Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkey’s foreign minister, said an Irish ‘yes’ to the Lisbon Treaty would create the legal conditions for future EU enlargements and pleaded passionately for his country’s accession to the Union.
Turkey can help Europe to become a major player on the international stage if Turkey is admitted to the club, Davutoglu said. He further insisted that his country was not making these efforts “for PR” reasons, but to help the EU.
Davutoglu, a professor and political scientist, was speaking in Brussels on Friday (2 October), as Irish voters were being called to the ballot box for a second time to decide on the Lisbon Treaty.
There, he met with European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn, and Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt in his capacity as representative of the rotating EU presidency.
The Turkish diplomat said his country was a key regional player and was already playing the role of “honest broker” in a number of conflicts in which EU countries have little leverage.
Davutoglu gave many examples of Turkey’s mediator role in conflicts in the Middle East, the Caucasus or during ongoing tensions over Iran’s nuclear programme. He said his country was pursuing a policy of “zero problems” with its neighbours, with all of whom he said relations were “very good”.
Asked by journalists about his country’s relations with Greece, where a number of bilateral problems persist (EurActiv 28/08/09, EurActiv 03/07/09), Davutoglu explained that there were “of course difficulties”. But he said there was a big difference compared to the situation 10-15 years ago, because problems were now being dealt with constructively “without escalating tensions”. He even called Turkish-Greek relations “excellent”.
On Cyprus, Davutoglu accused the Greek Cypriot side of not being constructive in ongoing reunification talks held under UN patronage (EurActiv 30/09/09). Among other things, he blamed the president of Cyprus, Dimitris Christofias, for having declined a meeting in New York in trilateral format, with Turkish Cypriot negotiator Mehmet Ali Talat and a Turkish delegation. He said that for the Greek Cypriots, Turkish Cypriots were “semi-human beings,” while Greek Cypriots were “super human beings”.
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