TURKEY AND RUSSIA OFFER OPPORTUNITIES FOR EACH OTHER, ERDOGAN
Today’s Zaman
Jan 13 2010
Turkey
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that
Turkey and Russia offered many opportunities for each other.
Delivering a speech at a conference on "Turkey’s Foreign Policy"
in Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Erdogan said
the Turkish government built its foreign policy on "winning and
making friends".
Erdogan said the Turkish government’s initial step with this objective
was settlement of peace with all countries, indicating that the target
had been achieved.
"Turkey lives in peace with all of the countries in the region. The
steps that have been taken on areas of politics, military, economy,
trade and culture are all obvious expressions of it. Turkey is a
country where constitutional and legal amendments were rapidly made
to human rights, freedoms, democracy, law and rule of law. Turkey is
also a pioneering force of a civilization project where prosperity
and permanent stability prevail. Turkey has fulfilled it with the
steps taken on Alliance of Civilizations," Erdogan said.
He said, "Turkey has a young and well-educated population, dynamic
economy, entrepreneurial people, democracy tradition and all these
lay different responsibilities on us in the upcoming period."
Erdogan expressed determination of the Turkish government to resolve
all the problems with its neighbors, "we assume an affirmative stance
towards solution of such problems," he added.
"What Turkey has done with Cyprus question or Armenian issue is that
Turkey has always been coherent on the matters in question and it
has been the party favoring solution," he said.