TURKEY FM DAVUTOGLU: ‘ZERO PROBLEMS WITH NEIGHBORS’

Novinite.com
Nov 24 2009
Bulgaria

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu describes his country’s
foreign policy as "zero problems with neighbors"; critics call it
"neo-Ottoman" expansionism. Photo by BGNES Turkey is exercising
a delicately-balanced foreign policy, looking on the one hand for
European Union recognition, while re-exerting its influence on old
neighbors.

The Turkish ruling Justice & Development (AK) party is re-engaging with
territories once ruled by the sultans, from the Balkans to Baghdad,
in a drive to return Turkey to a place among the leadership of the
Muslim world and the top ranks of international diplomacy.

Ahmet Davutoglu, foreign minister and architect of the policy, rejects
the expansionist tag of "neo-Ottoman" bandied about by AK critics,
preferring his well-used slogan, "zero problems with neighbors". The
US and the European Union praise this unobjectionable aim: to act as
a force for stability in an unstable region.

Turkey has long mattered – as NATO ally, friend of Israel, EU applicant
and energy route to the west. But its growing economic strength and
diplomatic reach give it influence over some of the toughest issues
facing Washington and other capitals – from frozen conflicts in the
Caucasus to Iran’s nuclear ambitions to the threat of disintegration
in Iraq.

"We are neither surprised by nor disturbed by an activist Turkish
agenda in the Middle East," Philip Gordon, assistant secretary at
the US State Department, said recently in Ankara.

Yet the speed and scope of Turkey’s diplomatic endeavors have left
both Turkish and western observers wondering whether it can juggle
all its new interests.

In a month of frenetic activity, Mr Davutoglu has staged a show of
friendship with Syria, ending visa restrictions on a border once
patrolled by Turkish tanks; paid a high-profile visit to Iraq’s
Kurdistan region, long shunned as a threat to Turkish unity; and
signed a landmark deal to mend relations with Armenia.

"Today we, children of the Ottomans, are here to show interest in
the development of Mosul just as our ancestors showed centuries ago,"
Zafer Caglayan, trade minister, said as he opened a consulate in the
northern Iraqi city last month.

Turkish diplomats claim credit, in the last year alone, for mediating
between Israel and Syria, hosting talks between Afghanistan and
Pakistan, and liaising with Sunni militants in Iraq.

But Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a prime minister who scorns diplomatic
niceties, and his senior ministers, have shown the potential for new
friendships to damage old ones.

Mr Davutoglu is touring European capitals this month, employing
Ottoman-tinged rhetoric to persuade people that Turkey’s European
vocation is unchanged.

"You cannot understand the history of at least 15 European capitals
without exploring the Ottoman archives," he told an audience in Spain
this week.

A lack of enthusiasm for Herman van Rompuy’s appointment last week
as president of the European Council reflects not just worries over
his past opposition to Turkey’s candidacy but a preference for a
heavyweight leader who would want Europe to play a bigger part on
the world stage.

Ibrahim Kalin, Mr Erdogan’s chief foreign policy adviser, argues that
Turkish activism is not a reaction to disappointments in the EU but
simply "a fully rational attempt to seize new spaces of opportunity"
– including the EU’s virtual absence from geopolitics.

Katinka Barysch of the Centre for European Reform, a London think-tank,
says: "As a long-standing Nato member and a country negotiating for EU
membership, Turkey is expected to align itself with the US and Europe."

"As a regional power, Turkey will want to act independently and avoid
antagonizing its neighbors. It is not clear how long Ankara will be
able to avoid tough choices."