Turkey is to remove Iran, Iraq, Greece and Russia from a watch-list of nations it considers a specific threat to its national security, a news report said on Monday.
Ankara has been closely cooperating with the four former "security threats" in recent years and now regards them as its new partners, amid Western concerns of rapprochement between these countries.
The draft of the new national security strategy, also known as the "Red Book" or "Secret Constitution," a national security policy document, is about to be completed in a bid to revise its national security strategy, according to reports by the media in Turkey. The review replaces a previous edition published five years ago.
The strategy is to be considered at a National Security Council, or MGK, meeting in October with the contributions by Turkey's ministry of interior, general staff, national intelligence organization MIT and other stakeholder units.
The updated list is contained in Turkey's security review produced by the MGK, will no longer refer to the four countries, with which the country has had long-standing territorial differences but ties have improved recently in the commercial field.
Turkey regards international terrorism and fundamentalism as its main external threats.
Turkey's relations with Russia have greatly improved since Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdodan's Party of Justice and Development, or AK Party, came to power in 2002.
The draft strategy highlights close bilateral economic cooperation with Russia, good potential in trade and energy, and "a shared vision of stability in the Caucasus."
Iran removed from enemies' watch-list
The draft strategy no longer mentions Iran as a 'specific threat," which Western nations accuse of seeking to develop nuclear weapons.
The updated review mentions Iran's controversial nuclear weapons programme and repeats Turkey's diplomatic line that it favours a nuclear-free Middle East, in a statement taken as a reference to Israel which is believed to hold the region's only nuclear weapons arsenal.
Turkey's improved ties with Iran have caused concern in the West. Turkey, a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, upset the United States and its Western allies when it opposed a resolution to impose new sanctions on Iran that was adopted by the Security Council in June.
PM Erdodan's government insists that it retains its strong ties to the West even as it seeks deeper relations with its Middle East neighbors and Asia.
At the same time, Turkey's relations with Israel have been strained, notably by the May 31 Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound Turkish aid ship.
Turkey threatened to sever ties completely following the deadly raid unless Israel apologized, a step the Israelis refused to take.
Haberturk.com with wires