:00:00. > :00:13.Zeinab Badawi talks to Turkey's Prime Minister.
:00:14. > :00:14.Welcome to this special edition of HARDtalk.
:00:15. > :00:18.My guest today is Turkey's Prime Minister,
:00:19. > :00:29.In his maiden speech in May he said Turkey would be seeking more friends
:00:30. > :00:45.What does this mean for the fight against terror?
:00:46. > :01:01.Thank you very much. Welcome to Turkey, welcomed the Istanbul. A
:01:02. > :01:09.fascinating city. A great pleasure to have you here. Thank you very
:01:10. > :01:15.much. The world was shocked at the attack on Istanbul airport. The
:01:16. > :01:19.president Recep Tayep Erdogan said this represented a turning point in
:01:20. > :01:20.the global fight against terror. Can we expect any change in policies
:01:21. > :02:00.from Turkey? I know you've only been Prime
:02:01. > :02:05.Minister since May, but you've been in the Cabinet for more than 12
:02:06. > :02:08.years. You've been associated president and an ally since the
:02:09. > :02:14.early 90s, so you know what is going on. I have to put the accusations to
:02:15. > :02:18.you. Both from inside Turkey and outside. The argument is essentially
:02:19. > :02:26.that Turkey has in the past few years supported groups fighting
:02:27. > :02:31.President Assad in Syria, which has helped the so-called Islamic State
:02:32. > :03:00.take hold in the region and it now poses a threat to your own country.
:03:01. > :03:07.Now Daesh as you call it maybe a threat but point is Prime Minister
:03:08. > :03:11.that your government or your country has moved too late against the
:03:12. > :03:21.threat of IS, really only in the last year. So I give you one
:03:22. > :03:29.criticism. An adviser to the 11th president of Turkey has said, Turkey
:03:30. > :03:37.was used as a rare base for IS, a master and other factions. --
:03:38. > :03:45.Al-Nusra. Turkey's support of such factions in Syria normalised the
:03:46. > :03:51.extremists in the eyes of pious Turks. So the accusation is that
:03:52. > :04:25.Turkey has helped create this problem.
:04:26. > :04:31.Turkey is obviously saying that there are terror attacks carried out
:04:32. > :04:36.by IS, it's a terrorist organisation you've just said. But does Turkey
:04:37. > :04:43.feel that it has contributed to the problem because there have been well
:04:44. > :04:50.documented areas of research that showed that there are cells that are
:04:51. > :04:54.links to IS in Turkey. Can you come to grow -- categorically say that
:04:55. > :05:25.you are stopping this? And will you allow open discussion
:05:26. > :05:31.about this topic? Because there is that in the past Turkey has wanted
:05:32. > :05:34.to keep a lid on this kind of conversation, that you and I are
:05:35. > :05:41.having now. I give you one example. The editor in chief of a university
:05:42. > :05:46.newspaper was given a six-year sentence this year because he was
:05:47. > :05:50.found guilty of leaking secret state information for his newspaper's
:05:51. > :05:55.reports, claiming that Turkey was sending weapons to Islamist in
:05:56. > :05:58.Syria. Are you going to have an open debate and not put pressure on
:05:59. > :06:17.people like him who want to discuss this openly?
:06:18. > :06:21.So if he comes back will he be put in prison? Aussie has been in the UK
:06:22. > :07:02.recently. Could we in the light of the attacks
:07:03. > :07:06.by IS in Turkey see a change in policy towards President Bashar
:07:07. > :07:11.al-Assad from Turkey? Because you've always been impeccable in your
:07:12. > :07:15.opposition to him. -- implacable. Could you perhaps, as Britain has
:07:16. > :07:22.suggested, see that he may have to play a part up to appoint, as Philip
:07:23. > :07:24.Hammond, the Foreign Secretary said, if there is a transition, play a
:07:25. > :08:17.part of two point? -- up to. Pro-government Turkish newspapers
:08:18. > :08:23.could be preparing the public for a shift. For example, it was written
:08:24. > :08:28.in a newspaper that a deadly terror campaign inside the country by IS is
:08:29. > :08:32.pushing Ankara to change its priorities and leave behind its
:08:33. > :08:37.Syria policy. Is that not the case, that you might just change your
:08:38. > :08:38.policy and say you don't want Assad to stay but maybe he can stay for
:08:39. > :09:05.now while you sort out IS? Can you do both at the same time?
:09:06. > :09:36.Don't you have -- have to have a priority, first moving Assad?
:09:37. > :09:41.You've talked about the consequences of the turmoil in the region and the
:09:42. > :09:45.fact that Turkey supports 3 million Syrian refugees. But there have also
:09:46. > :09:50.been refugees from Syria and other countries going to Europe and you
:09:51. > :09:58.have struck a deal recently with the European Union, that there is this
:09:59. > :10:05.one for one refugee deal, that for every refugee that Turkey stops
:10:06. > :10:10.going into Europe Europe will take a refugee from a camping Turkey. That
:10:11. > :10:17.should also give Turkey something, for example these are free travel in
:10:18. > :10:22.the Schengen area. -- visa free. You don't have those concerns yet that
:10:23. > :10:27.this may never happen. President Erdogan says it didn't get that the
:10:28. > :11:29.whole deal may unravel. Where are we at without? -- with that?
:11:30. > :11:36.I want to know really whether Turkey may renege on this deal with Europe
:11:37. > :11:41.and if so could that happen soon? That Turkey says, we are not happy,
:11:42. > :12:25.we are going to just allow the refugees to go into Europe.
:12:26. > :13:00.But you've got a long wait, sorry, you've got a long way to go on this.
:13:01. > :13:06.David Cameron, the British Prime Minister, said at this rate Turkey
:13:07. > :13:15.won't join the EU until the year 3000. It has a long way to go.
:13:16. > :13:23.He did not, but OK, you bring up the recent EU referendum campaign in the
:13:24. > :13:30.UK and it was the Brexit campaign, not the Remain campaign, that
:13:31. > :13:34.brought up the issue of Turkey and the accusation was their worst share
:13:35. > :13:39.-- scare tactics to say many Turks would join the EU to discourage
:13:40. > :13:46.people from remaining EU. The vice president of the all-party
:13:47. > :13:50.parliamentary group in the UK said, she is a Turkish Cypriots, I was
:13:51. > :13:53.appalled that leading Brexit campaigners, including Boris
:13:54. > :13:58.Johnson, the Conservative MP and former Mayor of London, used
:13:59. > :14:02.negative posters across the country to stoke fear that 78 million Turks
:14:03. > :14:04.were joining the EU and were potentially coming to the UK. How
:14:05. > :14:43.did you feel about that? So, you said you were disappointed
:14:44. > :14:45.in Boris Johnson in particular, because of his Turkish
:14:46. > :15:00.great-grandfather. What would you say to him?
:15:01. > :15:13.I just want to ask you also, Prime Minister...
:15:14. > :15:17.On the Syrian refugees we are hearing reports in the press that
:15:18. > :15:47.they may be offered Turkish citizenship. Is that right?
:15:48. > :16:16.So, you could have, in theory, 3 million new citizens in Turkey of
:16:17. > :16:55.Syrian origin? Let's talk about the potential
:16:56. > :17:04.referendum in Turkey to try to change the Constitution to give the
:17:05. > :17:06.presidency more power. We know that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was
:17:07. > :17:11.the first elected President in Turkey. The Constitution at the
:17:12. > :17:16.moment as US Prime Minister, and you have a government and so on, but the
:17:17. > :17:18.concern is that there will be constitutional changes in this
:17:19. > :17:21.referendum whenever it happens, which will strengthen the president
:17:22. > :18:14.and weaken your position. Is that something you support?
:18:15. > :18:20.But the fear is that you can't be your own man, that you cannot really
:18:21. > :18:25.be an effective minister if these changes happen, and of course you
:18:26. > :18:29.don't have a full majority, 60%, in the Parliament in order to vote
:18:30. > :18:32.these changes through, so you will have to make deals and we will have
:18:33. > :18:37.to see what kind of changes will be made to the Constitution. The fear
:18:38. > :18:40.is that you may not be able to stand up to a very powerful president who
:18:41. > :18:42.has dominated the Turkish political scene for a decade as Prime Minister
:18:43. > :20:04.and now was president. You are not worried that would lead
:20:05. > :20:05.to an authoritarian system that you would leave behind for your
:20:06. > :20:22.successes? Briefly on There were checks and balances,
:20:23. > :20:28.though, with all respect Prime Minister. Some of those would give
:20:29. > :20:31.the President much greater powers over appointing the judiciary and
:20:32. > :20:35.the government, setting the date of elections. That is the fear, that it
:20:36. > :21:00.would concentrate too much power without checks and balances.
:21:01. > :21:06.One of the things the Europeans are looking at, and the international
:21:07. > :21:11.community indeed, is your campaign against the Kurdish militants is not
:21:12. > :21:16.wider than that, that you are somehow waging a hidden war against
:21:17. > :21:21.ordinary Kurdish civilians. We know the PKK is seen as a terror
:21:22. > :21:25.organisation by the international community, but can you guarantee you
:21:26. > :21:26.are not trying to attack ordinary Kurds under the guise of this
:21:27. > :22:32.campaign? You are also opposed to the DUI D,
:22:33. > :22:37.who are the Syrian Kurds who are fighting against Bashar Al-Assad,
:22:38. > :22:42.and they are supported by key countries like the United States,
:22:43. > :22:46.yet you are opposed to them, which puts you on the other side of the
:22:47. > :22:47.international community. You are the Prime Minister who has said you want
:22:48. > :23:58.more friends and fewer enemies. Prime Minister, thank you very much
:23:59. > :24:29.indeed for coming on HARDtalk. I think you could be forgiven
:24:30. > :24:33.for wanting a little bit more from this summer, more warm
:24:34. > :24:36.weather, more dry weather.