Thank you, Mr. Chair, and obviously we have Ambassador Apakan here today as well, who is a representative of all of us but also of Turkey.

I join many other colleagues in expressing our heartfelt sorrow over the tragic loss of life and the injuries to many more. The United States put out a statement of condolence yesterday, but I was reading this morning newspaper articles about some of the families of those who have lost loved ones, and whenever a tragedy like this happens one tends to focus on the numbers, particularly when the numbers are so tragically high as in this case. It’s hard to wrap your head around the grief of hundreds of families mourning lost ones, and one of the things that I’m always struck by as I read the stories of individual families is that there is a world of loss in each life that has been lost, and our hearts break for those who are mourning in Turkey, and we hope that our friends and colleagues who represent Turkey here will convey the deep sympathy of the American People.