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MARK S. SMITH
AP
Tuesday April 7 2009
ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) Barack Obama wrapped up his first European
trip as president with a request of the world: Look past his nation's
stereotypes and flaws. "You will find a partner and a supporter and
a friend in the United States of America," he declared Tuesday.
"The world will be what you make of it," Obama told college students
in Turkey's largest city. "You can choose to build new bridges instead
of building new walls."
Promising a "new chapter of American engagement" with the rest of
the world, Obama said the United States needs to be more patient in
its dealings. And he said the rest of the world needs a better sense
"that change is possible so we don't have to always be stuck with
old arguments."
The students formed a tight circle around the U.S. president, who
slowly paced a sky-blue rug while answering their questions. He
promised to end the town hall-style session before the Muslim call
to prayer.
Obama rejected "stereotypes" about the United States, including that
it has become selfish and crass.
"I'm here to tell you that that's not the country that I know and
it's not the country that I love," the president said. "America,
like every other nation, has made mistakes and has its flaws. But for
more than two centuries we have strived at great cost and sacrifice
to form a more per fect union."
He repeated his pledge to rebuild relations between the United States
and the Muslim world.
"I am personally committed to a new chapter of American engagement,"
Obama said. "We can't afford to talk past one another, to focus only
on our differences, or to let the walls of mistrust go up around us."
Obama's message was being warmly received by Arabs and Muslims. In an
interview published Tuesday, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem
called his words "important" and "positive."
The questions for Obama at the town-hall meeting were polite and
rarely bracing, though one student asked whether there was any real
difference between his White House and the Bush administration. Obama
cautioned that while he had great differences with Bush over issues
such as Iraq and climate change, it takes time to change a nation as
big as the United States.
"Moving the ship of state is a slow process," he said.
The Turkish stop capped an eight-day European trip that senior adviser
David Axelrod called "enormously productive" âÂ~@Â" including an
economic crisis summit in London and a NATO conclave in France and
Germany.
Axelrod said specific benefits might be a while in coming. "You plant,
you cultivate, you harvest," he told reporters. "Over time, the seeds
that were planted here are going to be very, very valuable."
Picking up on his consultant's theme later, Obama told the college
students he sees nothing wrong with setting his sights high on goals
such as mending relations with Iran and eliminating the world of
nuclear options âÂ~@Â" two cornerstone issues of his trip.
"Some people say that maybe I'm being too idealistic," Obama
said. "But if we don't try, if we don't reach high, then we won't
make any progress."
Obama's final day in Turkey also featured a meeting with religious
leaders and stops at top tourist sites in this city on the Bosporus
that spans Europe and Asia. Accompanied by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan, he toured the Hagia Sophia museum and the Blue Mosque.
At the Blue Mosque, just across a square and manicured gardens
from Hagia Sophia, the president padded, shoeless like his entire
entourage in accordance with religious custom, across the carpeted
mosque interior. All around were intricate stained-glass windows and
a series of domes, thick columns and walls entirely covered in blue,
red and white tile mosaic.
Again, he appeared to speak little, as he was schooled in what he
was seeing by a guide. He spent about 40 minutes at both places.
At his Istanbul hotel, Obama met with Istanbul's grand mufti and
its chief rabbi, as well as Turkey's Armenian patriarch and Syrian
Orthodox archbishop.
In many respects, Obama's European trip was a continental listening
tour.
He told the G-20 summit in London that global cooperation is the key
to ending a20crippling recession. And at the NATO summit in France and
Germany, he said his new strategy for Afghanistan reflects extensive
consultation.
In Ankara, Turkey's capital, Obama told lawmakers their country can
help ensure Muslims and the West listen to each other.
AP
Tuesday April 7 2009
ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) Barack Obama wrapped up his first European
trip as president with a request of the world: Look past his nation's
stereotypes and flaws. "You will find a partner and a supporter and
a friend in the United States of America," he declared Tuesday.
"The world will be what you make of it," Obama told college students
in Turkey's largest city. "You can choose to build new bridges instead
of building new walls."
Promising a "new chapter of American engagement" with the rest of
the world, Obama said the United States needs to be more patient in
its dealings. And he said the rest of the world needs a better sense
"that change is possible so we don't have to always be stuck with
old arguments."
The students formed a tight circle around the U.S. president, who
slowly paced a sky-blue rug while answering their questions. He
promised to end the town hall-style session before the Muslim call
to prayer.
Obama rejected "stereotypes" about the United States, including that
it has become selfish and crass.
"I'm here to tell you that that's not the country that I know and
it's not the country that I love," the president said. "America,
like every other nation, has made mistakes and has its flaws. But for
more than two centuries we have strived at great cost and sacrifice
to form a more per fect union."
He repeated his pledge to rebuild relations between the United States
and the Muslim world.
"I am personally committed to a new chapter of American engagement,"
Obama said. "We can't afford to talk past one another, to focus only
on our differences, or to let the walls of mistrust go up around us."
Obama's message was being warmly received by Arabs and Muslims. In an
interview published Tuesday, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem
called his words "important" and "positive."
The questions for Obama at the town-hall meeting were polite and
rarely bracing, though one student asked whether there was any real
difference between his White House and the Bush administration. Obama
cautioned that while he had great differences with Bush over issues
such as Iraq and climate change, it takes time to change a nation as
big as the United States.
"Moving the ship of state is a slow process," he said.
The Turkish stop capped an eight-day European trip that senior adviser
David Axelrod called "enormously productive" âÂ~@Â" including an
economic crisis summit in London and a NATO conclave in France and
Germany.
Axelrod said specific benefits might be a while in coming. "You plant,
you cultivate, you harvest," he told reporters. "Over time, the seeds
that were planted here are going to be very, very valuable."
Picking up on his consultant's theme later, Obama told the college
students he sees nothing wrong with setting his sights high on goals
such as mending relations with Iran and eliminating the world of
nuclear options âÂ~@Â" two cornerstone issues of his trip.
"Some people say that maybe I'm being too idealistic," Obama
said. "But if we don't try, if we don't reach high, then we won't
make any progress."
Obama's final day in Turkey also featured a meeting with religious
leaders and stops at top tourist sites in this city on the Bosporus
that spans Europe and Asia. Accompanied by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan, he toured the Hagia Sophia museum and the Blue Mosque.
At the Blue Mosque, just across a square and manicured gardens
from Hagia Sophia, the president padded, shoeless like his entire
entourage in accordance with religious custom, across the carpeted
mosque interior. All around were intricate stained-glass windows and
a series of domes, thick columns and walls entirely covered in blue,
red and white tile mosaic.
Again, he appeared to speak little, as he was schooled in what he
was seeing by a guide. He spent about 40 minutes at both places.
At his Istanbul hotel, Obama met with Istanbul's grand mufti and
its chief rabbi, as well as Turkey's Armenian patriarch and Syrian
Orthodox archbishop.
In many respects, Obama's European trip was a continental listening
tour.
He told the G-20 summit in London that global cooperation is the key
to ending a20crippling recession. And at the NATO summit in France and
Germany, he said his new strategy for Afghanistan reflects extensive
consultation.
In Ankara, Turkey's capital, Obama told lawmakers their country can
help ensure Muslims and the West listen to each other.