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 ANKARA
(Hurriyet)—Turkish President Abdullah Gul has become the latest
top official to emphasize that Turkey is not changing its
foreign policy direction from West to East, when he said
Wednesday that such arguments stem from ignorance.
The debate began with a column by Soner
Cagaptay of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, who
is also a columnist for the Hurriyet Daily News & Economic
Review. It was followed by several commentaries published by
Western media questioning the course Turkey has recently taken.
Later, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the country has
not changed its orientation from West to East.
“It is true that we go beyond the ordinary,
but this does not mean that the direction or the axis have
changed,” Erdoğan told his fellow ruling Justice and Development
Party, or AKP, members in Parliament this week.
Gul echoed the prime minister by denying a
change in direction contrary to what’s being said or written,
mostly in the Western media.
“Some are questioning where Turkey is heading
to, which suggests Turkey is confused and drifting with the
waves in the middle of the sea. This is not the case. Turkey
knows what it has been doing,” said the president in a foreign
policy briefing at the new premises of the International
Strategic Research Organization, an Ankara-based think tank.
“Turkey is going in every direction, from
north to south and from east to west,” he said.
The president said some of what has been
written about Turkey’s direction had good intent and showed the
truth to those who do not understand Turkey’s value. He said,
however, some also stemmed from jealousy and some from lack of
knowledge and ignorance.
“What’s important is in which direction Turkey’s values
[including democracy, rule of law] are developing. There are of
course shortcomings. The pace of the trend could be discussed
but debating the direction is a result of ignorance,” said Gül.
While explaining Turkey’s foreign policy, the
president said it was not based on interests but on expressing
what the country believes is correct.
He emphasized that Turkey could criticize
even its allies with the colloquial saying “Friends talk tough,”
implicitly referring to Israel. The government launched
criticism at its regional ally Israel over the Gaza war, with
the prime minister accusing the Israeli president at a world
forum of knowing how to kill civilians. The tension escalated
when Turkey excluded Israel from an international military
exercise for political reasons and allowed a TV series to air
that was criticized by Israel for disseminating anti-Semitic
feelings.
Gul said Turkey was acting as a friend who
talks tough “but while doing this we place importance on not
harming bilateral relations.”
The president has adopted a rather moderate
approach toward Israel, which was evident when Israeli President
Shimon Peres preferred to contact him on Turkey’s Republic Day
on Oct. 29. In a message of congratulations, the Israeli leader
invited Gul to make his delayed trip to Israel, press reports
revealed.
In his address, Gul said Turkey wanted to
maintain peace in its region and said clearance of the Middle
East from nuclear armament was one of the top priorities. “All
countries in the Middle East should be cleared of nuclear arms,”
he said.
On Turkey’s bid to join the EU, he said it is
a state project, and made it clear that Turkey was not taking
other proposals for alternatives to full membership seriously.
“Turkey will not digress from its path,” he said, adding that
putting forth other proposals was only rhetoric and not having
faith in the future of Europe.
“Turkey will fulfill its responsibilities,
while Europe will monitor this. Some say Europe is tired. It is
not Europe that will make the reforms but Turkey. Europe will
watch what we’ll be doing and say if we complied with the
criteria or not,” said the president.
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