Turkey turned a critical corner during Gezi protests, says FM Davutoğlu

ANKARA

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu. AFP photo

Turkey has turned a critical corner like the ones in the past, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said yesterday, referring to the Gezi Park protests, while the Foreign Ministry has asked embassies to write reports about how the protests were perceived abroad.

“Yes. It was a very critical thing. We should accept this,” the top diplomat said in a televised interview, when asked if Turkey had turned a critical corner like the ones in the past. Davutoğlu said his ministry has requested reports from embassies over how the protests were conveyed in other countries.

“I demanded a report detailing which efforts these countries took to create a perception against Turkey and which instruments were used in this process and what did our embassies do, what were our citizens’ reactions,” Davutoğlu said, likening the protests to an earthquake. “A magnitude-4 earthquake shakes everyone but it also prepares for the bigger ones. This one did not shake us but reminded of something,” he said. “This is an experience. Our government will analyze these like an anatomy.”

Example of Brazil

The foreign minister also criticized some countries’ stance toward the protests. “When there were protests in the European capitals, did we say like they say to us: “There are two Turkeys and these clashes in the square. No foreign minister can talk like this for Turkey. There is only one Turkey in Turkey,” he said.

Citing the ongoing popular protests in Brazil, Davutoğlu argued that no one was saying there were two Brazils. “No one says there are two Brazils or that we are concerned about the future of Brazil. No one calls on the Brazilian government to initiate a dialogue with protesters,” he said, while stressing that some European politicians had a perception of Turkey from the 1990s, and that the successes the government had achieved in the last 10 year were an anomaly for them.