ERDOGAN WARNED BY SIX MINISTERS IN RESPECT TO ISRAEL

Hurriyet Daily News
Saturday, October 17 2009 14:36 GMT+2

The 32.Gun program on Kanal D on Thursday night was in the true sense
an international politics summit. Six ministers who have shaped
Turkey’s international politics for 30 years gathered and gave a
grade regarding the AKP administration.

I’d like to draw your attention to the fact that among the six
ministers were Ä°lter Turkmen, who showed the hardest reaction
in respect to Israel and during his term degraded the level of the
Turkish embassy in Israel to a rank of under secretariat, Mumtaz Soysal
and Å~^ukru Sina Gurel, who with their general attitude criticized
Israel the most and together with Mesut Yılmaz and YaÅ~_ar YakıÅ~_
attacked Erdogan’s Israel politics.

I might summarize their common words as follows:

"… Turkey’s strongest side is its consistency and continuity in
international politics. Our relations with Israel are very vital. To
continue these relations in a healthy way is in the long run for
the benefit of Turkey … What’s being done at the moment is making
eyes at domestic politics and assuming an attitude that contradicts
Turkey’s benefits … There are no such rules as applying international
politics the way the society wants …"

Only YaÅ~_ar YakıÅ~_ of the AKP said that what’s been experienced
today cannot be interpreted as a dislocation of basic politics and
that this is only fine-tuning. Other participants stated that this is
"not fine tuning but coarse tuning."

I agree. I too believe that Turkey’s relations with Israel are not
to be underestimated but very vital and should not be a tool for
playing domestic games. As the former ministers for foreign affairs
said Turkey won’t get anywhere with opposing Israel and that long-term
benefits are a result of good relations with Israel and the Arabs. I
believe we need to protect the balance as we used to do.

Will miss Olli Rehn very much

Olli Rehn, commissioner of the European Union Commission responsible
for enlargement probably came to Turkey for the last time. He will
join today’s Bosphorus Conference and say farewell to Turks he used
to work with night and day. He will for sure in the future come back
to Turkey with a different assignment but his visits won’t create
much excitement anymore.

Olli Rehn is one of the top people in relations with Turkey and in the
frame of the European Commission, which I have monitored for almost
30 years now. He is a EU bureaucrat who has comprehended Ankara’s
real value the best and who has openly presented this as well.

He neither has praised Turkey in an exaggerated way nor has he patted
us on the back the way we like nor has he criticized us unnecessarily.

With his calmness specific to his county but with an extremely fine
humor Rehn always told Ankara the truth. He didn’t fool anybody and
didn’t give unnecessary hopes. On the contrary, he always knew how
to create an environment of deep trust in Ankara’s bureaucracy.

Despite receiving harsh criticism from some parts of society, he has
not been upset, has not showed reaction but continued on his path.

He has also followed the sensitivity of the Turkish public and did
some fine tuning when necessary, openly supported AKP’s democratic
approach but also reported attitudes that crossed the limit.

We will miss Olli Rehn and his approach very much.

We will miss his healthy analysis, warnings and criticism if need be.

These qualities are hard to find in bureaucrats who work for
international organizations. And Olli Rehn was one of these rare
people.

We need to thank him for his efforts, time and contribution to Turkey.

Sarkisyan and Gul’s race for courtesy

Everybody was happy about the closing of the Armenian national
football game without any disturbances. We could have encountered
inappropriate events. Check it out, we read in Taha Akyol’s article,
that a young group of ultra nationalists went on the field trying
to open an Azerbaijani flag but were hindered at the last minute. To
tell the truth, these types of protests are quite normal.

For some time now we see that the Turkish-Armenian initiative carries
many personal risks.

In fact, the greatest risk is for Armenian President Sarkisian. He
is very polite. You might have noticed during the game, he was so
polite as to shake Gul’s hand when the Turkish team scored a goal. He
was smiling all the time and never showed the heavy pressure on
his shoulders.

And Abdullah Gul too has taken great risk for the sake of this
initiative. With risk and fine humor he won the hearts of people. But
the best part was when he invited Hrant Dink’s widow and family to
the game in Bursa. Even if Mrs. Dink couldn’t make it, her daughter
and son were there.

These two people really behave in a way that deserves the Nobel
peace prize.

[HH Honeymoon with Barzani continues

Turkey’s relation with northern Iraq is full of very interesting ups
and downs. Once we used to fight the PKK together. Then we became
estranged from each other and openly hostile. Now relations again
are not only put in order but also are deepening.

I could not believe my eyes when reading about Hasan Cemal and Cengiz
Candar’s program on CNN Turk every Thursday. Barzani with open arms
stresses that he counts the days left for this visit to Ankara and
repeats that the PKK should put down its weapons.

Barzani’s general attitude has always been based on establishing
good relations with Turkey. From time to time he reacted to a brisk
statement from Ankara and even if he appears to be protecting the
PKK, his basic politics are always based on leaning his back against
Turkey. He believes that in the long run northern Iraq could only reach
stability and richness if it establishes good relations with Turkey.

And that’s the right thing. Turkey and northern Iraqi Kurds know that
the closer they are to each other the more they can relax. Being closer
means Turkey’s hand in the struggle with the PKK will strengthen and
the Southeast will enrich with trade between the two countries. And
alike, northern Iraqi Kurds will open up to the West and obtain many
basic necessities.

What’s important is to solve our mutual issues without upsetting each
other. And I think important steps are being taken in this respect.