BY TULIN DALOGLU
STAR- One day before the European Union was set to decide on opening our membership talks, Iraqi Finance Minister Adil Abd-al-Mahdi addressed a think-thank in Washington. ‘Turkey is making good progress,’ he said. ‘Instead of France and Britain, we’d like to send our children to Turkey for the best education. Since we emerged from a common history, culture and religion, we’d prefer to see our own children go to Turkey.’ This is why we say so insistently that Turkey is a very important country serving as a bridge between the West and the Islamic world. If we join the EU, this bridging role will grow in importance that much more.
Abd-al-Mahdi, who is a Shiite, believes that Turkey and Iraq’s Kurds want to improve their commercial ties despite a history of hostility and problems. ‘We must build confidence between Sunni Turkey and Shiite Iraq,’ he added. ‘We should be able to overcome all of our past problems.’
The finance minister emphasized that Turkey had no reason for concern about a Shiite Iraqi administration, saying that the Shiite leaders do not want to see a religion-based administration in Iraq. ‘Instead, they’d prefer to follow Turkey’s model,’ he added.
Clearly change is afoot in our region! It may take a very long time to build an Iraq which will send its students to Turkey for their education, but the situation has already started improving. Abd-al-Mahdi said the current violence is expected to abate in the wake of January’s elections, paving the way for the improvement of the country and its markets. Turkey must boost its relations with particularly the southern part of the country in order to carve out a bigger share of the Iraqi market. Such a bridge with the Eastern world cannot be built only with Iraq. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to pay an official visit to Damascus soon.
Turkey is turning a new page not only with the EU, but also with other Muslim countries. The Islamic world is preparing to embrace Turkey as a country which will convey their problems and concerns to the West. Next year may be a difficult one, but if we succeed in our plans, it will then be the first year of our bright future.