and civilian government, the turks themselveses are analyzing all of that and coming -- debating that. deciding what it means and we're asking them for what it means for the united states and our security relationship with them. i'm very, very confident that it has not caused a setback in any way. on the contrary there's always a turnover in the leadership in any case. this turnover happened in a different way, under protest for reasons articulated by the general. we look forward to working with the new leadership. the security relationship goes beyond individuals, it's a state of institutions. turkey is a state of law and strong institutions that are durable even though they're dynamic and in change.

i have every confidence our security relationship will continue to be strong, that our military leaders will meet with the new turkey military leaders and i look forward to getting back to ankara to meet and deal with the new military leadership. i'm very confident things will be just fine. >> thank you. my time is up, senator lugar? >> thank you very much, madam chairman. the czech republic was expected to host a missile defense radar under the bush administration. the missile defense plans for europe. that plan was scrapped in 2009 in favor of the phase adaptive approach. even though prague recently announced it was not interested in the administration's current proposal, it appears open to considering participation in future projects. what do you see as the lay of the land there as the -- there? has the discussion in any way

disrupped our relationship? and how would you propose we proceed? >> thank you, senator lugar. this has not disrupted the relationship. this has been an active subject of conversation. i'm pleased to tell you that the government is strongly supportive of the nato missile defense plan, the phased adaptive approach, as adopted at lisbon. you're of course quite right that an earlier conversation that we had with the czech government about the shared early warning system which was prior to the adoption of a nato missile defense strategy at lisbon was overtaken by events. the czechs felt that the data, the limited data they would receive from the shared early warning was no longer necessary, although we made the

offer because of the broader adoption of the approach but part of the result of the good conversations, the good partnership between the czech government and the united states, including the united states embassy in praug, has been strong, strong embrace of the phased adaptive approach as adopted by nato as lisbon. so it's full steam ahead, we're in as good a place as any on that. >> you noted two priorities, the united states policy and the czech republic to enhance regional energy security, including diversify case. in your view, what are the most pressing areas for cooperation in this sphere? >> there is a critical energy security issue in the czech republic. 100% of the czech republic's nuclear fuel is supplied by russia. 70% of their oil, 65% of their

gas, we've made diversify case a priority of our engagement. the greatest single opportunity to achieve energy security is through the expansion of the czech civil nuclear capacity. they have six outstanding high functioning nuclear reactors now very strong regulator. unlike other nations, very strong national commitment, not just a government commitment but strong government support for this critical, this critical alternative energy source in the 21st century. we really focus not just on the westinghouse bid to expand with a high dollar value, $28 billion potentially, so many u.s. jobs. but that's just one part of the partnership. we have worked very hard in

embassy prague and throughout the united states government, one of the thirst i think if -- first things i did was come back to talk to all the interlo cutors -- interlocutors and build an approach that goes beyond that bid. we're working on r&d together, working on regulations in both our countries and that has been an important part of our work. i traveled recently with the foreign minister of the czech republic to texas to sign an agreement under our joint declaration on civil nuclear cooperation which we have with the czechs between texas a&m university, leading provider of degrees in civil nuclear engineering and the czech civil nuclear engineering network in the czech republic so our two nations can build in this area in the 21st century. >> is there public support in the czech republic thatted or

anywhere citizens understand the problem? >> there is, senator lugar. one of the most gratifying moments if -- for me returning to my mother's homeland was the rational and calm approach that the czech public took foast fukushima to their energy needs, the need for energy security to diversify energy sources, their strong national consensus in favor of expanding nuclear strong government consensus and some of the risk factors that one sees elsewhere, whether it's tsunami's, earthquakes are not present there so it's a good location for that expansion. we're pleased to work again not just on that bid but on a broad partnership for civil nuclear energy security that is a model of how our two nations can work together.

>> ambassador ricciard nombings i, turkey remains central for the united states and european efforts for greater european energy independence. i'd like your views on what progress has been achieve red cently and where the project might stand as posed to rival pipeline projects. second, turkey has been in negotiations on missile defense radar for several years with no agreement finalized with several outstanding turkish concerns with intelligence sharing with israel. how close are we to concluding that deal? can you make a comment on that and the intelligence sharing situation? >> on the southern energy transit corridor, of which that is one good option, we are