MILLIYET- Columnist Fikret Bila writes on the Middle East problem and Turkey’s efforts to bring peace to the region. A summary of his column is as follows:
One of the capitals exerting maximum effort to get Israel to end its occupation of the West Bank and to get both sides to meet unconditionally at the bargaining table is Ankara. ... Turkey was the first state to issue warnings that the situation would go from bad to worse with the escalating Israeli-Palestinian tension accompanying Sharon’s rise to power in Israel. However, these efforts were of no avail, and then the crisis erupted. What can be made of this situation? It seems that little will change until US Secretary of State Colin Powell arrives in the region. Probably, some result will be achieved during Powell’s visit. This is a plan the Bush-Sharon cooperation has begun to implement in stages ... Under these circumstances Ankara is trying to transform the climate and developments stemming from Powell’s visit into a peace process. Turkish Foreign Ministry officials, who have been busy conducting talks with both sides since the beginning of the crisis with the Israeli occupation, are trying to contribute to the formation of a strong, broad-based conciliation platform. Foreign Minister Ismail Cem summarized the Ankara approach as, ‘For a peace process we can pursue a four-sided strategy, with the contributions of the UN, the EU, the US and Russia. This is an expectation, and it will require certain efforts. However, Turkey would like the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) to be included in this process, as a strong, broad-based platform would be beneficial for achieving peace. The OIC should be included because its member countries have been greatly affected by the clashes between Israel and Palestine.’ Cem stressed the fact that he had conveyed this idea to the sides regarding such a meeting during Powell’s visit. He added that Turkey has expressed its views on the issue to Spain’s ambassador in Ankara, as Spain is the current president of the EU, and to Qatar officials as the term president of the OIC. Talks are being conducted with the Israeli, Palestinian, US, Russian, and EU officials towards the same end. If such a platform can be established, what kind of a peace initiative will be explored? Foreign Minister Cem believes that the proposal receiving the most support up to now is that of Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, which requests that Israel withdraw to its pre-1967 borders and that Arab countries normalize their relations with the Israeli state.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION