Turkish Parliament Speaker Mehmet Ali Sahin on Friday congratulated Osama al-Nujaifi who was elected Iraq’s parliament speaker.
In his message to al-Nujaifi, Sahin wished success in his term in office, saying that Turkey attached importance to settlement of security, stability and domestic peace in Iraq as well as the country’s reaching an economic prosperity.
Turkey strongly supported Iraq’s independence, political unity and territorial integrity, Sahin said, adding that Turkey would continue to support Iraq in every area in the future period too.
The Turkish parliament was ready to extend every type of support to the Iraqi parliament, he said, expressing belief that the parliaments of the two countries should pursue their activities in close cooperation and determination to carry the relations to a higher level.
Sahin also said that he would be glad to host Nujaifi in Turkey.
The Sunni Arab lawmaker Nujaifi, a senior member of the Iraqiya bloc headed by former prime minister Ayad Allawi, was named on Thursday as Iraq’s parliament speaker.
Turkey’s tireless efforts in forging consensus among Iraq’s diverse political factions and its endless attempts to spur Sunni groups to display a proactive role in Iraq’s political scene seems to have yielded no results, following a government formation in Iraq earlier this week favoring Shiites and thus Iran.
But the strong cross-sectarian Iraqiya bloc with 91 seats in the parliament — more than the ruling party — remained out of the government, will likely take many key posts in the bureaucracy and benefit from other political bargains, one of which is certainly about abolishing a law on de-Baathification — something Sunnis have fought over for years.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu met with Iraq's prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki (R), in Baghdad two days before the formation of the new Iraqi government.
Turkey and US President Barack Obama praised Iraqi moves to form an “inclusive” government on Friday, but the two-day-old deal was already looking fragile after Sunni lawmakers walked out of parliament, clouding the possibilities for working with Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Members of the Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc have accused al-Maliki’s Shiite coalition of breaking promises under the deal, which aimed to overcome an eight-month deadlock and allow the creation of a new Iraqi government.
Iraqiya has accused the Shiite alliance of violating an agreement to abolish the controversial de-Baathification law. A refusal to bring the issue up for a vote during Thursday’s parliament session prompted most members of the Sunni-backed bloc to walk out, dampening optimism about a power-sharing deal reached the day before.
Speaking about Turkey’s role in making up the Iraqi government, Hüsnü Mahalli, a columnist with Akşam daily, said Turkey is not only siding with the Sunnis, but it is building an equal relationship with all other groups. He said Turkey is the only country that has urged Sunnis to take part in the political scene in Iraq since the 2005 elections. “Turkey has done these activities with the US. The last politician who visited Turkey was al-Maliki,” he pointed out.
Members of the Sunni minority said they were being squeezed out of a major role in power, fearing the new government would just be a continuation of the last four years of Shiite dominance with a strong role for the Shiite parties’ ally Iran.
The agreement ironed out Wednesday by representatives from all Iraq’s main ethnic and sectarian political groups paved the way for a parliament session Thursday in which Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani was re-elected president.
Talabani went ahead and asked al-Maliki to start putting together his Cabinet, a process that could take several weeks.
The agreement gave Iraqiya the parliament speaker’s position and Iyad Allawi a position as head of a still-undefined council, although he has yet to publicly accept the post. It is still unclear what other positions the Iraqiya list would receive, but overall the deal fell far short of Sunni ambitions for greater political power after years of governments dominated by religious Shiite parties.
Their hopes had been further raised because Iraqiya won 91 seats in the 325-member parliament, two more than al-Maliki’s list but short of a majority.
Marina Ottaway, director of the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, disagreed that Sunnis got anything out of the deal. “By and large, the Sunnis are not getting that much,” she told AP. She said the true test will be whether Iraqiya receives any of the powerful ministries such as foreign affairs, interior or defense.
Turkey has sought a greater Sunni role in the new government, fearing that otherwise disillusioned members of Iraq’s Sunni minority could turn toward insurgency, fueling violence.
Hamza Akengin, an expert from Marmara University who talked to Sunday’s Zaman from an international conference on Iraq in the southern city of Hatay, said there must be some kind of bargaining regarding Sunnis in exchange for their being out of the government.
The head of the Guardians Council, one of Iran’s top clerical ruling bodies, praised al-Maliki’s return to power and described it as a blow to neighboring, mainly Sunni Arab countries who opposed al-Maliki.
Mahalli said Turkey’s advantage in helping establish the new government was its neutral position vis-à-vis Iraq’s ethnic and sectarian groups. Mathematically speaking, Mahalli said, Iran seemed to be the winning side. But he said Turkey’s role cannot be underestimated. “Turkey has not explicitly sided with any group and that made all factions in society have love, small or big, for Turkey. Even pro-Iranian factions have some sort of sympathy toward Turkey,” the expert noted. In ranking who won the political contest, Mahalli claimed that Turkey has become the most successful one.
Oddly enough, both the US and Iran had been working toward the same goal: an al-Maliki return to power. But they differed strongly on the degree to which the Sunnis would be involved in the new government, with Iran pushing for only token Sunni participation and the US lobbying for a real partnership.
As al-Maliki accepted Talabani’s nomination for a second term after the Sunnis walked out, it appeared Iran had prevailed.
The Kurds were equally frustrated, accusing al-Maliki of adopting a dictatorial style of governance. They bristled at his opposition to what they saw as their right to directly contract foreign companies to explore for oil in their autonomous region in northern Iraq.
Mahalli said Kurds played skillfully, and they ostensibly became “heroes” that ended Iraq’s protracted political stalemate. “The primary reason was that Kurds stayed engaged only with Americans and that was the principal motive behind their success. Noting that northern Iraq’s behavior with respect to its decision on secession will determine the future of Iraq, Mahalli said this fact made the region more powerful and a ‘kingmaker’,” the columnist noted.
Mahalli said that Turkey is doing what democracy requires: There was an election and a group supported by Sunnis won, and Turkey supported the group that will make up the government.
He said he doesn’t think the newly formed government spells optimism for the future of Iraq. “Political tradition is aimed at making a new Iraq that will be ethnically-split, and political powers will be shared along ethnic lines that will make the war-torn country vulnerable. As this will undermine the security in the country, the new deal will mean virtually nothing in this vein,” he concluded.
Akengin said distribution of power among ministries and making policies based on weight of ethnic and religious groups cannot really contribute to the solution of the problem. “But the formation of a government, establishment of stability is more important,” the expert said.
George W Bush, the former US president, has launched his memoirs and given a series of interviews, which provide fascinating insights into his views on foreign powers, among them Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and Tony Blair, the former Prime Minister.
By Andy Bloxham
On Tony Blair:
He compared Mr Blair to Winston Churchill and disclosed that, on the eve of the war in Iraq, the British PM was willing to risk bringing down the Government to push through a vital vote. He cites Mr Blair’s “wisdom and his strategic thinking as the prime minister of a strong and important ally”, adding: “I admire that kind of courage. People get caught up in all the conventional wisdom, but some day history will reward that kind of political courage.”
On British and European public opinion:
The former president was frank about the lack of weight he attached to how he was thought of in the UK both while he was in power and since he left it, saying: “It doesn’t matter how people perceive me in England. It just doesn’t matter any more. And frankly, at times, it didn’t matter then.” He said: “People in Europe said: “Ah, man, he’s a religious fanatic, cowboy, simpleton.” All that stuff… If you believe that freedom is universal, then you shouldn’t be surprised when people take courageous measures to live in a free society.”
On Saddam:
“There were things we got wrong in Iraq but that cause is eternally right,” he said. “People forget he was an enemy, he had invaded countries, everybody thought he had weapons of mass destruction, it became clear that he had the capacity to make weapons of mass destruction. What would life be like if Saddam Hussein were [still] in power? It is likely you would be seeing a nuclear arms race.” He also adds that Saddam disclosed his reasons for pretending to have WMDs when he could have avoided war were because “he was more worried about looking weak to Iran than being removed by the coalition.”
On Afghanistan:
“Our government was not prepared for nation building. Over time, we adapted our stratedy and our capabilities. Still, the poverty in Afghanistan is so deep, and the infrastructure so lacking, that it will take many years to complete the work.”
On Iran:
“A government not of the people is never capable of being held to account for human rights violations. Iran will be better served if there is an Iranian-style democracy. They play like they’ve got elections but they’ve got a handful of clerics who decide who runs it.”
On China:
He believes its internal politics will stop it being a superpower economy to rival the US for many years. “China, no question, is an emerging economy. China has plenty of internal problems which means that, in my judgment, they are not hegemonistic. They will be seeking raw materials.”
On Syria:
Mr Bush recounts an incident when Israel’s then-prime minister Ehud Olmert called him to ask him to bomb what Mossad agents had discovered was a secret nuclear facility in Syria. He said no but Israel destroyed it without warning him. Telling the story appears to signal his displeasure at not being told.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/8119227/George-W-Bush-memoirs-foreign-powers-and-Tony-Blair.html, 09 Nov 2010
Iran proposed holding negotiations with the six mediators over the nuclear issue in Istanbul on November 23 or December 5, a diplomatic source told ITAR-TASS Tuesday evening in Brussels.
According to the source, Saeed Jalili, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council expressed Iran’s readiness for the talks in his message to Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
Meanwhile Turkish President Abdullah Gul said in London, where he had arrived to receive Chatham House Prize, that his country is ready to host talks between Iran and the six mediators.
via Iran ready to negotiate with six mediators in Istanbul – aysor.am – Hot news from Armenia.
Turkey’s foreign minister today called on Iraq to form a government, while U.S. President Barack Obama expressed impatience over the country’s political deadlock in comments made during the U.S. leader’s visit to India.
Ahmet Davutoglu, who is visiting Iraq, told reporters that he will consult with Iraqi politicians in a bid to end months of political infighting.
Iraq held inconclusive parliamentary elections in March and has not had a working government since.
Meanwhile, Obama told students in Mumbai that Iraq’s government is “taking way too long to get formed, and that is a source of frustration to us and to the Iraqi people.”
Turkey is not wavering in the slightest from its pro-European course. Nevertheless, as a trading nation with a dynamic economy that is the living proof of the fact that Islam, a secular political landscape and a parliamentary democracy are indeed compatible, it has in recent times rediscovered its Arab neighbours. Rainer Hermann reports
One of the success stories of Turkey's new foreign policy is Syria. In 1998, the two neighbours stood on the brink of war. Today, their economic and political ties are close
There was one good thing about Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s recent visit to Lebanon: although it increased tension prior to the publication of the indictment by the special international tribunal into the murder of Rafiq Hariri, it also demonstrated that in the Arab world, Iran can now really only be sure of the support of Shiites. In Beirut and during his trip to South Lebanon, Ahmadinejad was almost exclusively cheered on by Shiites; Sunni Muslims in the Arab world, on the other hand, viewed his visit to Lebanon with considerable disquiet.
There are many reasons why Iran’s influence in the Arab world has passed its zenith. One of them is the circumstances that surrounded Ahmadinejad’s re-election in June 2009 and the bloody crackdown on protests. Another is the growing influence of Turkey.
Last July, Khalil Shikaki’s Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research discovered that 43 percent of all Palestinians consider Turkey to be their most important foreign policy ally, ahead of Egypt at 13 percent and Iran at only 6 percent. Support for Turkey in the West Bank and in Gaza is virtually the same.
In Lebanon, Ahmadinejad did not succeed in reversing this trend. Shortly before his arrival in Beirut, the Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was back in Damascus for another meeting with President Bashar al-Assad. In the race for the post of prime minister in Iraq, both these men support the secular Shiite Iyad Allawi, while the powers that be in Iran prefer Nouri Maliki.
In addition to the matter of Iran, Erdogan and Assad spoke about opportunities for reviving the peace process. Assad made it clear that indirect talks with Israel could only be restarted if Turkey were to act as mediator.
Turkey is a “success story” in the Middle East
Up until ten years ago, Turkey was not a player in the Middle East, despite the fact that it shares borders with Syria, Iraq and Iran. It was a quiet neighbour. Today, the state that succeeded the Ottoman Empire is a popular go-between and trading partner. For the states and societies of the Middle East, Turkey – with its dynamic economy and practical evidence that Islam, a secular political landscape and parliamentary democracy are indeed compatible – is a “success story”; it has become a “soft power”.
Up until ten years ago, Turkey was not a player in the Middle East, despite the fact that it shares borders with Syria, Iraq and Iran. Today, the state that succeeded the Ottoman Empire is a popular go-between and trading partner, writes Rainer Hermann
There are heated debates in the West as to whether Turkey is currently just rediscovering the Middle East or whether it is actually returning to it and – if this is indeed the case – whether it is abandoning its foreign policy orientation towards the West. These questions were recently addressed at a conference in Istanbul organised by the Sabanci University, the German Institute for International and Security Affairs and the Robert Bosch Foundation.
One of the conclusions reached at the event was that although Turkey has adopted a new, active foreign policy, it has not abandoned its pro-European, pro-Western course. Nor has it shifted the main lines of its foreign policy. The policy of opening up towards its neighbours in the Middle East is much more a matter of diversifying its diplomacy and increasing prosperity in Turkey by tapping into new sales markets.
Foreign policy in the service of trading interests
Turkey’s former foreign policy was based on security considerations and the priority of territorial integrity. Its new foreign policy, on the other hand, is in the service of Turkey the trading nation and seeks to guarantee security and safeguard borders by increasing prosperity. Sükrü Elekdag, one of the best-known ambassadors in the country’s old diplomatic guard, often liked to say that Turkey always had to be ready for “two-and-a-half wars”, i.e. wars against Greece, Syria and the PKK.
New diplomacy: Turkey's current foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, has formulated a "policy of no problems" towards all neighbours, the aim of which is to maximize cross-border trade
In sharp contrast to this, Turkey’s current foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, has formulated a “policy of no problems” towards all neighbours, the aim of which is to maximize cross-border trade. With the exception of Armenia, this policy has worked so far.
Turkish foreign policy is more than just classic diplomacy, it is trade policy. It is above all Turkey’s new, up-and-coming middle class – the backbone of the ruling AKP – that is benefitting from the new, economy-based foreign policy of Turkey the trading nation.
The industrial cities of Anatolia, which have been dubbed the “Anatolian tigers”, are eyeing as yet unexploited market opportunities in neighbouring countries. While their entrepreneurs are also trading with Europe, they are increasingly focussing their efforts on the Middle East because of Europe’s restrictive Schengen visa policy, which also hits entrepreneurs and investors. This is why they support the visa-free zone which Turkey has established with Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.
One of the success stories of Turkey’s new foreign policy is Syria. In 1998, the two neighbours stood on the brink of war. Today, their economic and political ties are close. The Turkish-Syrian rapprochement went hand in hand with a cooling of relations with Israel. This process had already begun under Erdogan’s predecessor, the left-wing nationalist Bülent Ecevit, who accused Israel of “genocide” against the Palestinians. That being said, Erdogan visited Israel as recently as 2005; two years later, Israeli President Shimon Peres addressed the Turkish parliament.
Khalil Shikaki's Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research discovered that 43 percent of all Palestinians consider Turkey to be their most important foreign policy ally, ahead of Egypt at 13 percent and Iran at only 6 percent. Pictured: a Turkish national flag at a Hamas rally
Turkey’s policy towards Israel and the Palestinians is very different to that of the EU. While both advocate a peaceful resolution to the conflict and a two-state solution, they are talking to different players. Turkey accuses European diplomacy of ignoring reality because it is only talking to Fatah and boycotting Hamas. The Turkish reasoning is that there cannot be a peaceful solution without the involvement of Hamas. This is why Turkey is trying to pull Hamas into the political “mainstream”.
The differences of opinion between Turkey and the West are particularly blatant when it comes to Iran. While the West is toughening its sanctions against Iran, Turkey is developing its trade with the Islamic Republic.
Although Turkey has adopted a new, active foreign policy, it has not abandoned its pro-European, pro-Western course – that is the conclusion reached at at a conference in Istanbul organised by the Sabanci University, the German Institute for International and Security Affairs and the Robert Bosch Foundation. Pictured: the Foreign Ministers of Germany and Turkey, Guido Westerwelle and ahmet Davutoglu
Last June, Turkey voted against harsher sanctions in the UN Security Council. Unlike the West, Turkey believes that the only way to normalise Iran is to normalise relations, which involves trade and diplomacy. Turkey is familiar with the kind of bazaar mentality that is needed for negotiations with Iran. For fear of destabilizing the region, neither the Ottoman Empire nor the Turkish Republic has ever supported rebellions in Iran. For centuries, the safeguarding of a regional balance of power has been more important than the pursuance of a foreign policy based on ideology. This is why Turkey’s sympathy with the dissident “green” movement is only modest.
Just like the EU, Turkey only plays a secondary role in the Middle East behind the United States. At the end of the Cold War, however, it correctly identified the shifting of the tectonic plates in world politics and now, as a modern, self-confident, trading nation, wants to grasp the opportunities that are arising. Turkey still has its sights set on Europe. But the door to Europe remains locked and so this newly self-confident nation is pursuing its own interests in the Middle East and elsewhere.
