Europe should learn from us

Friday, April 29, 2005

DIPLOMACY

Yusuf Kanli and Elif Unal Arslan

ANKARA – Turkish Daily News

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has said that the countries adjacent to
Iraq had managed to speak with a single voice in dealing with their
troubled neighbor through a series of Turkey-pioneered meetings of
Iraq’s neighbors and emphasized that if the countries of the region had
acted in the manner that Europe dealt with the former Yugoslavia, there
would not be a united Iraq today.

`This is our biggest contribution to Iraq,’ he told the Turkish Daily
News in an exclusive interview, adding, `Europe should take lessons from
us.’

The ninth meeting of Iraq’s neighbors is to begin in Istanbul today
with the convening of several high-level officials. Gul will host the
ministerial-level gathering in Dolmabahce Palace tomorrow. Turkey
initiated the meetings prior to the U.S invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the
meetings evolved into exploring ways to help the re-structuring of the
war-torn country.

Gul said that the Istanbul meeting would, indeed, be an occasion to
demonstrate recognition of the new Iraqi administration by the bordering
countries of the region, as well as an opportunity to demonstrate the
importance attached by the neighboring countries to Iraq’s
democratization and transparency.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress