PRIME MINISTER:
It’s good to be here in Turkey. It’s good to be here in the extraordinary city of Istanbul.
Obviously, I am going to end this week on the Gallipoli peninsula for some very important commemorations of the historic landings of the Australians and the New Zealanders on 25 April 1915, but I’m beginning this trip with some important discussions with the government of Turkey about contemporary issues of great interest to our country, to Turkey, and to the wider world.
Yesterday, as you know, I met with the Turkish prime minister and the Turkish president. As well, I had briefings from their security people about the efforts that Turkey is making to ensure that foreign terrorist fighters do not access the conflict in Iraq and Syria through Turkey.
Turkey is making very big and improving efforts to ensure that we don’t have foreign fighters enflaming what is a horrific situation in Syria and in northern Iraq. We shouldn’t underestimate the scale of the challenge that Turkey faces. There are some 35 million foreign tourists coming to Turkey every year. The border with Iraq and Syria is about a thousand kilometres long. The distance that needs to be policed is essentially longer than the distance between Sydney and Melbourne. So, there are huge challenges, but I’ve got to say that the Turkish Government is manfully rising to them.
The other thing which is worth noting about Turkey is that Turkey is a modern democracy. It is a pluralist society. It’s a free and prosperous society and I don’t think anyone could come to Ankara or to Istanbul and not be impressed with the achievements of modern Turkey. It’s prosperous, it’s pluralist, it’s peaceful, and it’s a stark contrast to the kind of things that we see happening in Syria and Iraq right now.
So, there is hope and I have to say that based on the discussions that I had with the Turkish leadership yesterday, I am full of hope for an even stronger cooperation in the near future than we’ve had in the recent past.
Before I throw to questions, I probably should also note that we have had what appears to be at least a once in a decade storm in New South Wales. Lives have been lost and obviously my thoughts, the thoughts of my party, are with the families of those who have died in these storms and obviously we mourn with their families and we feel for the families whose homes have been damaged by this once in a decade storm. I’m pleased to have been in pretty regular contact with Premier Baird, with Minister Keenan, and I’m pleased that the Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements have now been invoked.
QUESTION:
Through your talks yesterday, are we better off? How better placed are we now to stop the influx of fighters into Turkey from here?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, there are three particular things I will point to. First of all, the placement of Australian liaison officers with the Turkish police and intelligence agencies – that’s important; second, the annual counter-terrorism talks that will now take place between Australia and Turkey; and third, we are working on a Memorandum of Understanding for the return of foreign fighters. So, if the Turks apprehend foreign fighters of Australian origin, we will have a set of protocols in place for dealing with them.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, at the moment there are legal problems, I guess, with detaining and deporting people?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, the important thing is to ensure that if Australians are tempted to go overseas to do the wrong thing, we stop them – and that is increasingly happening. We have had something like a hundred passports cancelled in recent months. When they go overseas, they are dealt with as best we can and that is what the coalition's attempting to do: to disrupt, degrade and ultimately destroy the Daesh death cult where it is operational in Iraq in particular, but there are elements of the coalition that are acting against Daesh in Syria as well.
And then, if people seek to return to Australia, we want them arrested, prosecuted and jailed for a very long time and this is where this close cooperation between Australian and Turkish authorities will help because we will identify them better, we will get more information about them and that will help us to ensure that they can't do any damage back in Australia.
QUESTION:
So, Prime Minister, does this mean our agencies giving information on those it’s concerned about to Turkish authorities? Is it at that level?
PRIME MINISTER:
That is exactly what it means. It means serious information-sharing between Australian and Turkish authorities in the shared interest of combatting terrorism wherever it occurs.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, is the Turkish Government doing enough to control its border with Syria and Iraq?
PRIME MINISTER:
Again, I don't want to underestimate the difficulty that the Turkish Government faces because it is a very long and inevitably somewhat porous border. But the Turks are well aware of the scale of the challenge and they are very conscious of the fact that the death cult is a threat, not just to Syria and Iraq, but to them as well. This death cult – it respects no borders, it respects no laws, it appreciates no human decency. It is a gruesome, barbarous outbreak which has no place in the modern world and the Turks are just as conscious of that as we are.
QUESTION:
I know it was a vexed issue for you at the time, but I understand Prince Philip has now received his knighthood. Given the torment it caused at the time, that your belief in it, do you have any reflections on that now?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, I just note that it has taken place.
Thank you.
[ends]