Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that Turkish foreign policy should not be assessed from a single frame; a comprehensive process analysis should be made.
Speaking at U.S. think-tank organization Brookings Institute, Davutoglu said that the ruling Justice & Development (AK) Party tried to strengthen democracy, adding that they took NATO and the EU as references. He noted that political restoration could not reach a success without economic restoration.
Turkey, with its new foreign policy, developed relations with all of its neighbors, said Davutoglu, and gave Turkish-Greek relations as an example. Davutoglu said that Turkey and Greece had signed only 35 agreements throughout their 87-year-old relations, but the two countries signed 22 agreements only in a single day in May, 2010.
Noting that Turkey paid the price of instability or chaos milieu in surrounding regions, Davutoglu said that it was necessary to strengthen the peace and stability in the region, thus, Turkey should pursue an active foreign policy.
We don’t want sanctions, isolations, commercial and visa limitations in our region, he said.
Noting that Turkey had a foreign policy based on regional and global peace, Davutoglu said that Turkey would not be a side of any clash, but be a pawn of peace.
Upon a question, Davutoglu said that Turkey would not have any uneasiness regarding the announcement of Wikileaks documents because Turkey’s foreign policy had principles, adding that Turkey was ready to open its all archives.
Regarding Iran, Davutoglu said that Turkey was against proliferation of nuclear weapons, and supported peaceful nuclear capacity. He repeated that Turkey wanted stability and peace, not sanctions, in its region. He said that Turkey was exerting efforts to defend its national interest, not Iran or any other country.
Commenting on Israeli relations, Davutoglu said that Turkey did not have any antisemitism stance throughout its history, stressing that Turkey’s history was very clean in relations with Jews.
Israel, with its own policies, drew itself away from Turkey, he added.
Regarding Armenian issue, Davutoglu said that Turks and Armenians had lived in peace for centuries, and there had been no tension between the two societies neither in Anatolia nor in any other place. He added that there were Armenian ministers and ambassadors during Ottoman period.
Commenting on 1915 incidents, Davutoglu said that “a fair memory” was needed. He said that only “a short period of time” should not be taken into consideration.
Noting that Turkey signed the protocols with Armenia based on three legs, Davutoglu said that those three legs were; normalization of relations between Turkey and Armenia, normalization of relations between Turks and Armenians in all places of the world, and bringing stability to Caucasus. He added that those three legs should be implemented at the same time.
We are still defending and not give up on the protocols, he said.
AA
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