The architect of the government’s foreign policy predicted a strong Turkey in 2010, adding that the country had a 360-degree view of the globe from its center in Ankara.
“Turkey’s foreign policy has three main principles: it is vision-oriented, not crisis-oriented; it is proactive, not reactive; and it is integrated and systematic beyond just a single axis,” Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said Thursday during the last press conference of 2009.
Touching on arguments that say Turkey has been drifting away from the West in its foreign policy in recent years, Davutoğlu said such claims were not well-intentioned.
“Our axis is Ankara and our horizon is 360 degrees,” said the minister. He gave an account of foreign trips by government officials, saying the president had made 29 trips abroad and the prime minister 23 in 2009. He also said he and his predecessor, Ali Babacan, made 93 trips in 2009.
“Some 31 trips were made to EU-member states and 16 to non-EU member European states, making a total of 47 trips to Europe, 15 trips to Asia, 22 trips to Middle Eastern states and nine to the United States. That picture shows we are spreading throughout the entire world,” said Davutoğlu, in answering those who say the country has turned to the East.
In revealing his vision for Turkey, the foreign minister described an EU-member Turkey with spreading peace in its neighborhood that would be ready to generate solutions to problems and become one of the 10 most influential countries in the world in the 21st century.
He said there was no room for terror and human rights violations in that vision. “Freedoms and security should not be set against one another. The two are valuable once they are both together. The more the sphere of democracy gets wider, the less the sphere terrorism covers,” said Davutoğlu.
In the meantime, Turkish foreign policy will begin rapidly in the New Year, as Davutoğlu plans to visit Saudi Arabia on Friday. Meanwhile, all of Turkey’s ambassadors from throughout the world will meet Jan. 4-8 in Ankara where all aspects of the country’s foreign policy will be thoroughly discussed.
This meeting, titled “Democracy, Security and Stability: Outlook for 2010 in the world and in Turkish foreign policy,” is the second gathering of ambassadors after the first conference in July 2008.
In addition to the Turkish ambassadors, Germany, Brazil and Japan’s foreign ministers, along with a guest from a Middle Eastern state, are also expected to participate at the conference and deliver speeches.
After the conference ends, the foreign minister and his delegation are expected to travel to the southeastern province of Mardin over the weekend.
