Turkey first NATO state with Shanghai Cooperation Organization ties

TURKISTAN -Anatolia News Agency

Davutoğlu says Turkey first NATO state to construct relations with SCO. AA photo

Turkey is the first NATO member state to have become a “dialogue partner” with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Foreign Minister Ahment Davutoğlu told reporters in the eastern Chinese province of Turkistan, referring to a cooperation agreement signed between Turkey and the SCO on April 26.

“Two years ago we gave instructions and started working on this matter. The only lack was a signature. Now we’ve completed the process of the dialogue partnership,” Davutoğlu said. “We are the first NATO state to establish such a relationship with the SCO,” he added. “If we look from a Cold War perspective, these may seem like mutually exclusive institutions. However, the Cold War has ended. Turkey won’t be a slave of the Cold War logic.”

The foreign minister said his country was a member of many different organizations and was interested in many foreign policies at the same time. “It is Turkey’s strength to be a member of various institutions and to actively lead them.”