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Kingdom Will Reform at Its Own Pace, Says Turki |
WASHINGTON, 5 October 2006 — Saudi Arabia will reform but at its own pace and not because of outside pressure, the Kingdom’s ambassador to the US said yesterday.
“We are not going to change just because you tell us to,” Ambassador Turki Al-Faisal said in a speech to a leading American think tank. “We will do so in our own way, in accordance with our tradition and culture.” |
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Turning the tables, he said the Saudis wanted to see the United States make some changes of its own.
“Your policy toward the Arab world must be changed and reformed in order to overcome the slump in America’s standing in my country and in every other Arab and Muslim country,” he said.
Prince Turki also warned the United States that the time for talking about ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was over and action must be taken now to forge a resolution.
His comments came in the context of President George W. Bush’s instruction to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to engage moderate Arab allies of the United States on strengthening Palestinian security services loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas.
“I am hopeful something concrete will come out,” Prince Turki said, referring to Rice’s visit, which included talks with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal.
“But talking is not enough,” he added, saying Prince Saud told Rice that efforts to solve the Palestinian question must now get results.
“We have talked about procedure for 50 years, now we have to talk about how to tackle the hard issues of the Palestinian problem,” Prince Turki said.
“This is what we are looking for from the secretary of state.” Saying relations between the United States and Saudi Arabia need to be improved, the ambassador told the Center for Strategic and International Studies,
“We often hear political rhetoric and bombast, and not constructive commentary.” Prince Turki was not explicit about the kind of criticism the Kingdom found objectionable.
Last month, in a report the State Department credited the Saudi government with continuing a campaign against extremism while King Abdullah and other Saudi officials called for the promotion of tolerance.
Also, the State Department this year credited the Saudis with more tolerant textbooks. While the Bush administration, like its predecessors, has tried to promote democracy in Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom long has been considered moderate in a turbulent area and a friend of the United States.
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