Turkey not master of Mideast: Turkish FM

ISTANBUL

“We will be the owner, pioneer and the servant of this new Middle East,” FM told Parliament on April 26. DAILY NEWS photo

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has said that when he described Turkey as playing a pioneering role in the Middle East, he did not mean it in a “hegemonic sense.”

“We are the owners of this region with all the other nations, we own the problems of the region, this does not mean it is our property, it means solving the problems of the region shoulder to shoulder with the other nations,” Davutoğlu said at a conference held in Istanbul.

Davutoğlu was attending a conference titled “The Palestinian issue on the basis of the U.N.” on May 3. “We didn’t intend to patronize anyone, but we will not let anyone detach us from the region,” he said.
Davutoğlu said Turkey would continue to be the pioneer of a new peace order while the Middle East is being reshaped. “The focus of this piece is the Palestinian issue. A global order of peace can not be established without a solution to the Palestinian issue,” he said.

The foreign minister also said Turkey would continue to be the voice of consciousness and humanity in the Palestinian issue, until the time when the Palestinian people are able to build up their own state in an honorable way. “We use strong language against Israel because we don’t feel guilt against Israel and the Jewish people. We have never tortured them and we have the right to prevent their oppression. Others might have used oppression against the Jews; however, we have embraced them like we did all the other oppressed nations in history. However, today’s oppressed nation is the Palestinian people.”

Davutoğlu said that today’s young people in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya wanted just one thing, and this was “honor.” “The issue which damages the honor of the young people in the Middle East is the Palestinian issue. All the nations of this region have been insulted for 64 years now.”

While briefing the Turkish Parliament on Syria on April 26, Davutoğlu said Turkey was set to carve itself a primary role in shaping the Middle East, as it guides the “winds of change” in the region. “A new Middle East is about to be born. We will be the owner, pioneer and the servant of this new Middle East,” Davutoğlu told Parliament after attracting criticism from opposition parties over Ankara’s Syria policy.

“We will be the owner, pioneer and the servant of this new Middle East,” FM told Parliament on April 26.