Turkish Forum

Tag: Davutoglu

  • Turkey, China move for ‘new cooperation paradigm’

    Turkey, China move for ‘new cooperation paradigm’

    In a move displaying its desire to deepen bilateral relations with China, Turkey has decided to open a new consulate general in this giant Asian nation, with plans to open several more consulates general in the near future. In addition, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu pointed out on Tuesday that developing ties between the two countries should be assessed through the concept of “normalization of history.”

    Shanghai, China
    Shanghai, China

    Wrapping up his six-day tour of Chinese cities on Tuesday with his last stop being the capital city of Beijing, Foreign Minister Davutoğlu told reporters that the new consulate general will be opened in Guangzhou, southern China’s largest city. After having talks with Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping on Monday, Davutoğlu met with his Chinese counterpart, Yang Jiechi, on Tuesday.

    In addition to its embassy in Beijing, Turkey already has two consulates general in China — one in Shanghai and the other in Hong Kong.

    Davutoğlu’s visit came weeks after a landmark visit to Turkey by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. During last month’s visit, the two countries located on the opposite edges of Asia took a landmark step in developing their bilateral relationship by defining it as a “strategic partnership.”

    Accordingly, several concrete steps will be taken to strengthen bilateral relations, including intensifying preparations for building a Turkish industrial zone in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, populated by ethnic Turkic Muslim Uighurs, and mutually increasing the number of flights and new destinations. While 2011 will be declared “China Year in Turkey,” the next year will be celebrated as “Turkey Year in China.”

    During Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s planned visit to China, which is expected to take place in the summer, Chinese and Turkish officials will institutionalize the declared strategic partnership through new bilateral mechanisms. Chinese President Hu Jintao, meanwhile, is expected to visit Turkey next year on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral relations between Ankara and Beijing. Turkey recognized the People’s Republic of China, founded in 1949, in 1971.

    Both Wen’s and Davutoğlu’s official visits and the two countries’ will for materializing a strategic partnership have been used by some commentators as proof of a so-called axis shift from the West to the East in Turkish foreign policy.

    Yet, Davutoğlu, speaking to reporters ahead of his departure for Turkey, firmly reiterated that Ankara’s developing relations with these global powers are not emerging at the expense of neglecting its cooperation with the West, and these relations should not be considered as an alternative to existing relations with Western countries.

    Turkey’s increasing contacts with China should be assessed within the general strategy framework in which Turkey’s foreign policy is shaped, Davutoğlu went on to say. The minister, who frequently uses metaphors to explain the government’s understanding of foreign policy, this time likened Turkish foreign policy to “an Asian rug.”

    “Every pattern and every color presents a harmony,” he said, reiterating that the basis of Turkey’s foreign policy is the normalization of history. With his conception of the “normalization” of history, Davutoğlu underlines the importance of eliminating Cold War and colonial abnormalities.

    “In a sense, a new Turkey-China cooperation paradigm is emerging via getting out of the abnormal situation of the period following the Cold War,” he said.

    Turkey, which considers China to be like “a continent,” plans to open “a great number of representative” missions in the country. The opening of a representative mission in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, was not on the agenda of talks between Davutoğlu and Chinese officials. Yet, sources mentioned opening such offices “in every part of the country over time,” signaling that such an option was not out of the question.

    03 November 2010, Wednesday

    SERVET YANATMA/OSMAN EROL  BEIJING

  • Davutoğlu: Turkey an owner, not partner of NATO

    Davutoğlu: Turkey an owner, not partner of NATO

    Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has firmly ruled our debates and arguments positioning Turkey as a party that needs to be persuaded by the NATO alliance on certain issues, such as a planned NATO missile defense system, stating that Turkey is a not a partner of the alliance, but an owner of it.

    Davutoğlu watched a traditional Chinese dance performance in the city of Xian, China, on Friday.
    Davutoğlu watched a traditional Chinese dance performance in the city of Xian, China, on Friday.

    The mood in Turkey is as if “there is a missile war,” and as if the question is on “which side will Turkey be in this war,” Davutoğlu said on Saturday, while speaking to a group of journalists on board a plane en route to Shanghai, from Xian, as part of his six-day-long visit to several Chinese cities.

    Davutoğlu recalled a NATO ministerial-level meeting that took place in Brussels last month when NATO’s secretary-general urged member states to endorse a proposed anti-missile system that would protect Europe and North America. The summit was a venue for a heated debate on relations between NATO and the European Union, Davutoğlu told reporters. “After an EU foreign minister said, ‘We see Turkey as a very important partner,’ I took the floor and said, ‘We are not a partner here, we are an owner. We are an owner of NATO and not a partner’,” he explained, criticizing EU officials for speaking with “two hats” at NATO meetings.

    Davutoğlu was apparently referring to problems stemming from the EU membership of the Greek Cypriot administration, which is not recognized by Ankara. Greek Cyprus, representing the entire island as a full member of the EU since 2004, blocks Turkish participation in European defense institutions such as the European Defence Agency (EDA), the body set up to oversee EU defense policy. Turkey has responded by obstructing the Greek Cypriot government’s use of NATO facilities and NATO cooperation with Greek Cyprus on defense and security issues more generally.

    On his way to Shanghai, the minister reiterated Turkey’s basic principles regarding the proposed missile defense system. Turkey says it is not against the establishment of a missile defense system for NATO’s European allies but insists in talks with the US that the project should be built for defensive, not offensive, purposes. Any clear reference to Iran or any other neighboring country as a threat in the proposed missile defense system runs counter to Ankara’s chief foreign policy objective: zero problems with neighbors.

    “First of all, Turkey is not a country outside of NATO that is alone and is being persuaded by NATO. It is a country at the center of NATO and this characteristic is very obvious. For example, they ask whether NATO is losing Turkey,” Davutoğlu said, in an apparent reference to claims that Turkey has been alienating its US supporters and needs to demonstrate its commitment to its partnership with the West.

    Such a question is humiliating for Turkey and Turkey is not an object to be lost or to be found, Davutoğlu said, reiterating that such a question should not be asked by anybody if the parties are in an alliance and a union. “When you say ‘we,’ it means that you’re regarding Turkey as an outsider. Every issue is discussed all together in NATO. Here, Turkey’s position needs to be taken into consideration, too. NATO, as a whole, regularly reviews its concept of threat and accordingly takes precautions as a security organization. Turkey’s objection to these precautions is out of question. Because this is a security organization where plans are made according to possible security risks, there is nothing more natural than that,” Davutoğlu said.

    “Ballistic missiles are a threat in the world; there are nuclear threats and there are also terror threats,” he said, adding that, principally, discussions on such issues are held within NATO and that technical preparations are made according to the results of those discussions. “Turkey is a part of this [process] and engages actively in those discussions,” he explained.

    01 November 2010, Monday

    SERVET YANATMA  XIAN, SHANGHA

  • Turkey Suggests It Won’t Block NATO Defense Shield

    Turkey Suggests It Won’t Block NATO Defense Shield

    Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu talks during a book signing in Doha on Oct. 19.
    Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu talks during a book signing in Doha on Oct. 19.

    Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Sunday it was “out of the question” for Turkey to oppose security measures the North Atlantic Treaty Organization considers necessary, apparently ruling out any move to block a missile shield the U.S. is proposing for the military alliance.

    Mr. Davutoglu laid out three principles on which he said NATO member Turkey would base its approach to the missile shield. But in the Turkish government’s most detailed comments to date on the proposal, he gave no indication of whether Ankara would agree to host the system’s radar sensors.

    “NATO can develop defense systems by taking into consideration security risks,” and Turkey’s opposition to such NATO measures “is out of the question,” Mr. Davutoglu told reporters while in Shanghai on a trip to China, according to Anadolu Ajansi, the Turkish state news agency.

    Leaders of the 28 NATO member states, including Turkey, are expected to decide at a summit in Portugal on Nov. 19 whether the organization should build the shield. Because all NATO decisions are made by consensus, any alliance member could veto the missile shield plan.

    Mr. Davutoglu’s remaining principles, however, appeared to amount to conditions that Turkey wants to set for the plan. “NATO is obliged to take into account the security of all allied countries. Accordingly, a system excluding some parts of Turkey is unacceptable,” he said, according to Anadolu, confirming that Turkey is demanding the shield cover the entire country. Diplomats say Turkey is the preferred, but not the only, choice to locate the missile shield’s radar sensors, because of its border with Iran.

    The third and final principle, Mr. Davutoglu said, was that Turkey wouldn’t allow itself to become a frontline state for NATO, as it was during the Cold War. “We do not have a perception of threat in our adjacent areas, including Iran, Russia, Syria and the other adjacent countries,” Anadolu quoted him as saying. “NATO should exclude any formula that confronts Turkey with a group of countries in its threat definitions and planning. … We do not want a Cold War zone or psychology around us.”

    The planned missile shield has put Turkey’s government in a tough position, according to diplomats and analysts. If Ankara were to refuse to take part in the shield, or block it, Turkey would risk angering the U.S. and NATO allies, these people say. If it joins the shield, however, the government risks angering Iran, a neighbor and major energy supplier.

    A White House fact sheet outlining the U.S. administration’s missile-defense-shield plan specifically names Iran as the threat the proposed shield is designed to counter. Diplomats familiar with talks between Ankara and Washington over the planned shield say Turkey is asking that any document produced at the NATO summit not mention Iran. Turkey also is concerned that the shield doesn’t damage its relations with Moscow—which opposed a previous version of the plan put forward by the administration of former U.S. President George W. Bush—these people say.

    Turkey has sought to position itself as a neutral party in the U.S.-led effort to pressure Iran into abandoning its nuclear-fuel program, which the major powers suspect is designed to develop nuclear weapons. Iran says the program, which is legal but remained hidden for nearly two decades before it was exposed and confirmed by international inspectors in 2003, is designed purely to make fuel for civilian reactors.

    But the shield has come as a test for Mr. Davutoglu’s “zero problems with neighbors” foreign policy. That policy is predicated on the idea that Turkey—which for decades had either closed borders or hostile or cold relations with all its neighbors—now faces no such hostility, and should instead open up its borders as widely as possible for trade and travel.

    Turkey’s decision, along with Brazil, to vote against a new round of sanctions on Iran at the United Nations Security Council in June was poorly received in Washington. Some policy makers already had begun to ask whether Turkey was turning away from the West under the ruling Justice and Development, or AK, party, which as its roots in political Islam. The Turkish Security Council “no” vote against a U.S. foreign-policy priority added to those concerns.

    Mr. Davutoglu and other Turkish leaders have fiercely denied any such shift, saying that their country’s top foreign-policy priority remains joining the European Union, and that they are merely pursuing their country’s national interests in a way any nation in its geographical location would do.

    The NATO missile-defense shield has triggered a lively debate in Turkey’s media, however. Religious-conservative newspapers and commentators oppose the plan, describing it as a “trap” set by the U.S. to reverse Turkey’s improvement in relations with countries such as Iran and Syria. They also have speculated that the true purpose of the shield is to protect Israel, rather than Europe, Turkey or the U.S. More-secular media and commentators, meanwhile, have warned that refusing to take part in the shield could isolate Turkey within NATO, undermining its most important security relationships.

    Write to Marc Champion at marc.champion@wsj.com

    via Turkey Suggests It Won’t Block NATO Defense Shield – WSJ.com.

  • Turkey says returning to normal in ties with China

    Turkey says returning to normal in ties with China

    Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu met with Nur Bekri, chairman of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, in Urumqi on the first day of his visit to China.
    Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu met with Nur Bekri, chairman of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, in Urumqi on the first day of his visit to China.

    Turkey’s willingness to build a strategic bilateral cooperation with China should not be regarded as an exceptional move, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has stated, arguing that, on the contrary, such a move is a sign of normalization. Davutoğlu departed Ankara on Wednesday for a six-day official visit to China, with Kashgar, where Muslim Uighurs make up the vast majority of the population, being his first stop during the visit.

    Turkey already has exemplary relations with Western countries, and its bilateral relations with globally rising powers such as Brazil, China, India and Russia have been expanding recently, Davutoğlu said, while speaking to a group of journalists on board a plane en route to Kashgar from Ankara.

    “The basis of our entire policy is the normalization of history. Our relations being good with China at the moment is not something abnormal; it was abnormal to have bad relations,” Davutoğlu was quoted as saying in apparent response to comments displaying developing ties between Turkey and China as proof of a so-called axis shift from the West to the East in Turkish foreign policy.

    With his conception of the “normalization” of history, Davutoğlu underlines the importance of eliminating Cold War and colonial abnormalities. “[The] end of the Cold War — [Francis] Fukuyama claimed [it] was the end of history. I claimed history had begun because there was an abnormality [during] the Cold War and that history will try to normalize it,” Davutoğlu said at the time.

    Turkey’s developing relations with these global powers are not emerging at the expense of neglecting its cooperation with the West, Davutoğlu said. “They should not consider these relations as an alternative [to existing relations with Western countries],” he stressed, while underlining that Turkey has been continuing its intense diplomatic contact with Western powers as well.

    Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu met with Nur Bekri, chairman of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, in Urumqi on the first day of his visit to China.

    “My trip to Brussels is no longer news,” the minister said and added that US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan were meeting six or seven times a year while the US and Turkish leaders met at most two times a year a decade ago.

    Davutoğlu’s visit to China came weeks after Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s visit to Turkey during which the two countries took a landmark step in developing their bilateral ties, which they have begun to define as a “strategic partnership.”

    During the visit, China and Turkey agreed to use their own currencies, rather than dollars, in bilateral trade, while Wen and Erdoğan signed eight deals in areas including transportation and trade. In October 2009 Erdoğan announced that Turkey and Iran had prepared a legal framework to transition to agreements in national currencies. According to Davutoğlu, Ankara’s policy that insists on using diplomatic means to resolve the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program has increased China’s interest in developing bilateral relations with Turkey.

    “They have noticed the big potential,” Davutoğlu said, arguing that maintaining stability in the Middle East would be highly beneficial, particularly for Turkey and China.

    Ankara and Beijing have both increased their commercial ties with Iran, signing deals on oil and gas fields to the frustration of Western powers, who suspect the Islamic republic of seeking to build a secret nuclear weapons program, an allegation the latter denies. China reluctantly backed the last round of UN sanctions on Iran while Turkey, along with Brazil, voted against the sanctions. Both China and Turkey have defended their trade with Iran as legitimate.

    Bilateral cooperation in the military field is a significant aspect of relations between Turkey and China. In September, they held joint aerial exercises at Turkey’s training range in the Central Anatolian town of Konya, where Anatolian Eagle exercises are taking place between NATO allies and friendly countries. Some eyebrows were raised following the exercises, with reports suggesting that the US and Israel were watching with concern the growing military cooperation among Turkey, China and Iran.

    Increasing support to Xinjiang

    Davutoğlu told reporters that his visit to China is part of an action plan jointly drawn up by Turkey and China following the violent clashes between local ethnic-Turkic Muslim Uighurs and the dominant Han Chinese community in June 2009. Calling the clashes, which came days after President Abdullah Gül’s landmark visit to this country last year, as a tough crisis, Davutoğlu said the crisis had now been overcome, with high-level visits taking place between the countries at a regular pace. The clashes that broke out in July in Urumqi left 197 dead and several hundred wounded, according to official Chinese numbers.

    Davutoğlu, who proceeded to Urumqi following his visit to Kashgar, highlighted the symbolic importance of his itinerary. According to him, better relations between Turkey and the Chinese administration will help Turkey increase its contribution to people living in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, populated by ethnic Turkic Muslim Uighurs.

    With Ankara and Beijing planning to have at least one leader-level visit per year, Erdoğan will pay an official visit to this country next year, Davutoğlu announced.

    29 October 2010, Friday

    SERVET YANATMA/OSMAN EROL  KASHGAR/URUMQI

  • Turkey Maintains Reservations About US Missile Defense

    Turkey Maintains Reservations About US Missile Defense

    Turkey Maintains Reservations About US Missile Defense

    Publication: Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 7 Issue: 190

    October 21, 2010 02:11

    By: Saban Kardas

    Turkey’s position on US efforts to create a ballistic missile defense (BMD) system in Europe has emerged as another source of tension in US-Turkish relations. The Bush administration originally contemplated the installment of a missile shield in Eastern Europe, yet failed to achieve its stated objectives in the face of strong Russian opposition. At the time, Turkey expressed a cautious position on such proposals, arguing that it should not proceed in a manner threatening to Russia. Recently, the Obama administration revived the idea as a central component of its policy of containing the threat posed by the Iranian nuclear program.

    Turkey has been considered as a possible location for the system, possibly hosting a radar battery on its soil, which would detect missiles launched from its surrounding regions so that they could be intercepted by missiles stationed in Turkey or Eastern Europe. The US also moved to present the revamped program as a joint NATO project, in obvious attempts to garner wider diplomatic support, and perhaps ease Ankara’s concerns. However, given Turkey’s position on the Iranian nuclear issue, which already had pitted it against the US, Ankara has remained lukewarm towards invitations from Washington to join the project. The recent trend in Turkish foreign policy towards pursuing independent policies and growing questions as to whether it is still committed to the Alliance and its traditional relations with the US has made Turkey’s position all the more puzzling.

    This issue has been at Turkey’s doorsteps visibly at least since Admiral Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, visited Turkey in early September (EDM, September 8). Similarly, during his visit to Turkey in early October, NATO Secretary-General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, discussed this issue (www.cnnturk.com, October 8). Ankara’s position was again one of the main items when NATO foreign and defense ministers met on October 14 in Brussels to discuss the Alliance’s new strategic concept, which will be adopted at the NATO summit in Lisbon next month. Rasmussen urged alliance members to consider the proposal for adopting a missile shield seriously against threats from rogue states, as underlined in the draft strategic concept.

    In Brussels, Turkish foreign and defense ministers, Ahmet Davutoglu and Vecdi Gonul, respectively, held a separate meeting with their US counterparts Hillary Clinton and Robert Gates. They conveyed Turkish concerns, especially its uneasiness with the proposed system being perceived as targeting Iran and Syria. They emphasized that the project must proceed as a defensive system, without designating any country as a potential aggressor. Otherwise, it could make these countries feel encircled and heighten tensions in the region. Turkey also reportedly expressed its desire to place the system under NATO’s command, and have it cover the entire territory of NATO members. Regarding the use of Turkish territory as a possible site for the system, the Turkish side apparently maintained its reservations (Dogan, October 14; Cihan, October 16).

    Speaking to reporters upon his return to Turkey, Gonul, however, did not rule out Turkey’s participation. Gonul rejected labeling Turkey’s stance as simply putting up objections, noting that the two sides were negotiating, which will continue until the Lisbon summit. Interestingly, Gates also denied speculation that the US was pressuring Turkey and said they were simply continuing negotiations with an ally. Gonul preferred to highlight the potential benefits of the missile shield for Turkey’s own security. Referring to some smaller scale defense systems Turkey is undertaking, Gonul maintained that if a future NATO missile shield also covers Turkey, it might help the country save huge costs (Zaman, October 16, October 17).

    Gonul apparently sees some opportunity for Turkey to participate in the missile shield project, since most of the costs would be borne by the United States. Turkey has considered missile defense systems since the 1990’s, but has failed to build an operational system, given its inability to shoulder the enormous costs of such a project and its limited technological know-how. One Turkish defense expert, Mustafa Kibaroglu, stressed that Turkey might opt to benefit from this project by seeking to gain a say in the decision making processes of the system and sharing technological expertise (Hurriyet Daily News, October 20).

    During his trip to the US where he attended the 29th annual American-Turkish Council (ATC) conference in Washington, Gonul, accompanied by Turkish government officials and diplomats, continued the talks on the issue with their American counterparts. “Contrary to some press reports, we are not pressuring Turkey to make a contribution. But we do look to Turkey to support NATO’s adoption at the Lisbon summit of a territorial missile defense capability,” Gates said, underscoring the ongoing difficulties in bridging the differences of opinion (Today’s Zaman, October 20).

    Unlike Davutoglu, who has been the architect of Turkey’s controversial Iran policy, Gonul might be less concerned about Turkey’s Iran portfolio and more sympathetic to the idea of benefiting from the missile shield project. Nonetheless, Ankara’s reservations over the ramifications of the project for its relations with its neighbors still run deep. Davutoglu has emphasized on many occasions that Turkey does not perceive any threats from the Middle East, and recently added that regional countries do not pose a threat to NATO, either (www.cnnturk.com, October 20).

    Turkey might increasingly find itself between a rock and a hard place. Irrespective of whether NATO designates any targets, Iran, whom the US has already dubbed as a “rogue state,” might nonetheless perceive the missile shield as a threat. Turkey, thus, will find it hard to explain its support for the missile shield to its Middle Eastern neighbors, especially as it pursues a “zero problems with neighbors” policy and forges deeper regional integration in the Middle East. In contrast, given the deep-running problems currently bedeviling US-Turkish relations, caused by the row over the Iranian nuclear issue and Turkey’s disputes with Israel, Turkey might not afford to be the deal-breaker at NATO. Ankara already sparked the ire of the US and other NATO members, when it contemplated vetoing Rasmussen’s election last year (EDM, April 6, 2009).

    Nonetheless, it may still be too early to determine the conditions under which Turkey could give its consent. Indeed, Turkey might prefer to continue “negotiations” on this issue until the Lisbon summit, and perhaps beyond.

    https://jamestown.org/program/turkey-maintains-reservations-about-us-missile-defense/

  • US wants backing on missile shield plans, Turkey insists on terms

    US wants backing on missile shield plans, Turkey insists on terms

    gonul vecdiTurkey has insisted that a planned NATO anti-missile system should not be perceived as a threat against any of its eastern neighbors with which its economic and political relations have particularly flourished in the last few years, while US authorities called on Ankara to approve hosting a part of the Europe-wide shield.

    Speaking at panel discussions held as part of the two-day 29th Annual American-Turkish Council (ATC) Conference in Washington on Monday, Turkish Minister of Defense Vecdi Gönül and US Defense Secretary Robert Gates both said the talks over the proposed missile shield are continuing on the basis of mutual trust and dialogue as two allies. “Contrary to some press reports, we are not pressuring Turkey to make a contribution. But we do look to Turkey to support NATO’s adoption at the Lisbon summit of a territorial missile defense capability,” Gates said, addressing the high-profile audience of politicians and businessmen from both sides on Monday in the US capital.

    Amid these calls from the US for approval, Turkey is particularly seeking guarantees from the West for the system not to be perceived as an anti-Iran or anti-Russia move while also trying to reduce the cost of a national anti-missile shield by agreeing to host a part of it at the NATO’s Lisbon summit next month.

    Gönül underlined that Ankara in principle supports the idea of the anti-missile system but said it should counter the full range of ballistic missile threats. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said recently that Turkey does not perceive any threat from any neighboring countries and does not think its neighbors present a threat to NATO, either. The transatlantic alliance, on the other hand, says the system is intended to defend all its members against possible missile attacks by “rogue states.” NATO operates by consensus and needs approval of its 28 members for the proposed system to be put into practice. Earlier, Gönül also underlined that his government was seeking an agreement on technical issues, including how the NATO-wide shield system would affect Turkey’s national missile system and if it would cover the entire country as well.

    Gönül and Gates were the luncheon speakers on Monday.

    On the sidelines of a panel discussion the same day, US Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Alexander Vershbow however — without naming the missile defense issue outright — called on Ankara to “demonstrate publicly” that bilateral and NATO alliance relations were moving forward. He made references to Turkey’s refusal of a new round of UN sanctions against Iran and also its tense relations with Israel but assessed the issues in the context of the run-up to the Lisbon summit.

    “Unfortunately, Turkey’s statements and actions last spring regarding Israel and Iran have contributed to a political environment in which it may be more difficult to move forward, at least in the short term, on some important projects that the administration supports. … With a historic NATO summit just a month away, we should seize the opportunity to publicly demonstrate our commitment to one another,” Vershbow said. A US defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity with Reuters, later clarified that the projects Vershbow had referred to were the sale of pilotless drone aircraft to Turkey.

    Also delivering speeches at the event on Monday, two leading diplomats from both sides gave rather positive messages as to the strength of the alliance between their countries though they sometimes differ on certain issues. While Philip Gordon, the US assistant secretary of state for Europe and Eurasian affairs, said Turkey and the US had a very close and active dialogue in foreign policy and also had common interests within NATO, Turkish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioğlu maintained that “the two countries can have different approaches on some issues but we should always remember that we have a common goal.” The same views were reiterated by Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan as well.

    “Disagreements are embedded in the nature of all healthy relations. If there aren’t any, then it means that someone is being intimidated in that relationship. Therefore, we try to develop a healthy relationship with the US while always keeping in mind our common goals and values,” he said.

    Turkish Foreign Trade Minister Zafer Çağlayan also took the floor at the event on Monday and touched upon Turkey’s adherence to UN sanctions against Iran, though it voted against them at the UN Security Council meeting in June. However, stressing that the sanctions should not overstep defined boundaries and hamper Turkey’s trade with Iran in the areas that are not subject to them, Çağlayan said Turkey’s share in Iran’s imports is very minimal. “Now I am asking: Iran had an import volume of $66 billion last year. Of this, Turkey’s share was only $2 billion. So, who made up the remaining $64 billion in exports to Iran? This needs to be discussed,” he said. In his speech, Çağlayan also touched upon “non-developing” economic relations with the US. “While the world economy is advancing, as are Turkey’s exports and foreign trade, we haven’t see even a tiny improvement in trade with the US,” he noted.

    20 October 2010, Wednesday
    TODAY’S ZAMAN WITH WIRES İSTANBUL