BY MUSTAFA KARAALIOGLU
STAR- The appointment of Prof. Ahmet Davutoglu as foreign minister was found favorable. Even some people accepted this situation enthusiastically. The new foreign minister is the only expert in Turkey who is integrated in the field of foreign policy and who pursues consistent goals and perspectives. Besides his foreign policy theses, he has succeeded in drawing a strategic picture which favors openings. Turkey has been provided a role outside for many years. As can be clearly seen in his work entitled 'Strategic Depth,' he is the first person who provided Turkey with a role inside. This role has been constituted not through valor and slogans, but with the combination of realism, strategies and vectors of cyclical opportunity.
What's more, this hasn't remained on the paper, but this was tested through the service beyond the consultancy that he has been providing for the government for more than six years and thus became successful. Now he was appointed to a heavier position with more opportunities. We went to Brussels with Davutoglu to participate in the EU Partnership Council meeting. We paid our visit in light of the criticisms that he has a tendency towards the Middle East files, rather than Europe in terms of the foreign policy. Firstly I should note that the picture is just the opposite. In other words, Davutoglu has a strong EU perspective. So there is an EU program which was planned word by word. State Minister and Chief EU Negotiator Egemen Bagis were also present at the visit. The harmonization between these two ministers will become an advantage in terms of better relations between Ankara and Brussels in the new process as well.Davutoglu said that it would be impossible to forget the EU, because this process would never make itself forgotten. Let's divide our conversation with Davutoglu into parts.
We asked Davutoglu the meaning of the EU for Turkey. He told us that the EU is fundamentally the second Reform project and that the EU membership process will fulfill our restructuring. He added that we have implemented intensive and successful reforms until 2005 and 2006, but that the incidents which occurred in 2007 showed that our democracy is still fragile and thus Turkey needs political reforms mostly about the Constitution.
When we asked Davuoglu why the reforms were hindered, Davutoglu replied that the most important factor was domestic development, that is, presidential elections, movements in the PKK terrorism and the closure case about the Justice and Development (AK) Party have decreased the dynamism and that the remaining two or four years was a loss in this regard. But he added that certain steps were taken in terms the developments concerning the TRT 6, the Foundations Law, Article 301 of the Penal Code and the May 1 celebrations. The second factor is the EU deals with the Cyprus issue. It has done nothing, although all the risks were taken. The third 'slowing down' factor is the substitution of French President Jacques Chirac and his German counterpart Gerhard Schroder by Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel respectively.
So what will be done from now on? Davutoglu replied that the Parliament would be in recess for one and a half months and that they would make good use of this situation. He said that they would make the Human Rights Council autonomous, change the law on the Secretariat General for EU affairs and deal with all reforms which are necessary for a positive Progress Report until the end of this year. He added that of course, at this point the opposition should also make contributions and that they should all make good use of the process which will last until the elections.
Both Davutoglu and Bagis state that they haven't impaired, but strengthened Turkey's EU process. They said that they have become more valuable in the EU, as they were also effective and successful there, and that the EU membership talks also increased our importance in the Middle East. So these two processes should be considered inseparable parts and the foreign policy perspective should be determined in line with this. Davutoglu seems to be willing and impatient about the EU issue. His agenda of visit mostly consisting of Europe shows this situation. Finally, he said that we should gain momentum and avoid the process of becoming immobile and routine.