BY FERAI TINC
HURRIYET - Ankara, a temporary member to the United Nations' Security Council for one month, wants to accelerate the course of its Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan files. Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu went to New York, but he has another important visit to pay to Iraq. The new developments will occur, when the US soldiers start to withdraw from Iraq as from the end of this month. Obviously, this withdrawal doesn't mean that the US will leave the region completely, but a new era full of uncertainties will start in the Middle East. The US and some other countries in the region are concerned about the possibility of a stronger and challenging Iran in the upcoming era.
The possibility of Hezbollah's establishing a government alone in parliamentary elections to be held in Lebanon this week causes concerns, as Iran might increase its influence in the region. But Turkey has been indoctrinating the US and Europe to respect the election results. Furthermore, it's getting ready for training the Lebanese army and selling American-made weapons. Turkey's initiation to take an active role about security issues in the region isn't limited to Lebanon. Its relations with Syria are also experiencing the warmest era of its history. The common maneuvers which were organized last month show the dimension of this approach. Washington doesn't reject the common maneuvers between Syria, which is included in the US' list of terrorist countries and about which US President Barack Obama made a decision to continue the sanctions, and the NATO member Turkey, because the development of military cooperation between Turkey and Syria will decrease this country's military dependence to Iraq. The Obama administration favors Turkey's having relationships with all countries in the region, including Iran. Some US officials say that they will be able to conduct certain activities, about which they can't get permission from the Congress, through Turkey for stability in the region. These activities include getting Hamas involved in the Middle East talks and ensuring that Taliban's moderate elements are included in elections to be held in Afghanistan. Turkey means the NATO's extension into the region.
While giving the message that Turkey would be accelerating its EU membership bid soon, Davutoglu talked about the importance of two files, namely, the Europe and Middle East files. His approach pointed out that unless working on these two files, Turkey wouldn't yield the desired results in Europe and the Middle East. It is considered that Turkey, which takes the EU process into seriously, will come into prominence in the Middle East as an effective player. Obviously, this situation will have a positive impact on its EU process. But can a country, which is unable to ensure its domestic stability, become an indispensable player for stability of the world? Unless Turkey can create an atmosphere of reconciliation inside, it would be unable to affect the developments in Iraq and the Middle East. Is it too hard to establish the atmosphere of reconciliation? No, it's not. The future shouldn't be considered from the prism of daily political interests in order to maintain our hold over the Europe and Middle East files, which are described as indispensable by Davutoglu.