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TURKEY FOCUSED AGAIN ON EUROPEAN QUESTIONS
Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Dec 14 2013
Editorial by Murat Yetkin:
The planning of the last three diplomatic visits of Turkish Foreign
Minister Ahmet Davutoglu shows Ankara's clear intention to focus more,
again, on its problems with the West -Europe in particular -after
being soaked with the problems of the Arab neighbourhood for the last
three years.
Davutoglu's first stop was Yerevan, his first visit in four years.
With gestures like inviting Armenian-origin Turkish journalists onto
his plane, he touched on the sensitive issue of the mass killings
of the Armenian population in Turkey in 1915 towards the end of the
Ottoman Empire, before the regime was changed into the republic
in 1923. He did not go so far as to call it genocide, as Armenia
expected, but condemned the massive deportations from the rulers
of the time as "inhumane." During his talks with Armenian Foreign
Minister Edward Nalbandian, Davutoglu said Turkey wanted to resume
contact to normalize relations.
Due to unconfirmed but reliable reports, Turkey is ready to open the
border with Armenia if Armenia withdraws its troops from at least some
parts of Azerbaijan that it invaded in 1993 -territories other than
Nagorno-Karabakh for a start. Turkey closed its border with Armenia
the same year in protest at the invasion and still has no diplomatic
representation in Yerevan. Turkey does not want to harm its relations
with Azerbaijan, with which it has intensive cooperation, especially
in the field of energy, while having better relations with Armenia,
which would bring bonus credit in its relations with the United States
and the European Union.
Davutoglu's second stop was Athens. His agenda in Athens, in his
talks with his host, Evengelos Venizelos, and Greek Prime Minister
Antonis Samaras Davutoglu, expressed Turkish expectations from
Greece during its EU presidency term for 2014, and relations with
the Cyprus problem. Cyprus is slated to be Davutoglu's third stop. He
told journalists, on his way to Athens, that these few days would be
critical for the future of the divided island. If Turks and Greeks
on the island can agree on a framework to start reunification talks
once again, there are hopes on all sides that this time it could
work. The last round of talks ended up in a UN-sponsored simultaneous
referendum on both sides of the island in 2004 and failed, as the
Greek side rejected the suggested plan. And when the EU had accepted
Cyprus membership as representing the Turkish part too, from which it
was separated in 1974 after Turkey militarily intervened in response
to a right-wing Greek coup, it further complicated the relations and
caused the gap between Ankara and Brussels to grow.
All those efforts could be seen as Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's
expended effort to save himself from getting involved in more Middle
East affairs triggered by the Arab Spring and focus more on recovering
its relations with the West. Especially after Erdogan's disappointment
with the developments in Syria and Egypt, it is not only President
Abdullah Gul, but Kemal Kilicdaroglu of the main opposition as well,
who have called on the government to focus more on EU affairs. It
should not be a surprise to see the Erdogan government taking steps
in the coming weeks and months to put relations with Israel back on
track, which would definitely help to build more bridges, not only
with the West, but with the surrounding region as well.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Dec 14 2013
Editorial by Murat Yetkin:
The planning of the last three diplomatic visits of Turkish Foreign
Minister Ahmet Davutoglu shows Ankara's clear intention to focus more,
again, on its problems with the West -Europe in particular -after
being soaked with the problems of the Arab neighbourhood for the last
three years.
Davutoglu's first stop was Yerevan, his first visit in four years.
With gestures like inviting Armenian-origin Turkish journalists onto
his plane, he touched on the sensitive issue of the mass killings
of the Armenian population in Turkey in 1915 towards the end of the
Ottoman Empire, before the regime was changed into the republic
in 1923. He did not go so far as to call it genocide, as Armenia
expected, but condemned the massive deportations from the rulers
of the time as "inhumane." During his talks with Armenian Foreign
Minister Edward Nalbandian, Davutoglu said Turkey wanted to resume
contact to normalize relations.
Due to unconfirmed but reliable reports, Turkey is ready to open the
border with Armenia if Armenia withdraws its troops from at least some
parts of Azerbaijan that it invaded in 1993 -territories other than
Nagorno-Karabakh for a start. Turkey closed its border with Armenia
the same year in protest at the invasion and still has no diplomatic
representation in Yerevan. Turkey does not want to harm its relations
with Azerbaijan, with which it has intensive cooperation, especially
in the field of energy, while having better relations with Armenia,
which would bring bonus credit in its relations with the United States
and the European Union.
Davutoglu's second stop was Athens. His agenda in Athens, in his
talks with his host, Evengelos Venizelos, and Greek Prime Minister
Antonis Samaras Davutoglu, expressed Turkish expectations from
Greece during its EU presidency term for 2014, and relations with
the Cyprus problem. Cyprus is slated to be Davutoglu's third stop. He
told journalists, on his way to Athens, that these few days would be
critical for the future of the divided island. If Turks and Greeks
on the island can agree on a framework to start reunification talks
once again, there are hopes on all sides that this time it could
work. The last round of talks ended up in a UN-sponsored simultaneous
referendum on both sides of the island in 2004 and failed, as the
Greek side rejected the suggested plan. And when the EU had accepted
Cyprus membership as representing the Turkish part too, from which it
was separated in 1974 after Turkey militarily intervened in response
to a right-wing Greek coup, it further complicated the relations and
caused the gap between Ankara and Brussels to grow.
All those efforts could be seen as Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's
expended effort to save himself from getting involved in more Middle
East affairs triggered by the Arab Spring and focus more on recovering
its relations with the West. Especially after Erdogan's disappointment
with the developments in Syria and Egypt, it is not only President
Abdullah Gul, but Kemal Kilicdaroglu of the main opposition as well,
who have called on the government to focus more on EU affairs. It
should not be a surprise to see the Erdogan government taking steps
in the coming weeks and months to put relations with Israel back on
track, which would definitely help to build more bridges, not only
with the West, but with the surrounding region as well.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress