Main opposition submits censure motion against Foreign Minister Davutoğlu

ANKARA – Anadolu Agency

The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) submitted a fresh censure motion to Parliament against Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu on Dec. 7, arguing that the government's foreign policy was harming Turkey's national interests.
 
“The loneliness to which Turkey was dragged due to the government’s policies is negatively affecting its commercial relations with the region and beyond,” read the motion, signed by the CHP’s deputy parliamentary group chairs Akif Hamzaçebi, Engin Altay and Muharrem İnce.
 
The motion argued that the government’s policies toward Syria, Iraq, Iran and Egypt had all failed, which had left Turkey in a very dangerous position. It also accused Davutoğlu of "interfering" in the policies of neighboring countries.
 
“One of the basic foreign policy mistakes of the government is to downgrade or entirely cut diplomatic relations with neighbors who adopt policies of which it doesn’t approve,” it said.
 
“Due to the government’s crooked policies, based on false predictions and erroneous expectations, our diplomatic relations have been entirely cut with Syria, with which we are almost in a state of war,” the motion added.
 
The government’s Egypt policies were also strongly criticized, in light of the latest row that has resulted in the reciprocal expulsion of ambassadors from Ankara and Cairo. Due to those policies, “the international public almost identifies [Turkey's] Justice and Development Party government with the Muslim Brotherhood,” the motion said.