family. no problem with the marijuana. once i started buying the marijuana and going to these places where people sold it, i came across the other drugs. if marijuana was legal, i would never have been exposed to all of these other drugs that these drug dealers had to deal the marijuana. so i wanted to get the point across. everybody does not start with marijuana. legal and i could go to a store and buy it, i would not have access to all those other drugs throughout the years. host: hey mike, had you keep that from being a gateway drug? you said you have been using it for 40 years. are there times where you are tempted to use something stronger? caller: in all the years i have done all kinds of things. but it wasn't because i was smoking marijuana. i had five years in addition to methamphetamine, five years to crack cocaine. i was able to be all that. and i am still smoking marijuana and is not trading problems in my life. --creating problems in my life.

if i did not have to go to these drug houses to buy marijuana, i would not have been subjected to the crack cocaine, heroin, the meth, etc. host: mike, thanks so much. we will hear from fred in michigan, democrat's line. governmentt is the going to do to save those that are crippled and in need of opiates? twice --have been told that i was going to die. once from a car wreck, once from people breaking into my house for drugs. my ex-girlfriend told them that andd 20 pounds of pot $20,000 and the next thing i know, i'm nearly beaten to death with a hammer and a bat. host: so you were prescribed some sort of opiate? on norco and

oxycontin. they walked away with hundred $78 and about 15 pills. and 8th of pot. and they put it in the paper as a drug case. all these doctors are running out of this area. poor people don't have the ability to make it to a doctor. host: we've got about 10 more minutes. i did want to show you a pretty graphic look at how the problem has expanded. this is a graphic done online at bytimes.com. -- at nytimes.com. how the epidemic of drug overdoses deaths ripples across america. this is a map, the red and orange part is the expansion of overdose deaths per 100,000 s ince 2003. you focus in 2014, and that map has gotten pretty broad across

the u.s. just a couple of stats from that. they say the depths from overdoses -- the deaths from overdoses are reaching similar to the hiv epidemic at its peak. times, from the new york statistics from the cdc. there is the map currently, overdose deaths from 2014, in the neighborhood of 28,000. let's get back to your calls. here is mary in greensburg on the republican line. caller: hi there. i'm a 75-year-old person with all kinds of ailments. i've been on a patch for at least 12 years. and now they are trying to take this away from me. on not selling it. i'm not giving it to anyone. i change it every three days. that's not the only problem i have. i just don't understand, if teenagers know where to go buy this stuff, why don't the cops

and undercover people know? host: mary, how are they trying to take this? are they offering you another painkiller, or are they raising the price? caller: no, let me explain. they want me to go to a pain clinic. because i cannot take anything with aspirin, my doctor said i would lead to death. -- i would bleed to death. i can't take anything, if i have been exposed to tuberculosis, so many of these means your immune system is way down and you'll get an infection. i mean, i just don't understand it. if you want the call me a drug addict, that's fine, and i need this patch. but summary is going to sign my death certificate, because if i don't get it, i don't know what i'm going to do. host: thank you for the call. we go to lee, in medicine, alabama. -- lee in madison, alabama.

the government's role in combating opioid abuse. caller: i'm coming from this from two sides. my dad takes a lot of opioids, mainly hydro-coding. he recently switched to a different drug. and he needs it for back pain. but for me, i started opioids due to a car wreck and became highly addicted to the point where i was buying it off the black market. i almost overdosed. i went to the hospital. luckily i was put through a program and am greatly recovering. i help as many of my friends as i can. in the past four years, i've seen four of my very good friends o.d. i'm 30. benow there needs to stricter ways of dealing with this. that takingknow

away from people with chronic pain is the way. i think that the police need a better way of finding the people that are selling. if i'm 30 and i can find it on the back streets, i'm sure that with a little bit of effort, the police could find those that are selling. host: i appreciate your input. let's hear from new york on the republican line. my producer tells me you are a doctor? caller: yes, correct. host: welcome, go ahead with your comments. caller: yeah, i'm a physician who treats addictions and addictive disorders in my community. i have the opinion that this is completely and absolutely required of the government to intervene and manage this epidemic. all the colors -- the callers

are indicating they almost have a deterioration and disruption in their life due to the drugs, every single one. cannotle, they all control it. they have also witnessed those that have overdosed and died. without government intervention, this is only going to grow. in the bill that is being passed has only to do with expanding the prescription monitoring program. capturinge, expanding those that are taking it the wrong way. those that need the medication will be prescribed it. there is nothing against those people. but those that are using it to sell and are treating themselves are the ones that need to be stopped. this issue has only to do with the court system. the medical society cannot intervene the way that the government could. host: doctor, appreciate you

joining us. sounds like a very busy practice for you. one more you on the government's role in the opioid addiction. barbara from pennsylvania on the other's line. caller: good evening. i was in an accident 20 years ago. i went to five different doctors. they left, they died. in my past doctor left me 2 months ago. i am on morphine and delighted dilaudid.e and this new doctor cut me down for 2 months. and i am more and more in bed because i can't walk. host: she's cut you down on the amount of your perception? caller: yes. i have 27 days. that's it.

i had over 30. up,sked her to look it because in pennsylvania, you have to show your license even if the nurses know you. you have to show your license, sign that you are picking them up. and if you look at the three , you'll see that they pick them up always a week and a half to 2 weeks later. i don't overdo my meds, the when i need one, i need it. host: another difficult call to make, but we appreciate you joining the conversation. we want to remind you all of the video in our issues spotlight are available at c-span.org. more comments on this at facebook.com/cspan. next up, we go to a heroine abuse summit held back in january a program that includes

members from the national institutes on drug abuse and substance abuse and the mental health services administration. >> most important information on this first slide reminds us of the tremendous number of deaths associated with drugs of abuse in general, the painkillers, prescription opioids over 19,000 deaths in the most recent data from 2014. over 10,000 deaths from heroin., i will point out that even this surveillance data has some messiness in it. deaths look at how certificates are coded. there are an awful lot that are coded as drug overdose generally, and don't specify whether it is in opioid or even heroin. -- it is prescription opioid or even heroin. there may be even greater numbers specified in the national death data.

is the increasing rates of prescriptions that have given so many in this country a taste for an opioid. that means their brain has been exposed to it at some point. or the communities are exposed in a way that these pills can be diverted and misused and taken nonmedically by so many around the west -- aruound the u.s.. as the number of prescriptions go up, the number of deaths increase as well. a fourfold increase in the deaths associated with these we would painkillers. that strokes like oxycodone, hydrocodone, all of these narcotic opioid pain relievers. witheason i am starting prescription opioids that is the upstream, driver of the recent heroin epidemic. that seems to be the deciding factor that exposed so many to opioids and let them towards that pathway into a heroin addiction. the brain does not distinguish

between different types of opioids very well. the brain sees them almost all as not quite identical, but very similar. heroin as a street drug, has pretty much the same impact on the brain as oxycodone or hydrocodone. in controlled laboratory studies, people cannot even distinguish when you give them one or the other. as those rates of prescription drugs become available, we seen a corresponding increase in heroin. we believe these are related in important ways because of the availability of heroin in so many communities. as you've already heard alluded to, the number of those misusing heroin has skyrocketed in the last five years. overdose deaths have seen a corresponding increase. it's almost an exponential increase in the last few years. as an epidemiologist, it concerns me. we like to see a curve venting and eventually coming down.

we don't know where this curve will end. it's still on the upswing. there have been increases everywhere. if i only showed you the south and west, we would have thought it doubly was a terrible scourge. but look what is going on in the midwest and northeast, somewhere between a four in sixfold increase in overdose deaths. all the different major ethnic, racial, and age groups. but particularly, non-hispanic whites of young and lh -- youing and no age seeing the sharpest -- young and middle age seeing the sharpest increases. it shows these new injection drug users tend to be younger, more equally male and female. that is a novel change. we think of most drug uses being more common in males than females. that is not so true in the new injection drug users. that's another concern with the epidemic. why do people abuse things? they abuse them because these drugs have an impact on the

central reward circuitry. they make you feel good by rewarding and relaxing. that is a basic principle from much neuroscience, that i will go to in detail. that is the underlying feature here. these are habit-forming, not for everybody. that is a conundrum here. some people take these pills or drugs and find it extraordinarily unpleasant. but some really like it. and they are the ones at risk for doing it again and keeping on doing it. i'm very pleased that our secretary of health and human services may do this one of her keynote issues. shortly after she was confirmed and took office, she convened a small group within the department to help her address this in a proactive, consistent way. we've developed three priorities. these are not the only things we are doing in opioid epidemic, but three priorities relate to prevention. let's change how many prescription opioids are available by focusing on prescriber practices.

let's focus on saving lights immediately with the use of no locks on in greater numbers. greater access to the lifesaving overdose treatment martin. let's focus on treatment. medicated assistant therapies as the proven treatment for opioid addiction to reduce the likelihood -- to increase the likelihood of those going on and recovering their lives. i'm going to focus on the first two. when it comes to prescribing there are guidelines for prescribing opioids that plane -- that pain clinicians use. those sources have been inconsistent. some of them are outdated. some are not without their conflict of interests. as an alternative, the cdc has undertook the development of prescription guidelines. we expect these to be released

to assist in the proper prescribing of long-term opioids for noncancer, not end-of-life care. when it comes to the overdose, we are pleased on working with one of the pharmaceutical industries and with the fda for the recent approval of an intranasal. instead of the only fda approved formulation being an injection, there is a nasal spray. as soon as it was approved in november, it should be on the market shortly. let's get to the main issue, medications. there was a study in baltimore couple years ago that showed us that as they increased the availability of methadone, they showed a corresponding drop in heroin overdose deaths in the city.

we see this as a population-based example how you can save lives by increasing treatment access any large population. i've already mentioned methadone. that is in opioid substitution treatment. methadone is in opioid agonist. that is a fancy way of saying that it won't work as another opioid. what do we mean by that? let's take a quick lesson in cellular chemistry. when a chemical is administered were taken, it works by fitting into a receptor. think of it like a key going into iraq. -- into a lock.when morphine or heroine agonists go, opioid into the brain, they go into the receptor and produce a lot of activity. kind of like turning a lock, and the templars move and the door opens. -- and tumblers move and the door opens.

morphine is like a dummy key. if sills the keyhole -- it fills the keyhole, prevents other keys from getting in that locke. a full agonist like opioids -- we have and in between agent that is somewhere in between the two. is a partial agonist. but therns the lock, door only opens partway. that is a quick way to think of these classes of medication. a blocking agent is one of our tools that can be given in a long-acting form. when people take it successfully, they don't get high if they use heroin or other opioids. the same thing happens with methadone. when they take those successfully, and they might slip and use heroin or other drugs, they generally want get any high. -- won't get any high. the key is a learning experience.

that is a short version of what history is. melinda will go into this in more detail. we have focused on extended relief medications. we focused event on medications and have been pleased to partner in the release of a long-acting naltrexone. we've finally been developing vaccines as another way of keeping drugs out of the brain. one of our new medications is a long-acting beeper northing. people will take these medications, but there is an issue. my patient has to make a decision everyday whether they want to stay clean and sober, stay in treatment, take medication, or if they want to not do that and had back into a path towards relapse. sometimes it's a conscious decisions, sometimes not so much. they need to make that decision every day.

with a long acting injectable form, they may not need to make that decision quite as often. in particular we are interested in this idea of an implantable device. a long-acting implant that only needs to be implanted once every six months. means someone only needs to make a decision about their life and turning things around about once every six months in some fundamental way, rather than every day. patients are more likely to be compliant when they take this, certainly producing greater abstinence. that is one of the hopeful possibilities. this was submitted to the fda in september. review,er an expedited so we expect an answer from the fda and whether the data supports its actual use by clinicians within the next couple months. the next area is promising

vaccine development. for drugs to have an impact, they have to get into the brain. they go from the blood system, across the capillaries into the brain. vaccines attached to those drugs, so they create a protein binder to those drugs. they keep them in the capillaries. they keep them in our circulatory system and not in the brain. that is the theory. there is quite a bit of preclinical research with animal models. there is now some emerging human resource -- human research that suggests this to be effective. but we have a ways to go before we have vaccines to be useful and administered on a regular basis. i remind you that our job is to support what we can do today and to always be charting a path forward tomorrow even better. is last challenge implementation. we've had these medications like methadone for about 50 years.

had naltrexone as an oral medication for 40 years and in injectable for the last couple years. what is going on? not very many people are treated, even when you go to specialty care. this is a major gap for us. people are more veiling themselves of us. we have been pleased to try novel trials. a group at yellow university -- a group of yale university noticed they were seeing the same people with either an overdose or problems related to heroine and other opioid issues. she said, maybe we can start them on it here in the emergency permit. why don't we act as their primary care physician? they found they were much more likely to be in treatment. they were also less likely to be using drugs when they were reevaluated weeks later. this is just one center, a

top-notch center. we don't think everyone else can do it as well. we think that is very promising and are working on testing this in a number of otherenters. butevery place should, those that see a lot of opioid addicts might want to do it. saddened by the story representative custer relate about patient who died shortly after being released from prison because they cannot get into treatment.this speaks to the important of linking our kernel justice and public health effort. -- our criminal justice and public health efforts. i have issues with high attrition. people drop out of this readily. with prison, they have recidivism and problems with mental activity and drug use. but working together like the drug court models, extensive work with probation and parole, we can do a better job using the

best pieces of both. whether that's a close provision that provision and parole can provide, the treatment that providers cna provide. even incentives for people to turn their lives around through modification. these models have been shown to work for 20 years. we don't see them in white enough usage. these combined efforts seem to be an area where theere can be improvements.even medications can be used in this setting. a study coming out of baltimore took vendors about to be released long-term with a history of heroin addiction. this was in withdrawal. -- wasn't withdrawal. they are the referred them to methadone actively, which means they actively made that referral and tried to engage them in treatment after release.

or they started them on methadone a few weeks before release. those where methadone was started prior to release had a better outcome, less criminal activity as well as less drug use. at least over the first few months after release. this speaks to the importance of being practical and thinking through what happens. when people get out of prison, they are not usually thinking about getting treatment. there are other motivations they are paying attention to as their first goal when they are released. starting treatment on the right foot could be important. thanks very much for your attention. i will turn it over to melinda from sampson. >> if i could have congresswoman custer make the introduction. >> thank you very much doctor. welcome the current medical officer for the office of pharmacologic studies at the

substance abuse and mental health services administration. she is a position board certified in family medicine, with additional credentialing in addiction medicine. thank you for being with us. >> it's my pleasure. before i get down to the business of my presentation, i want to thank you. sam is supporting a new round of grantssa to improve access to high-quality medication assisted treatment. and funds to overdose prevention thanks to the budget you work hard to pass. similarly, i want to thank you for setting aside the block of time to together more information about treatment options for opioid disorders. i cannot begin to fathom the number of equally critical issues you are faced with. i came away from the first for him a few weeks ago deeply impressed with the urgent need

that i felt from the members in attendance. i am going to try to be concrete and not be too high level or reviewed too much of what dr. compton has already presented. i spent 10 years as a prescriber because i came to government. 5 years in my solo private practice. and 5 years as medical director of an opiate treatment program for western psychiatric clinic pittsburgh. i maintain my private practice over that time. i can tell you the single most therapeutic thing i did for anybody was provide respectful medical treatment.

whether that included medication or just listening and advice in coronation of ancillary services. it almost did not matter which. obviously medication was an important part. of going to spend a lot of what i talk about todahyy on that. a word about the pictures i'm showing you. one day i asked everybody i saw if they could give me their permission to take a picture. this was for me to use these photos to teach medical students about bias and disparity in health care. this is far less than half the people i saw on that date. of the people they gave me permission, i removed the children and adults that could not fully consent. it so happens there are those i was rooting for addiction. in my private practice, you can't tell one from the other. people sat in my waiting room

and waited their turn in between the kid with the ear infection and the old lady to refill her high blood pressure medicine. nobody could tell what anybody was therefore. you have been surprised to find out. subsequently, i saw some of the same people in my opiate treatment program. the know you in that environment such that iu was saw different behavior. i was often challenged. oh, now you see what they are really like because they are in this clinic. may be their behavior is a little more street. why do you think this is what they are really like? i think what they are really like is how they caved in my office being treated with respect, seen and a pleasant place where they got the care deserved to them as human beings. not that we did not do our damnedest to do that for people in our opiate treatment program.

reiterate what dr. compton said, as far as your brain is concerned, and opiate is an opiate. while the problem has its origins in overprescribing and being exposed to opiates to start with, once that horse is out of the barn, and opiate disorder is a disorder. you may have different strategies you want to apply on the prevention end. but the treatment end looks the same for anybody. in addition to the difference inherent qualities of an opiate, how intense it is, how quickly it affects you -- the individual brings risk factors to bear. their biology, genetics, and social situation. this unfortunately is why we see worsening in their illness when the social burden of their disease increases. when they are functioning highly

and getting their opiates, either by misleading a fromriber or getting pills a friend, they keep the social front intact. the consequences are usually less. unfortunately, and opiate is just as deadly weather or social side is intact whether it is not. unstable,housing is if your personal safety is at risk, if you have been subject to trauma as a result of the risk you have exposed to, then it does snowball. there is a cumulative risk that cover misys or health. -- that compromises your health physically and mentally. while the brain in opiate parsonage rising in whatever way -- brain and opiate are synergize and in whatever way--

criminalize their behavior or medicalize their behavior. moving on from that point, i want to talk about the in central ingredient for recovery is that one be alive. no locks on is not considered a treatment for addiction. it is the antidote to opioid poisoning. it has the shocking ability to take somebody who was completely without life, no air moving in the chest, and bring that person back to alert status, not always very happy to see you, to live again. it's astonishing the effect of that drug. it's essential to any successful

treatment that people have access to the antidote to opioid poisoning when they need it. that means making this drug available to those leaving and curse ration, people that are leaving detox or rehab. -- leaving incarceration, people that are leading to talks or rehab. they are leaving in a fresh baby state. peoplemportant that likely to be on the scene of an overdose, whether that his friends and family, or other drug users, have this drug. one of the things i did in my practice was write restrictions at the overdose prevention program. i supported developing a training offers in jail. we were not able to offer the truck at that time. some programs are not doing a training in putting this drug in

your personal effects. so that when you leave jail or prison, you have it with you when you walk out the door. all sorts of innovations going result in lifel saved instead of lives lost. samsa's updating our toolkit to reflect the new products available. that should be publicly available later this month. another take-home point, detoxification is not treatment. is necessary to break the cycle of dependence, tolerance, and withdrawal.is not always necessary to begin treatment. for example, you don't have to be detoxed to start methadone. if you are choosing to be detoxified because that is what is best for you, than being

offered naltrexone should be considered an important follow-up step. it should be standard for that person not seeking and opioid agonist. detoxification is better thought of as the medical management of opiate withdrawal. it does not change the course of the disease. it does not change the risk factors for relapse or the course of the. it does increase the risk of fatal overdose, should a person relapse after detox. even unfortunately if it's followed fo -- followed by a rehab stay. medication is not a treatment by itself. it will control the disease much the same way your high blood pressure medicine control your blood pressure. but it will not change the course of the disease itself. just like if you are diagnosed with high blood pressure, your

doctor is probably telling you to lose weight or start exercising, you have to stop smoking, yo'uve got to control your stress differently/ a whole ton of behavior change that comes with most chronic illness. high blood pressure is so common. i am sure there are some of us being treated for it now. i would think what we would want is to be treated with the medication most effective for us, and be given the opportunity to change our lifestyles. unfortunately, socially and culturally the way we have looked at medication assistant treatment is that it's framed as a treatment of left -- of last resource. -- of lapsed resource. fail rehab so many times, then gosh, you just have to go on medication.

that's not how we approach high blood pressure. let's get you on this medication while you learn how to control your stress. that is the attitude we need to have towards medication assisted treatment. get on it to get your docs in a row. -- your ducks in a row. i would use that a lot in my office, are you ducks in a row yet? well, you still have work to do. dr. compton reviewed the point. i won't go into a lot of detail except to talk about the difficulty that we in those we interact with can we in understanding how you give an opiate to in opiate addict. that is intuitive, that where you expect it to be going. as dr. compton laid out for you, if you get on the right dose. take method of -- take

methadone. it is a full agonist. the more you take, the more affected has.if you get on the right dose , it controls your withdrawal so you can stay engaged in treatment and function. but it also feels up your receptors -- fills up your receptors. it keeps them on an even plane so that you are not being driven to use. but also, your receptors are full. so if you relapse and use something, there is no place for them to go. there is no receptor for that to bind to to you -- to reward you for that slip up. you can go okay, that did not pan out, and move on with your recovery instead of the whole bottom out of the top. it's not just about getting the dose in the right range and saturating the receptors. a property of binding so

tightly to the receptor that nothing else can compete with it. most of what people take on the street, if they relapse, will not be able to budge this drug. the beauty is that when it is bound to that receptor, it does not fully simulate -- fully stimulate the receptor. is working part-time. so your body goes, oh, my receptors are not so busy, i don't need as many. and it starts to downgrade. that is where it can reduce tolerance over time. that's just a cool pharmacology aspect of that drug, if you're geeky you will enjoy that aspect. the antagonist gets on that receptor, binds it, blocks it off, makes it impossible for any opiate effect for whatever reason to happen. it gets tricky because you have

to be complete free of opiates. your system has to be cleansed for you to take that blocker. if that blocker goes into your body and rips the opiates off your receptors and blocks them off, you will wish you were dead. you will not die from your withdrawal, but you will wish you did. the process of getting on it has a couple steps you have to go through. the pathway is a little bit >> tonight, hillary clinton and bernie sanders also in wisconsin to give key remarks at the

milwaukee.n american history tv on c-span3. this weekend, tonight at 10:00 eastern on reel america. generallybs are referred to as -- this is the only area in which the american farm labor supply falls short and is supplemented by mexican citizens, sometimes called nationals or mexican nationals. the term most commonly used is braceros. in spanish, this means someone who works with his arms or hands. film promotedute the braceros program.

sunday morning at 10:00 eastern on road to the white house rewind. they have overstayed in afghanistan, they have bitten allowed they should be -- more than they should be a lot to digest. -- allowed to digest. where people want to be free, the united states should be with them to provide weapons against those hostile forces. >> the 1980 texas republican primary debate between ronald reagan and george h.w. bush. at 6:00 on american artifacts.

>> the least of the classical buildings. it is very neoclassical. sort of a mirrored image of a neoclassical building. some people have compared to a large ice cube tray. >> don ritchie takes us inside the newest of the three senate office buildings in the 1983 heart senate building. senate building. david ward chronicles abraham lincoln's lyft reporter graphs -- through photographs and portraits. he does look kind of p guest. you notice the eyes to spear.

-- peekish. you notice that the eyes the spear. -- disappear. >> the brookings institution held a discussion with the president of turkey about the challenges his country faces in the region, including terrorist attacks, the syrian refugee crisis and relations with iran. useas also asked about his of freedom of the press. >> good afternoon, everybody. welcome to brookings. welcome to our forum. our speaker and our guest of honor, president erdogan, is in washington at the invitation of president obama to participate in the nuclear security summit. president erdogan is kind enough to be with us because it is part of our tradition and mission to

invite world leaders to address the issues of the day. it is a particular pleasure that the first lady of turkey would be with us once again as she was back in 2013. these discussions are intended to be in the spirit of informing the global public and promoting stability of debate and -- civility of debate and respectful, constructive, and candid public discourse. we need as much of that as possible in the case of u.s.-turkey relations right now. turkey has long been an especially important american ally, critical to american foreign and security policy. it has been an ally for 65 years.

this is especially a difficult period for turkey, as it is for much of the world. turkey faces internal and external challenges, which all of us, whatever our perspectives and concerns, hope will be resolved in a way that contributes to regional peace, strengthens bilateral ties between our two countries, and upholds the democratic values of the transatlantic community. we look forward to hearing from the president his perspective. then, my colleague will conduct a conversation with the president, followed by an opportunity for him to take a few questions from our guests. mr. president, thank you once again for being back at

brookings. [applause] president erdogan: and now, directors of the brookings , ladiese, valued guests and gentlemen, i would like to greet you with respect. brookings is celebrating its centennial this year. it is a pleasure for me to meet you once again in this very reputable think tank.

i would like to start my words by reminding you of the fact that there has been a terrorist attack targeting our security forces. i denounce this. we have regrettably lost seven members of the security forces who have lost their lives, and we have 14 injured, officers and 10 civilians injured. i would like to offer my condolences to those who lost their lives and those who were injured. i am very sorry about these attacks, but those attacks will never keep us from fighting terrorists. the terrorist organization shows

such attacksugh and acts. we are determined to make sure that terrorism is no longer an obstacle in our country. terrorists unfortunately keep attacking our country. we cannot tolerate this anymore. european countries and other countries, i hope they can see the true face of terrorists of these attacks. today, i am,

meeting with you to discuss the global problems and my opinions about the approach of my country of those challenges. recently, humanity has achieved a point in history in terms of science, technology and other fields. we have quite a wide way of -- range of interests from the sophisticated mechanisms including the internet, that makes lives easier. but it brings in challenges, including security, for example. climate change, unfair distribution of income, poverty,

hunger, migration, and terrorism are common problems that have an impact on the entire globe, and they are all related to each other and are equally important. the international community needs to discuss how we can find a solution for the global problem. problems are not discussed by the international community. today, turkey is located in the intersection of the most specific geographical fault lines.

es aref the important crisis being experienced around turkey. we share 300 kilometers with iraq. we are surrounded by troublesome territories. the crisis around us never deviated us from our humanitarian approach, and will from thatate us approach. on the contrary, a humanitarian approach is a must in order to

establish stability and peace in our region. we have made particular achievements. at the beginning of the century, we were a country that was a recipient of foreign aid. i am sure brookings has data in its archives. offers therkey now most humanitarian aid of any country in the region. we are third in our humanitarian aid and we are the first in ratio to our gdp. if we can offer any help, we always use our means to help

people in need, even in distant geographies, like africa. we are perceived as an honest partner. whenelp is often sought they need solutions to the challenges they are facing. we believe for more welfare around the world, we have to pursue such policy. ladies and gentlemen, there are fact,e this very evident there are groundless allegations against turkey. i regretfully follow those allegations. i would like to share with you a few examples, or a few facts. in the last 13 years, our citizens from all segments in society, have been benefiting from comprehensive reforms.

in 2010, we had the referendum and had the constitutional change introduced by amending 26 articles of the constitution. this is not only offering new rights to our citizens, but also introducing additional mechanisms for the protection of constitutional rights. this has strengthened the role in turkey.e we constituted an office and

human rights communities in turkey. they are conducting their activities in defensively. we have put in many reforms. to institute the fundamental changes of our practices, and we also drafted new regulation to improve human rights, and the freedom of expression. we also had reform to make sure that we can respond to the needs of our citizens belonging to different states and sects. we have covered quite a long-distance with our democratization efforts. if you believe that this is about the marketization, it means we have a very serious problem that has got nothing to do with us because on one hand, we have some people who live with strong constitutional rights and resorted to very restricted measures.

however, this has not been the case in turkey. turkey is not the common target -- is now the common target of the bloodiest of all terrorist organizations in the world. despite all of this, we are not compromising on human rights democracy or rule of law and are fighting against terrorism. when we look at all of the terrorist threats it is facing, you cannot find any country that pursues high standards in human rights and democracy like turkey. we want to be treated fairly. the turkish/american partnership , if it is used effectively, is a partnership that can produce very positive results.

, others faceistan crisis. there is a crisis we fought along the same lines as the united states, and we follow the same lines today, and we believe we have to keep this relationship always dynamic. there may be differences of opinion in certain topics and it is very normal that this is the case. the turkish/american relations are strong and deep enough to resolve disagreements through dialogue. we also believe that today we have a ground we can use to reinforce our relationship. in the united states, there is now the election process, and we are keen on following up on this presidential election in the united states.

we believe it is one to be very -- going to be very interesting to see what the outcome will be, but we will continue our relationship with the united states based on our common interests, just like we did in the past and respect the choice of the american people. however, it is important to see how our positions work in the current issues. we have a humanitarian and security crisis currently. these are top priorities for us and we have been very sincere and very selfless in our approach in this crisis. almost half of the 6 million syrians who had to leave their

homes because of this crisis -- 2.7 million syrians took shelter 2.7 million syrians took shelter in the last six years. we have 300,000 iraqis taking shelter and refuge in our country, but we never closed our gates to them, and never let them suffer their fate and to die. 280,000 of them are now being housed in container camps, and the others are in our towns and and cities in various parts of the world. specifically in the west as the refugee crisis is considered to be the most important crisis.

there are many who died at sea because their boats were punctured by the coast guard. but the coast guard saved hundreds of thousands of lives in the sea from certain death, and they have fulfilled their accordingan duties, to the data we have received 400 $55 million of support from the -- $455 million of support from the u.n.. this does not include the assistance by our local government. including their assistance, i believe we have spent 50% more than $10 million. we have more than 150,000 syrian babies born in turkey.

that number on its own is much more than the syrian refugees accepted by many european countries. when we admitted the syrians, we never checked their origins or their faces. .- or their faith however humanitarian problems are being ignored, thinking there is a country taking care of it anyway. we require informant to solve this. specifically in european countries. we are doing our best for a settlement of this crisis.

the security measure of their own can't eliminate the humanitarian crisis in security facing.se people are there are people on the journey on a boat towards europe. the person responsible is the president of syria who uses his power. 500,000 people in syria have been killed since the beginning of this crisis. there are some people who are completely ignorant of how countries are ruled and still have these questions.

terrorist organizations -- that is the product of the regime. other elements of the regime are exposing syrian people with unprecedented violence and cruelty. those people who flee syria are trying to get away from terra and the are try to look for a better future for themselves and for their children. people are traveling to europe on makeshift boats and we have people losing their lives and innocent babies washing ashore. these are things we are regretfully watching a

spectators, however, on the other hand, we also have innocent families torn apart by bombs from the regime. terrorist organizations are going to get bigger and stronger in syria as long as we keep the regime there. we need stability, security, peace, quiet, and order in syria. however this isn't the case.

alsotunately there is instability in iraq. our stability and our success depends on our success in iraq. it serves as an element of imbalance. one third of all of the iraqi territories have been invaded by terrorist organizations, freely roaming in the northern part of iraq. the pkk element have some of their subgroups under different names. in some parts of northern territory of iraq. unfortunately, no one is buying

the fact that the subgroups don't belong to the pkk. they are only following its own agenda. these are just lies. and pkk is exploding the tragedy. we also see that they are surrendering to terrorist organizations in order to remove the terrorists from there. all of the segments have to act in coordination and unity. the eastern peace in eurasia is

there a depending on eastern europe. unfortunately eastern europe is also facing kurds with disputes that need to be settled in a way. the territory of ukraine, their security needs to be taken into account in those settlements. after the fighter jet incidents with russia on the 24th of november, 2015, we have been facing challenges in our relations with russia. we had developed good relations with them after the cold war. also, the russian government is suffering.

unfortunately, their reactive policies that were employed by the russian government after the fighter get incident in november 2015, our relations are suffering. despite all of that, we keep calling -- weak calm because turkey and russia have had interaction for several centuries. our common interests require our relations there. i hope that our russian counterparts assist our relations from that point of view. another issue is cyprus.

we are determined to ensure a lasting and fair sentiment with cyprus. first and foremost, we have to guarantee the human rights of the people of cyprus and we need to introduce a comprehensive settlement by the end of this year. in may, we are going to be start -- going to restart the negotiations and we hope this opportunity will mend the turkish/cyprus communities. they put forth their desire for a settlement. if the greeks also respond favorably, we will be able to achieve a settlement on the island. if we can achieve that, then we

will have many important opportunities that we can make use of, including energy projects. last october, the turkish project is a project that is a clear indication of turkey's sincere approach to the settlement. this project applies to the entire island. after we have a fair and lasting settlement community, we will be able to benefit from the project. they peace watchers project, i call it because the southern part of cyprus still receives watchers supplies on tankers. however, they could receive supplies from northern cyprus.

i have not changed my position since. my expectations from the international community is that they also offered sincere support for the efforts. we have one more important issue in the region, which is israel and palestine. brothers and sisters are suffering under the unfair treatment of israel. we have always been in support to them for lasting peace in the middle east we believe the invention of the palestinian territory shows to be terminated. after the few tell a incident -- after the incident come our

expectations from israel were expressively stated to them. prime minister benjamin netanyahu called in and apologized. after that, we started our negotiations. president obama specifically took initiative and placed a call to benjamin netanyahu, and i heard the apology through the call. it is in progress and it will be the result without any problem. istanbul, there was an attack that cost the lives of three israeli visitors in our country, and we have communicated our

regret and condolences to the israeli government and their families. but i have specified that these acts isn't only targeting israeli tourists. we continue to intensively fight against their operatives and actions. israel communicated their gratitude to turkey for our efforts, and we are in communication, and we have also expressed our feelings for cooperation. we believe we are going to ensure positive developments and improve our relations with

israel. as to this point, palestine is facing energy problems. if we can have a power generator anchored on its harbor, we will be able to provide gaza with electricity. this will facilitate the lives of the people. this is something we had been communicating with israel, and they know the government, they

are facing a water supply problem. we have to improve the situation by desalination and drilling artesian wells. we have placed our requests and desire to move forward. we are ready to help in their need for school and hospital, and we also have applied for supplying systems in kind, like food supplies, or construction materials. we are working on these through our negotiations. i believe that the parties are going to reach an agreement as a result of these negotiations.

young unemployment, social exclusion are issues that we are going to face in the future. each one of these problems are problems that have destructive consequences, and they can act as triggers to new challenges. terrorism, irregular migration are the main threats caused by these problems and no country is isolated from those problems. no matter where you are in the world, we are all exposed to the threats caused by these problems. and when we are facing those challenges, regional and

international organizations, need to work on ways for solutions to these challenges. and looking for ways out -- humanitarian missions should be funneled by every country, and every country is facing terrorist threats. there isn't any country that doesn't face terrorists threats anymore. we can only succeed if we are sincere in our efforts. that includes u.n. and all the international laws we have drafted so far. we are trying to fight terrorism, and terrorism can easily change its identity, by disinforming and by using pretexts that terrorism does not have any more values. we have to act on these basic principles.

the most important principle is to be determined in our fight against all terrorist organizations and distinguish between one or the other. today we consider daesh a terrorist organization. it is active in syria and iraq. ypt is a gang of terrorists. another group is fighting against daesh so they are good terrorists. this is unacceptable to us. there are the organizations that are auxiliaries of the pkk. if that is the approach, i would say -- is a terrorist organization, so fighting

against daesh. then we have to also consider it a good organization? no, because we cannot consider good terrorists or bad terrorists. we have to cooperate as coalition forces in our fight against terrorist organizations.

our shabbat is an organization that we fight the same level of sincerity. we also have to fight against daesh because it is a threat to the entire region, including the united states of america. our partners are required to offer us their support. this is how we have to operate all together. we have to present the foreign fighters -- prevents the foreign fighters from entering the fighting ground, and turkey is

the country that has taken measures against that, against some terrorist organization or even being supported to others, but it is not reflective of how the international community should act. i know people are organizing, funding meetings, and are assisted getting arms to those organization. as the attacks in ankara that were conducted in february, and in march, were conducted by people who were changing the -- and also in istanbul, the daesh was realized with the support of the pyp organization and members.

those facts are the same as the him and attack in brussels or in paris. we informed them we had captured the terrorists. despite a report, it was robust by -- it was released by officials in belgium. we also have to apply to elgin before -- four terrorists who assassinated a very important businessman in turkey. it has been 10 years. we asked for this person to the extradited, and the person has not been extradited since. each time we meet them and we discuss, they respond to us by saying they are the savor of

freedoms. how about the person who was assassinated, who is going to defend the right of the victim? what kind of freedom is this, and they are trying to convince us this is freedom of expression. you are working in company and and him and you are killing your employer because you are an assassin. this is something that we all have to fight against. those people do not recognize any humanitarian values or moral foundations, and those people have clearly demonstrated to us that they had no principles.

all we want is a more principled approach and position from other countries that terrorism does not have any nationality, face, or race. unfortunately, we are facing a tendency like associating the religion of islam with terrorism. since the beginning of my office as prime minister, i have clearly indicated that i am against -- but i expect the same approach also from the west as they should also have to state that islamophobia is a crime of humanity. and a believer of islam as a muslim, i denounce all these -- with the fact that any religion should be associated with terrorism. terrorism is violence that targets people distinctively. this has no place in any religion. how can a religion endorse an

ideology that says you can kill children playing in a fun park? this terrorism is inhuman, and associating terrorism with a religion or a nationality causes the development of an in human eye -- inhuman ideologies like racism. we need the cooperation from the world, that islamophobia and racism are not right, and they are an obstacle to human development. in 2005, my spanish colleague

and i -- of the alliance of civilization. from this group -- is a very wide organization that has 118 members and 26 international organizations. and this also requires not only the elimination of terrorism, but also the ground where terrorism is fostered, because you cannot get rid of miscues by killing them. you have to make sure that you dry the wetlands where they grew.

so we have to make sure that we have a strong, sustainable balance of lawful growth that includes all the countries. and i believe that this also is a moral liability. global trade is also being reshaped, as the transatlantic trade and investment partnership which was negotiated between the u.s. and -- following this process. turkey is in cooperation with the e.u., and we have to align with their trade agreements, the free-trade agreement of the union, which has a direct impact

on us. once it becomes enforced, it will have a negative impact on turkey's trade balance. in order to prevent that, we want to be included in the negotiations and also in the scope of this agreement. we expect the support by the eu and the u.s. as i have stated at the beginning of my presentation -- i said that we have become a country that has been very successful so far, but in 2023, the turkish republic is going to celebrate its centennial in order to make sure that we can celebrate the centennial. while we have set targets for ourselves, in terms of the

economy and politics, we want to improve our social economy and political standard in order to -- the global community with the support of the american friends. we are trying to achieve our target that we set for the centennial of our republic. i would like to thank once again the brooking institute for giving me this opportunity. thank you very much for your kind attention.

>> thank you very much, mr. president. while listening to your remarks, i had two reactions.

one, it is competent. and i am glad i do not have to deal with the problems that you do. [indiscernible] >> thank you very much, mr. president. i am very grateful that we have time for a few questions. as i listened to you, what i heard was that you are hopeful for a breakthrough in the effort

to normalize relationships between palestine and israel, -- and israel, also that your relations are turning a page with europe as a result of the agreement you struck on the handling of refugees and visas and the opening again of negotiations for accession. i was wondering whether this can be characterized as a rebalancing of turkey's foreign

policy. is this a turned back again to the approach that you had pursued when you were first prime minister, in which -- in many ways you look more to the west and the mediterranean rather than the middle east where the troubles are some any and the problems are so difficult to resolve. president erdogan: thank you. let me start by referring to the cyprus issue, as you so rightfully suggested. the cyprus question, the southern cyprus and the northern parts of cyprus are required to adopt a very positive approach to these talks. the u.k. happens to be a little bit more of a passive -- country, but turkey and greece are very important countries.

when i took over the office of prime minister for the first time, we got together with kofi annan in davos, and that was the time i requested kofi annan to help me. he told me that he took an initiative three times in order to solve this problem and he was afraid of taking another step forward and yet again failed. and i said that the turks will be one step ahead of the greeks, and i promise you that will be the case. i told him to give me some time, and without further ado, mr. annan said we could initiate a

new process and we could start our talks. our ministers got together, we started seeing each other again, in the initiative was under way again. and the most important detail is in switzerland, we got together for what you could call a camp for four days, and we were part of that union, and i was the prime minister then, as i said, and the initiative was underway. we invested tremendous efforts and we were on the brink of reaching a consensus. but right before we put our signatures underneath that agreement, right then and there, the greek cypriots said they were not going to be able to sign this agreement. and kofi annan said that he gave a promise and he was involved in these talks at the beginning. and a person of the e.u. was appointed of these actions, and after almost everything was

complete, kofi annan said there was no going back and we need to sign this agreement. the signatures were put, and then we went our of ways, and about a week later, a referendum was decided to be held here at and what was important about that referendum is at the end of the referendum, the greek cypriots said and the turkish super it said yes. the greek cypriots were admitted into the e.u., but the northern cypriots were not. right next to that there were

certain financial support that the northern cypriots should have received, but that never happened, so that has been the case since then. in 2013, we reached a certain consensus between the greek cypriots and the turkish administration, and a draft text was produced from and we asked each other if we could reach a consensus and continue positively. both of the parties agreed, but something happened, some evil intervened, and things started falling apart again. that again we are back to square one. we're taking positive steps forward. there is commitment, and i am always telling my friends and my colleagues that they will be on the positive side of everything that is going on. in may there will be general elections in the greek cypriot part, and i hope and pray in the aftermath of the elections the

process will be proceeded with as positively as it has been. with regard to your other question, and i believe all my friends in the audience know this for a fact, that we apply to become an e.u. member state in 1959, but the official application was amended in 1962. since then we have been living at the doorstep of the e.u., and we have been waiting. when i was prime minister, when there were only 15 member states, we were always invited to the leaders' summit. and mr. chirac was the president of france at the time, and chancellor schroeder from

germany was always attending these leaders' summits, and as tripartite, we were always positive toward one another, and all throughout our celebrations we thought things were going on quite positively. but that was the time we saw tendencies amongst the chapters which are being opened and being closed. there was a possibility for us to open chapters, negotiate them, and close them. once chirac and schroeder left their offices, the new presidents and chancellors in france and germany had a different approach to turkey. the chapters would be open, but they would never be closed. and the new thought emerged as a privileged partnership, and we never knew when this privileged partnership idea was coming from. and everyone was blaming one another. and we were doing everything we could and everything was becoming more obscure, and everybody seemed to have lost their way. as we see, chapters were closed, and the process in question is stagnating.

everything is going on very slowly. our friends are very patient. i'm very patient. we are going to proceed with the process as promised. i hope and pray that in the wake of these new developments and in the aftermath of these refugee crises, our friends in the e.u. will appreciate the fact that turkey is becoming well being. mr. indyk: you mentioned in your speech the importance of improving your country political standards. there are turkish journalists that are facing prison terms for carrying out their work as journalists, in some cases criticizing you, that has generated a lot of concern in the united states about the prospects of a free media in

turkey. can you address that question that many americans are now asking about your commitment to a free media in turkey? president erdogan: i am glad i am prepared. we are receiving questions from our friends abroad continuously. we put in front of cases and folders of this scale, and we are improving our position every chance that we get. there are those who believe in allegations in light of information provided them by those that are trying to defame turkey. if you want details of this, i will be more than happy to share with you. this is the brief that i have. those who are the allegedly incarcerated journalists in turkey --

have been subject to -- and there verdicts and sentences are pending. these people have already been connected because of terrorist actions and being involved in terrorist organizations. four have been sentenced to various terms of imprisonment, and their cases are pending. there are only seven journalists in prison in turkey who are journalists, and only two of those journalists have their credentials in place with the yellow press card.

four out of seven journalists are allegedly member of the pkk terrorist or position, and three of those journalists have been tried because of having been a member of the -- terrorist organization. let me elaborate on what this terrorist organization. they have been incorporated within our national security -- it is a terrorist organization engaging in illegal actions with illegal and illegitimate disguise. another aspect i want to share with you has something to do with giving into journalists. inside the turkish prisons, there are no journalists incarcerated due to their professions or due to their freedom of expression.

i have some people shouting on the streets outside. they do not know what is going on back in turkey. freedom of regulations in the turkish constitution, where the president was allowed to be elected, i was receiving over 50% of the votes. they are pretending as if -- legitimacy --. i have garnered the support of my people. the closest candidate to me only receive 34% of the votes of the people. i am talking a 17% difference. the second runner-up received -- by having been supported by political parties. i am the first elected president of turkey elected by the people.

i was selected because of services i provide it for my people and for my nation and my country, whether it be social services, with infrastructure and superstructure. i was the elected president. if you do not invest in every chapter, if you do not increase the living standards of your people, if you do not raise the standards in these realms, people will never appreciate and people will never be supportive of you or your actions. that is what i believe. the will of the people shall prevail. people never make mistakes and they did not make a mistake back in turkey. mr. indyk: in our country our president is regularly criticized, and he faces criticism from the press, the opposition, from presidential candidates. it gets quite nasty here. that is part of a free society.

turkey, too, is a democracy. do you have a problem with people, with journalists criticizing you? president erdogan: i am sure you have chosen this expression specifically. in terms of criticism, i have no problems with nobody what -- whatsoever, but in terms of insult and defamation, of course i have issues. i will take every one of those who criticize me, but if they were to insult me, my lawyers will file a lawsuit. what criticism would stand for and lead to insult is not humane, but criticism is a part of our nature.

the criticism will lead us to the right direction and renders -- render us even stronger. that is why i wish i would have been criticized more frequently, but i have seen such insults involving my family, involving my children, relevant, irrelevant, horrible insults, cascaded down the through the channels. from corruption to theft, anything you can think of was forwarded to me. and we have a judiciary in turkey, if you have documentation, take it to the courts. if you have proof, take it to the court and do whatever is necessary to do. and especially a terrorist organization was very prevalent within turkish history, at a time when they could file a lawsuit whenever they wanted to, and that is what they tried to do.

they tried to hit me using that had of my intelligence agency. but despite all these developments, and in spite of all these developments, the people of turkey made me president by 52% of the votes. mr. indyk: thank you. we need to go to the audience for a couple of questions, if you are ok with that. him i would ask you to wait for the microphone, to identify yourself, and please to ask a question, not to make a statement. we have an opportunity here to ask questions of the president, but we are not interested in having a political statement in the process. i also want to make clear that

this is not a press conference. this is a discussion, with policy people in washington. so i hope the media will understand, but call on all of them to turned it into a press conference, i want to avoid that. >> i am the deputy director of brookings foreign policy programs. thank you very much for coming here and engaging in a discussion at brookings. in your speech he talked about a number of different issues around the region, but that was one country that received almost pleading mentioned, and that was iran. turkey has played an important role and diplomacy with iran, a long-standing relationship. i wonder if you could speak about the reintegration of iran into the international community, and i wonder if you could speak to turkish-iranian ties. finally, if you thoughts on the arrest of -- would be very interesting. thank you.

president erdogan: thank you very much. a short while ago, the prime minister of turkey paid a visit to iran, and with that visit, after the elimination of the sanctions upon iran, we had an opportunity to discuss the reason the elements. --the recent development discussed the recent developments. but throughout the tenure of him and within the first few months of rouhani, there had been certain improvements, and we had a trade in balance between the two nations. but this has not been realized until so far. there was a significant drop in the trade volume of our nations due to these sanctions, the

international sanctions. we have a high level strategic council relations between iran and turkey, and we will attack these issues within that framework. about iraq and syria, -- iran and syria, iran followed a strategy that we could not follow. we would have wished a more positive approach would have been adopted, whether in syria or iran, iran's approach could have established peace and stability. the problem is between iran and saudi arabia, which emerged quite recently. i believe turkey could have been the healthiest mediator in the settlement of those disputes because the region in question needs to become a basin of peace. but sectarian approaches and

sectarian priorities lead us to even more challenges. because of the sectarian approach and sectarian priorities, challenges are about -- significant challenges are about to emerge which are a concern to us all, and in order to surround the challenges, we are investing efforts of the turkish government and the two nations. mr. zarif was in turkey, and i had a discussion to discuss these with him. we discussed these issues at every time. a high level meeting is going to yield a very important result. about the nuclear energy, primarily the u.s. and other nations, there are significant steps that the been taken, and those are welcomed by us, and we are closely monitoring the developments. thank you. mr. indyk: the woman there, please.

>> thank you. mr. president -- mr. indyk: please identify yourself. >> i met the president -- i'm the president of -- university. i am really proud of you and our government regarding our syrian refugee crisis, and what our government has done so far. what do you think is the main reason behind the west being so ignorant of this problem, that they have done almost nothing about the syrian refugees? we have spent over $10 billion, as you expressed, but the west has only sent $400 million so far. what do you think is the main reason behind their ignorance?

president erdogan: i'm having a hard time trying to grasp the essence of that indifference. if we were to look at the refugee crisis from a humanitarian point of view, i must say that almost all of the e.u. member states are financially more resilient than turkey and they are more powerful economically. despite that fact, i was disturbed by the 5000 people and 10,000 people who have come to their countries as refugees, but we refrained from doing that. on the contrary, we welcomed almost 3 million refugees which were fleeing death and imminent death, and they were running away from bombs and airstrikes. we welcomed to hundred thousand -- we welcomed 300,000 refugees coming from iraq. this was our duty as humans. i am looking at the universal

declaration of human rights and trying to associate what is going on with the universal declaration, and i can feel that the western countries are not paying much attention to the closet embedded within this. or else they would have assumed a much different responsibility to settle this question once and for all. we would have taken a step forward in terms of ensuring the future security of these people. i will tell this for the first time. in the northern part of syria, let's declare a terror-free zone. this is a bit i have discussed with my friends in the u.s. we are pioneering in the contractorship industry, and we can do something about resettlement in the northern part of syria. chancellor merkel stated they

could provide 10 million euros the refugees on an annual basis, and we could announce a no-terror zone in the northern part of syria and declare that area to be a no-fly zone at the same time in order to provide safety and security for the refugees. on 500 square meters, we can construct small houses, not greater than 150 square meters and size, and those homes could be used to resettle those are willing to leave syria for good. and we can return those who are already in turkey. these places can be surrounded by hospitals, by schools, and the syrian citizens can be encouraged to live on their own land. when we discussed these issues with our friends in different countries, they think this is a wonderful idea, but we can take a big step forward in order to realize this proposal.

we can do this, i believe syrian refugees will no longer go into your nor any of the other countries. they will be willing to go back to their motherland and will live happily ever after in their homes constructed for them. i have shed this idea with my western friends, but i have not received an answer yet. mr. indyk: secretary of state hillary clinton and donald trump both support this idea, but the big question that is always asked about it is, how do you protect those people? what troops on the ground will be deployed to protect them? president erdogan: you know there are different measures that could be taken similar to those which have already been

taken on different locations around the world. in cyprus you have -- line. -- you have the green line. in the borderline between the u.s. and mexico, you have security forces, and in that military zone in the northern parts of syria, enforcement could be established and the security chain could have been formed. the u.n. is capable of doing this. i'm taking a further step further. -- further step forward. ensuring the safety of the people who are going to be resettled there is a duty of ours. but the fundamental responsibility is upon the u.n. mr. indyk: would turkish troops be involved there regarding this? president erdogan: that would be

a necessity, not only us, but all the members of nato will have to assume responsibility and carry out this task. told by youram people that we have two end it. thank you forgan: not wearing me out unnecessarily. [applause] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 16