Kerry underlines US engagement in Turkey-Israel dialogue

As trade negotiations between United States and European Union is nearing, US Secretary of State John Kerry said, "Turkey expressed desire to do parallel negotiations, they do not want to be left out." Kerry attended a Senate Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on National Security and Foreign Policy Priorities in the Fiscal Year 2014 International Affairs Budget. Kerry said, the US could not be strong in today's world if they are not strong in the world and added, "I think this is particularly true when it comes to our domestic economic renewal. We need to be more engaged and more out there, which is the purpose of the TTIP, which Europe is very excited about. Turkey expressed to me their desire to do parallel negotiations, they do not want to be left out." At the hearings, Kerry touched on the softening period between Turkey- Israel relations and said, "In the past few months, we have seen a number of developments that just lend credence to that. American engagement was essential to our rapprochement betweenTurkey and Israel, a positive step towards stability in a volatile region of the world and helpful in terms of, perhaps ultimately, being able to get to negotiations in the Mideast peace process." Earlier on Thursday, Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan has said Turkey considered the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership process between the US and the EU a historical step and supported it but did not want to get excluded. Babacan stated that Turkey had become a center for foreign investors who would like to invest not only in Turkey but also in a broader neighborhood. Babacan said that Turkish-American relations were very strong in politics and defense but their commercial and economic ties seemed weak.