Washington (AA) - The White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said they welcomed the Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc's comments apologizing for excessive force by police on protesters in the Gezi Park demonstrations in Istanbul.
In a daily press briefing at the White House on Tuesday, Carney said US administration hoped that the Turkish government would handle the Gezi Park protests "in a way that respects the rights of free speech and assembly, that are elemental to democracies."
"We have made clear our concerns about the excessive use of force that has been reported and have called on all sides to refrain from provoking violence. And we noted, obviously, the comments by the deputy prime minister," Carney said, noting that the US had a very important relationship with Turkey.
"Turkey is a NATO ally. We are working with Turkey on a range of regional issues that are obviously of great importance to US national security and to regional security, and we will continue to do that," he said.
On the other hand, spokesperson for the United States Department of State, Jennifer Psaki, said "we welcome the efforts by President (Abdullah) Gul and others to calm the situation. We're hopeful that that will have an impact on the country and think that's a positive step."
Psaki said that a call was scheduled by US Secretary of State John Kerry with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu for today and the two talked about a range of issues, including Syria, where "they work very closely together and his concerns about police actions in Turkey."
