Yukarı Çık

Turkey’s foreign policy: U-turn or a complete circle?

PM Yıldırım’s statements about ‘turning the relations with Syria back to normal’ drew all attention to Turkey’s foreign policy once again. MPs from CHP and HDP gave their comments about the Syria question to BirGün.

YAŞAR AYDIN- ​yasaraydin@birgun.net

@yasaraydinnn

During AKP’s recent Broadened Meeting of Provisional Heads, PM Binali Yıldırım made remarks that have once again started out disputes. This time, the topic was about relations with Syria. Yıldırım’s statements were as the following: “We will expand our circle of friendships. In order to reach success in the fight against terror, Syria and Iraq need to have stability.”

While all eyes are turned over to Erdoğan after these statements, the kind of the road map that is to be followed is a matter of curiosity.

Making comments on the latest maneuvers, CHP MP of İstanbul and member of the parliament’s Foreign Affairs Commission Oğuz Kağan Salıcı said, “Turkey has become the target of ISIL due to the policies of AKP, so, the government is now trying to change gears.” Also giving remarks about the issue, HDP’s Deputy Co-Chair Hişyar Özsoy stated that “the Middle-East is getting completely restored and Turkey is left out of the circle.”

Will the Salafists be left out?

There are two important points with regards to getting closer with Syria again. Firstly, what will happen to the Syrian opposition forces that AKP has supported so far? US Secretary of State John Kerry has defined the Army of Conquest and Ahrar al-Sham as organizations operating under ISIL and al-Nusra. This recognition can inevitably lead Turkey to adapt the same stand as well.

Secondly, the other issue is the resolution of the Kurdish problem. The partisan media has already embraced the claims that the new alliance model that Yıldırım has defined is the best solution for constraining the Kurds. The essence of the problem here is that US and Russia, which have come down to an agreement over the ‘big picture’, do not think like Turkey.

Polls will be looked at by the end of the month

Erdoğan is silent for the time being. He will look at public opinion and international balance. If he receives positive signals from the public regarding these news steps taken, he will go forth.

By the end of the second week of July, the first results will reach Erdoğan’s desk. In other words, we will see soon whether he would peak his maneuvers at the U-turn he took or he would suddenly turn it into an O and come back to where it was initially started.

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Erdoğan can deny the assertions about Syria

CHP MP from İstanbul and member of the parliament’s Foreign Affairs Commission, Oğuz Kaan Salıcı:

“We had said before the gears were changed on Israel and Russia that it was possible for AKP to seek ways to find covers in order to make an agreement with Egypt and Syria again. AKP gets too involved in any given subject in such a way that it turns a subject of foreign policy into a domestic issue. Then, when they go back and do what is actually rational, they look ridiculous.

They have been calling Assad ‘baby murderer’, ‘a tyrant who has done all kinds of disgrace to his own people’. Now, PM Yıldırım gives the impression that AKP can actually sit around the same table with Assad again. Yıldırım confuses foreign policy with building roads or bridges. If we hear a statement against Yıldırım’s assertions one of these days, we shouldn’t get shocked. PM’s statements don’t sound like the issue has been talked over or discussed. There is an inclination, that’s all that is seen. There is still no true progress that would match with Yıldırım’s assertions. Turkey has placed its foreign policy towards Syria in at a point that has allowed all the current actors there to emerge and get powerful during the AKP administration. Turkey has become the target of ISIL because of the policies that AKP leads; and, we have been faced with suicide bomb attacks from PKK during AKP rule, as well. It was AKP that has paved the ground for all these but now it’s trying to change gears. We also think that there must be a way to revert from wrong policies, however, it is really not that easy for them to account for such a harsh maneuver. The only thing they could do is to blame it all on Davutoğlu.”



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Şimdiden sonsuz teşekkürler…

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