BY YILMAZ OZTUNA
TURKIYE- Columnist Yilmaz Oztuna comments on Turkey’s foreign policy issues. A summary of his column is as follows:
The US is feeling uneasy about our recent contacts with Iran and Syria. America is our ally, whereas Iran and Syria are not. What’s more, these two countries are on the official US list of terrorist states.
The unnecessary contacts with Iran and Syria make me uneasy too because we’ve suffered so much due to our large neighbor to the east and smaller neighbors to the south. They’re all smiles now, but we shouldn’t let ourselves be fooled or forget how they once looked down on us. We’ve tried sincerely to establish friendly relations with both Syria and Iran. However, their Persian and Baathist Arab racist nationalism and their jealousy of us were tiresome. Even today we’re ready to establish close relations with all of our neighbors, including Armenia. We should take a stand on our justified expectation of equal treatment.
Our relations with the Central Asian Turkic republics are in a lull right now. However, these ties should be kept constantly active. We should keep a close watch on this.
If the Justice and Development Party (AKP) doesn’t want to be faced with awkward early elections, it needs to watch its steps in the foreign policy arena.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION