BY ERDAL SAFAK
SABAH- Let me start the first article I write on Tokyo, where I came with President Abdullah Gul, with some observations and determinations. Firstly, the first half of the 20th century was the one for Europe and the second for the US. The 21st century will be the century of Asia. Secondly, the Eastern-Western competition which has vanished with the end of the Cold War is coming back. New Asian states such as China, Japan and India will undertake the role of the former Soviets Union or the Eastern block. Thirdly, the area of settling accounts for the Eastern-Western competition was Europe and the Middle East. The new one will take place in Africa and Eurasia. As soon as Gul deplaned, he talked to press members, including me, at the hotel and gave the message that this historical visit -- as it`s the first visit paid on the presidential level -- should be considered in line with this perspective. In other words, as he said, `Turkey, enjoying a rich past, bright future and a great potential` has to harmonize with geopolitical changes in order to put its trump cards to good use in this competition.
This situation means that his visit to Japan consists of both short-term and long-term plans. Short-term political plans consist of strengthening relations between the two countries, which are described as `perfect` by Gul. As is known, Turkey is a candidate for the temporary UN Security Council membership in the period of 2009-2010. Japan requests that balances at the Security Council which were established in line with the post-Second World War conditions are reestablished. This situation shows that it also wants to become a permanent member to the Security Council. Germany, India, South Africa and Brazil also mention similar requests. Ankara and Tokyo made a decision to make cooperation on the issue. Japan will support us for the temporary membership and we`ll provide them with support for permanent membership. Short-term economic goals are to increase the trade volume between the two countries, which is really low, attract higher amounts of Japanese capital to Turkey and increase the number of Japanese tourists visiting Turkey. We can reach these goals in a reasonable period of time.
But Turkey actually aims to obtain a good role in the `Big Game` to be played in Africa and Eurasia and not to miss the target of the `Asian Century.` The way of doing this is cooperating with leading actors and making joint investments with the third countries, for example, establishing cooperation between the Turkish contracting sector, which ranks the third in the world, and Japan and working in cooperation in the Middle East and Africa. Silent but determined efforts are underway to prepare the infrastructure for this. For example, Turkey also participated in the International African Development Conference, attended by 52 of 53 African countries, in Yokohama last week as an observer.
As I mentioned above, there`s a cutthroat competition for Africa. A similar conference was held in India, prior to China and it was followed by Japan. Now it`s Turkey`s turn. An African summit will be held in Istanbul on the leaders` level on August 18-21, because, as Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said at the conference held in Yokohama, Africa will become the engine which will turn the wheels of the world`s economy in the near future, not by burgling the dark continent, but by putting its great resources and potential to good use; not by making colonists and corrupt leaders rich, but by prospering the nations. Asians, who are the new super power of the century, will never let Europeans or Westerners exploit Africa again. Turkey supports and shares this determination as well.