TURKEY IS MOVING CLOSER TO NEIGHBOURS
By Simon Tisdall
Gulf News
Jan 14 2010
UAE
Davutoglu’s rapprochement policies are making a splash in the region,
though relations remain prickly with Israel
Ahmet Davutoglu has made quite a splash since his appointment last
year as Turkey’s foreign minister. Formerly chief foreign policy
adviser to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the dapper professor
dubbed the ‘Turkish Kissinger’ has energetically pursued the ruling
AKP party’s trademark policy of ‘zero problems with neighbours’,
a policy he first articulated in a 2001 book, Strategic Depth.
Given the torrid history of Ottoman involvement in the Balkans,
southern Caucasus and the Arab lands, good-neighbourly relations are
not a given for modern Turkey. But in the past year, Davutoglu has led
a drive to strengthen ties to Iraq’s new government, mend fences with
Syria (with which Turkey nearly went to war 10 years ago), and forge
an as yet incomplete rapprochement with Armenia, another ancient foe.
Behind this drive lies the belief that Turkey, nearly a century
after the Ottoman empire imploded, is destined once again to become
a regional power with global influence.
For Davutoglu, this ambition entails a "comprehensive" approach
embracing enhanced economic, cultural and social ties as well as
political and security relations. Hence Turkey’s multiplying regional
trade and energy deals, not least with Russia, and its lifting of
visa requirements for citizens of Syria, Lebanon, Romania and several
other countries.
Not everyone wants to be friends.
In a recent interview in London ahead of a meeting with British
Foreign Secretary David Miliband, Davutoglu spoke of three complex
challenges where progress in 2010 remains problematic.
The first is Cyprus, where long-running, UN-brokered talks on
reunification are inching towards some sort of denouement. Analysts
suggest that if a deal is not done by April, when presidential
elections are due in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, all
bets are off.
"We have reached an historic moment in the negotiations. That’s one
reason for coming to London now," Davutoglu said, noting Britain’s
role as a guarantor of any settlement.
The Turkish Cypriot side has introduced a promising new package,
he said, including a so-called ‘cross voting’ scheme that would give
the two communities a quota in each other’s elections.
Although the initial Greek Cypriot reaction was to reject the package,
Davutoglu insisted that was not the end of the matter. "We know first
of all the Greek Cypriots always say ‘No!’ Then they say ‘No-o-o’.
Then they say ‘No-maybe’… I am optimistic. We need an intensified
international effort by the EU, by the UN, by both sides, and by
Greece and Turkey and Britain as guarantors, like we had in 2004."
Negotiations
Davutoglu had personally contacted US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton and the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to generate momentum
for a deal, he said. Meanwhile, the Turkish and Greek Cypriot
presidents embarked on six day-long negotiating sessions to try and
find a way through.
Turning to Iran, a particular British preoccupation, Davutoglu said
his advice to Miliband, if asked, would be to eschew more public
name-calling and pursue discreet negotiations on the nuclear issue
and other matters of concern. He said Turkey was at pains to maintain
a friendly relationship with Tehran.
"The situation in Iran is not good, is not compatible with our vision,"
Davutoglu said. "We don’t want nuclear proliferation in the region,
we don’t want nuclear weapons in Iran or Israel or anywhere.
Second, every country has the right to pursue nuclear power for
peaceful purposes. Third, we also don’t want more sanctions [on Iran].
Sanctions hurt ordinary people and neighbouring countries.
"We don’t forget the very bad experience in Iraq. We would advise
intensified negotiations through diplomacy. An absence of mutual
trust is the problem."
If asked, Turkey would be happy to facilitate a constructive dialogue
with Iran, he said.
Davutoglu reserved his sharpest words for Israel, with which Turkey,
unusually, has enjoyed cordial relations in the past, but with which
Erdogan fell out noisily after last year’s war on Gaza.
Verbal hostilities resumed this week after Erdogan called Israel a
threat to peace and accused it of acting disproportionately. Israel
hit back angrily, in effect telling the Turkish prime minister to
mind his own business.
"When Israel follows a policy of peace, we have good relations,"
Davutoglu said. Before Gaza, Turkey had mediated indirect talks
between Syria and Israel and made "remarkable" progress, he said.
But the Israeli incursion had scuppered the talks. "That attack changed
many things… It created a very unstable situation in the region"
that even US President Barack Obama had been unable to overcome. Since
then, there had been further "provocations" such as additional Jewish
colony building in occupied East Jerusalem.
"If Israel wants peace, they must learn that others have rights
that must be respected," he said. Davutoglu pauses and smiles. But
it’s clear that when it comes to Israel’s treatment of the
Palestinians, there are limits to even his highly developed sense
of good-neighbourliness.