Turkey made great progress, U.S. ambassador says

WASHINGTON, D.C. (A.A) - New U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Francis J. Ricciardone has said that Turkey had made great progress in several aspects.
Ricciardone attended a reception hosted in his honor by the Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA), the Federation of Turkish American Associations (TADF) and Turkic-American Alliance (TAA) in Washington, D.C..
Replying to a question, Ricciardone who earlier served as ambassador in Cairo said that democracy in Turkey should not be compared with the one in Egypt. Turkey was at a different point and it made great progress in democracy, Ricciardone said.
U.S. ambassador said that he earlier visited Turkey several times and there were many differences between today's Turkey and the one that he visited last. Answering a question, Ricciardone said the transformation in Turkey covered several areas.
Ricciardone said Turkey, which was a member of both the East and the West was aware of its advantages, stating that Turkey's benefiting from its geostrategic advantages would be to the interests of Turkey, the United States and Turkey's friends.
Replying to a question on terrorist organization PKK, Ricciardone said that PKK was a terrorist organization and there was a sound cooperation between the United States and Turkey in combating it.
Ricciardone said that terrorist organization PKK was a thing of the past.
Answering a question on the relations between Turkey and Israel, Ricciardone said that the two countries were important friends of the United States.
Turkish-Israeli friendship was of great importance for stability in the region, he said.