Turkey’s peace process to set example for Syria and Iraq, Turkish FM says

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu speaks on July 24, 2013 during a news conference with his Indian counterpart after their meeting in Ankara on July 24, 2013. Khurshid is on official visit to Turkey. AFP PHOTO/ADEM ALTAN

Turkey’s peace process would set a good example for Syria and Iraq should it progress further in its attempt to end a three-decade-old Kurdish insurgency, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said today.

“If we can take steps at a desired level in Turkey, this process will serve as a good example for Syria and Iraq too,” the minister said in reply to a question on possible influences of recent attempts by Syrian Kurds purportedly seeking to form an autonomous administration in the conflict-hit neighboring country.

Speaking at a joint press conference with his Indian counterpart, Salman Khurshid, the minister said the Turkish government would not let developments in northern Syria negatively affect the ongoing peace process in Turkey.

“Turkey takes measures to maintain security along its borders,” Davutoğlu said, stressing that those measures were not against any particular group.

“Turkey doesn’t perceive any formation or any ethnic group as a threat,” Davutoğlu said, emphasizing that all parties in Syria should avoid taking unilateral steps until a Parliament that will represent the people’s will is freely formed in the country.

“Some steps, which may be taken in form of a fait accompli, will only lead to more bloodshed and turn a bilateral conflict into a multilateral one,” the minister said.

“In the same manner that Turkey considers the Turkmens as siblings, so too does it consider the Kurds as siblings,” Davutoğlu said in a bid to make Ankara’s position clear that its concerns surrounding the possible formation of an autonomous Kurdish entity in northern Syria is unrelated to any kind of antagonism against Kurdish people.