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Q. Do you consider Turkey a European country?
A. Turkey is on a cultural fault line, where two cultures mix. But in Ottoman times, Turkey was called "the sick man of Europe," so that means we were considered then a European country. Today Turkey is basically of Western orientation. We have democracy, human rights and a free market. While 98% of the population is Muslim, we are also a secular state. It's a good example for the rest of the Islamic world. Turkey plays the role of a bridge between Western and Islamic societies, and this will become more important in the coming decades.
Q. Does Turkey want to play a role in resolving the larger Middle East crisis?
A. I think Turkey should come out of isolation and play a role. Our experience | with economic reform in the past 10 to 11 years gives us this possibility, and also our experience in the past 45 years of democracy.
Q. But part of emerging from isolation is establishing yourselves as full members of the community of civilized nations. And when your application for membership to the European Community is discussed in Brussels and Strasbourg, so are two human rights issues: the use of torture and the lack of free expression for religions other than Islam.
A. Yes, I know. Turkey has a very old decree that prohibits some books from being brought into the country. I tell you, that decree was not signed by me. When I was Prime Minister, I was trying to stop it. It requires education. We are intending to remove those legal articles that relate to the expression of ideas, freedom of thinking, which is so important in the U.S. If you give a people a chance to search for new horizons, they will probably do much better.
Q. What is it about the U.S. that you feel other countries, especially in the Middle East, may not grasp?
A. They probably do not understand democracy. The system of checks and balances, they don't understand this. For example, when you discussed whether you should go to war in the gulf or solve the issue with an embargo. I know everything can be discussed in the U.S. But once you reach a conclusion, probably a large number of people support it.
Q. You have cumulatively spent, on and off since you were 19, more than five years in the U.S. What did you learn about America and Americans?
A. You are a free society, but you are also somewhat limited. Take the pressures you were under when you prohibited alcohol in the 1920s. This was unbelievable. But there is one interesting fact: you contribute constantly to self-renewal. This probably comes from the free expression of ideas, free thinking. There is also free enterprise, the ability of people to take risks. A man can even jump from Niagara Falls. I mean, there is no difference between a man jumping, or making money, or the astronauts going to the moon.
Q. You are said to have an unusually close relationship with President Bush. What is that like?
A. I knew President Bush a long time ago, when he was Vice President. Let me tell you, when President Bush was a candidate against Dukakis, I was here, and I talked to him. I was hoping he would win the election, because, at the beginning, some writers said Bush was not as decisive as Reagan. But I didn't see that.