Turkish gov’t refutes claims of loneliness

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

‘Turkey is not alone,’ says Hüseyin Çelik, deputy leader of the ruling AKP.

“Turkey is not alone. Those who suggest that Turkey has been isolated are wrong,” Hüseyin Çelik, deputy leader of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) told reporters today following the party’s top decision-making body’s meeting.

Çelik’s words came in response to opposition parties and some critical columnists’ comments after İbrahim Kalın, a top foreign policy adviser to the prime minister, described Turkey’s position as “precious loneliness.”

Criticizing those who were trying to teach diplomacy to Turkey, Çelik said Turkey’s foreign policy was focusing on a long term vision and based on principles such as justice and conscience. “We know the foreign policy is pragmatic but if you give up your principles while being pragmatic, you will turn into an opportunist. We don’t give credit to criticisms that we have been left alone. We are not going to take sides with those coup plotters or those who kill their own people. We prefer and we will prefer to distance ourselves from them,” he added.
Çelik said Turkey’s foreign policy was not adventurist and was based on wisdom and not sentiments, adding that the direction of this policy was in line with the will of the people. Informing of a recent public opinion poll conducted in August suggested that the AKP’s vote was 51.4 percent, Çelik said, “No one should try to build castles in the air. In democracies, the fundamental indicator is the people’s will. If people approve your actions than it provides you continuity in power.”

In the meantime, Parliament Speaker Cemil Çiçek strongly condemned the claims that Syria used chemical weapons against its people. Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdağ, too, condemned the attack.