NEW YORK (AA) - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday, ''the United States will maintain its position of being the most influential global power in the predictable future. Our partnership with the United States based on universal values and common interests should not be underrated.''
Speaking at the Foreign Policy Association in New York on ''Turkish Foreign Policy and Relations with the United States: Shared Visions and Partnership of Capabilities Strengthening Each Other'', Prime Minister Erdogan said, ''Turkey is a medium-scale power in central region of the world. However, Turkey has a more important position than any regional power in regard to its history, cultural assets, geo-political position and human resources.''
''We think that the most consequential way of success in such a difficult regional and international atmosphere depends on adjusting Turkey's foreign policy traditions to the facts of our day. As putting this vision into practice, we take advantage of our multi-dimensional relations besides our own foreign policy capabilities. Therefore, we give priority to demands of our people and expectations of the international community. In the meantime, our target is to contribute to efforts to make universal values prevalent in a more vast geography through a multi-dimensional and more influential policy,'' he said.
Prime Minister Erdogan emphasized that democratic societies could deal with globalization process more easily and they succeeded in making their foreign policies more influential.
''Today, values, ideas, norms and identities have gained further importance. Therefore, we do not consider foreign policy a mechanical balance of power. With the help of our multi-cultural assets, we try to understand the other peoples sincerely. Also, we consider regional cooperation a confidence-building dynamism. We observe that our win-win approach has made a persuasive contribution to efforts to strengthen the culture of compromise in our region. Recent positive developments in our relations with the neighboring countries is the result of our foreign policy,'' he said.
''OUR PARTNERSHIP WITH UNITED STATES SHOULD NOT BE UNDERRATED''
''Our partnership with the United States encourages positive developments in a huge geography. Our long-standing alliance with the United States has developed on the basis of a sound partnership enabling us to overcome cyclical differences of opinion. I believe without any doubt that both sides have the necessary will to further improve those ties,'' he said.
Erdogan noted, ''strategic point of view of the United States does not take into consideration those wrongful analyses that Turkey's EU membership would have a negative impact on Turkey-U.S. relations. In fact, Turkey and the United States know each other perfectly as a result of their common vision for a safer and better world.''
''The United States should preserve its interest in the world. It is evident that global processes are being examined most efficiently through powerful scientific institutions and comprehensive studies. All those studies unveil the real dimension of all international problems from terrorism to weapons of mass destruction, from economic and demographic disequilibrium to environmental matters. In order to deal with such problems, the world needs leadership of a power like the United States,'' he said.
Erdogan kept on saying, ''unfortunately, we faced a multi-dimensional and complicated issue like Iraq in this period. However, we all see that predictions claiming that the most successful alliance of the history exhausted were nothing but expeditious comments.''
''Turkey has been supporting settlement of regional and international peace and stability in this geography extending from the Gulf to Afghanistan and to Iraq. We think that the Alliance should maintain its development in order to become a security organization with a political dimension and a platform of cooperation,'' Erdogan added.
2005-06-10