BABACAN SAYS NO SHIFT IN TURK POSITION
Hurriye
Jan 29 2009
Turkey
ANKARA – Turkey yesterday stood firmly behind the policy it has
pursued throughout the Gaza crisis and said it would do the same if
Israel relaunched an operation into Hamas controlled Gaza.
"There is no change in our position, there is no shift," Foreign
Minister Ali Babacan said in a televised interview in Davos. The
Turkish government has come under heavy criticism for its strong
rhetoric against Israel during the latest Gaza crisis and has been
accused of siding with the Islamic group Hamas.
"We are at an equal distance from all Palestinian groups," Babacan
told the private NTV television. Babacan’s previous remarks Ä~^that
Hamas must make a choice between being an armed organization or a
political group Ä~^ led to a perception that the government had begun
moving toward a more balanced approach.
"There cannot be an armed solution," repeated Babacan. "This is valid
for both Palestinians and Israelis. Diplomacy and dialogue must be
the main instruments."
Babacan went on to say that the harsh criticism leveled at the Israeli
policies by the government was natural. "We showed a reaction against
these wrongful policies," he said, adding Turkey did the same when
a war broke out between Russia and Georgia last summer.
"On the fourth day of the (Caucasus) war we, together with the prime
minister, went to Russia and met with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir
Putin for hours. Just as we said ‘no to war,’ we have said the same
(regarding the Israeli-Palestinian violence)," the foreign minister
said.
"Who gained in the end of the conflict (in Gaza)?" he asked. "Is
Hamas eradicated? Who controls Gaza?" He added Hamas must continue
its path as a political movement.
Asked if his statements had not come too late, Babacan said: "Why is
Turkey a mediator? Because it is trusted by all partiesÃ~I Our stance
was not favored by some in the short run. There was a game and some
remained silentÃ~I Just as we tell Israel, we tell the Palestinians
to resort to political mechanisms at the negotiating table, not
to violence."
Babacan said the government’s criticism could lead to unease among
the Israelis but stressed that without Turkey, Israel’s presence in
the region would not be easy.
No planned meeting with Peres Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said
yesterday that he had no scheduled bilateral meeting with Israeli
President Shimon Peres, except for their presence at a Middle East
panel in Davos.
"There is no planned meeting (with the Israeli president)," he told
reporters at the airport before departure. "Such panels usually last
between 45 to 60 minutes and I will express my opinion in a 10 minute
time frame."
Erdogan said Turkey always sought to contribute to peace in the
Middle East and said the country would never take steps that would
overshadow peace. The presence of the two leaders at the same panel
will mark the first encounter since Erdogan’s severe criticism of
Israeli policies in Gaza that caused shock in Tel-Aviv.
The prime minister said he would hold talks with the leaders from
different countries, including Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
and Azeri President Ilham Aliyev on the sidelines of the World Economic
Forum. He did not rule out a possible meeting with Armenian Prime
Minister Serge Sarkisian.
"There can be a meeting, there is no obstacle," he said. Asked if
the government was planning to make an opening toward Yerevan before
April 24, Erdogan said they were two separate issues.
"No thunderstorm will break on April 24. We have made sincere
efforts since we came to power to normalize ties with Armenia," said
Erdogan. He added Turkey had started flights to Yerevan, allowed
close to 40,000 Armenians to illegally work in Turkey and helped
restore the Armenian Akdamar Church in eastern Anatolia.
"These are all gestures," he said. Erdogan implied the agenda of the
Armenian diaspora was different and was not shared by the Yerevan
administration.
Meeting with Nalbandian For his part, Babacan said he met with
his Armenian counterpart, Edward Nalbandian on the sidelines of
the World Economic Forum and progress was made in negotiations with
Yerevan. Pointing to the Caucasus Stability and Cooperation Platform,
a proposal Turkey came up with in the wake of the Russia-Georgia war
last summer, Erdogan said technical negotiations were already under
way and in the near future the format for talks would be raised to
the ministerial level.
Officials from the foreign ministries of Turkey, Azerbaijan,
Armenia, Russia and Georgia are expected to meet in Istanbul this
week for the second five-party discussion of its kind on the regional
security platform, the Hurriyet Daily News & Economic Review earlier
reported. The first was held in December on the sidelines of the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe meeting in
Helsinki.
–Boundary_(ID_alIps3rBiFM+beDKp+vVE g)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
