The purpose cannot be creating self-styled democracies, but rather encouraging steps that are conducive to establishing democratic rule at universal standards. Obviously, this would be a formidable journey.

In other words, the bar should be maintained at the level of a pluralistic and participatory democracy.

It is essential that policy instruments be developed that would firmly establish democratization on the basis of social consensus and enable transformation on stable grounds.

A confidence problem exists on the part of the people of the region who desire democratic rule in principle, but remain suspicious of both the fashion with which democratization is presented and the purposes of the democratic world.

The US and the European Union needs to help in the translation of the demand for democracy into a political will.

The Muslim world and its subset the countries of the Middle East have been left behind in the marathon of political, economic and human development. For that, there is a tendency to blame others as the primary cause.

I should like to repeat what I stated recently in the Jeddah Economic Forum in Saudi Arabia: It won't be the religion, but rather the world-view of some of its followers that shall be made current.

But foremost, I do not subscribe to the view that Islamic culture and democracy cannot be reconciled.

Similarly, it is argued that the culture of Islam is incompatible with democracy. Basically, this conventional perspective of the Middle East thus contends that democracy in that region is neither possible nor even desirable.

My visit to the United States has also given me the opportunity to emphasize the objective of establishing close and intensive links between the Turkish and American peoples, scholars and businessmen.

I regard the endorsement of both the objective and a method - which can differ from one country to another- of democratization by the parties in the region as a basic requisite of democratization in the Middle East.

There exists an unmistakable demand in the Middle East and in the wider Muslim world for democratization.

We of course define all terror organizations as threats, but the PKK is the primary threat.

It is obvious that putting the Arab-Israeli dispute on a resolution track would be an important element of overcoming the confidence problem in the region.

We're really willing to see more and more U.S. entrepreneurs conducting investments in Turkey. I'm optimistic for the future.

There is no Kurdish problem.

Even as we ought to accept that each country would progress with a different method and speed toward that goal, the standard for the expected end-state should not be lowered.

Whatever our Lord says, whatever our beloved Prophet says, we shall follow that path.

The members of the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria are also part of the Syrian people, and they have the right to exercise their democratic rights.

The Kurdish problem is not only the problem of one part of my nation: it is a problem of every one of us, including myself.

The advanced levels which the democratic world has attained at the end of lengthy processes may have created the perception in the region that democracy is a distant concept; this perception can be addressed.

Even in the Western world, one cannot argue that the ideal has been achieved given the existence of issues like the integration, participation and representation of Muslim citizens, and occasional but lingering anti-Semitism.

I have fought so heavily against corporate tax breaks, especially because I've seen our schools in Detroit close down.

We send a lot of money - I don't know, I think it's in billions - of money to the Saudi government. We have so much tremendous leverage as the United States of America, but we seem to choose to look away when there's other interests at play.