"Turkey as Mediator and Peacekeeper during Middle East Conflict: Analyzing Events of Summer 2006
Prof. Ruben Safrastyan, Ph.D. - 6/13/2007
The Government of the pro-Islamist Justice and Development Party (JDP) that came to power in 2002 restructured the hierarchy of the basic directions of the Turkish foreign policy, which had been built up during the last 50 years. In particular, importance of the Middle-Eastern direction has been reviewed and is now one of its priorities. The Foreign Ministry of the country was instructed to improve relations with the Arab states and Iran, at the same time conserving allied relations with Israel on quite a cool level. According to calculations of the major architect of the new strategy in the Turkish foreign policy Ahmet Davutoglu, who is the chief foreign policy adviser to Prime-Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as a result Turkey will have the opportunity to get a mediating role both in the Middle East conflict and in the controversial relations between some Middle-Eastern countries and the West. Therefore, Turkey will become a key state in the region, which will enhance its significance for the European Union and accelerate the process of Turkey's accession to that organization."
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