İYİ Party urges gov’t to avoid relying on personal companionship in US ties

ANKARA

İYİ (Good) Party leader Meral Akşener has urged the government to conduct diplomacy with the Unites States through diplomatic channels, instead of relying on individual relations.

“We hope that the relations that were reduced to cronyism in the Trump era will regain an international identity. Diplomacy should not be carried out through personal companionship, but by competent staff,” she said Nov. 11 during her party’s parliamentary group meeting.

Elaborating on the election of Joe Biden as the new U.S. president, Akşener said the primary issue was not how Biden perceives Turkish politics, but how Turkey will preserve its national interests.

“The U.S. relations with Turkey are important for us. Of course, America is one of the dominant powers in the world. But the issue is not how the American president perceives policies on Turkey, but how Turkey’s national interests will be protected,” she said.

In this respect, the Trump era was not good at all, she said. “Will [the incoming U.S. administration] be different from the one before? Time will tell.”

Akşener, meanwhile, welcomed the peace deal between Azerbaijan and Armenia that ended six weeks of fighting in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

“The Azerbaijani army will continue to hold power in territories [in Karabakh] once occupied by Armenia,” she stated.

“The deal was signed following the liberation of [the strategic city of] Shusha ... Karabakh is a part of Azerbaijan as we have been saying persistently for 28 years,” she said.

The İYİ Party leader also said the hearts of both Turkey and Azerbaijan beat together.