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Turkey removing consequences of “zero-problems” foreign policy

Türkiye Materials 28 June 2016 21:30 (UTC +04:00)
Turkey removing consequences of “zero-problems” foreign policy
Turkey removing consequences of “zero-problems” foreign policy

Baku, Azerbaijan, June 28

By Rufiz Hafizoglu – Trend:

Why are Turkey’s relations with Russia and Israel being mended only now, after Ahmet Davutoglu’s resignation as the country’s prime minister? Could Turkey repair its relations with those countries when Davutoglu still was a prime minister?

The answer is that the Turkish government’s image would have suffered a severe blow had the normalization of relations with Russia and Israel started during Davutoglu’s term of office. Therefore, the issue of mending the relations with those countries was put on the agenda after Davutoglu’s resignation.

It is obvious that the new Turkish government is determined to correct the consequences of the “zero problems” foreign policy, which deteriorated its relations with some countries.

A little more than a month has passed since Binali Yildirim’s appointment as the new Turkish prime minister, and almost all the relations previously broken with some countries have been already resumed.

For example, Turkey and Israel have today signed an agreement to normalize their relations.

Aside from that, Ankara, which has previously negatively spoken about the military coup in Egypt, does not exclude Cairo’s important role in improving the situation in Libya today.

Besides all this, of course, one of the currently important issues has been the mending of relations with Russia.

Turkish authorities have twice appealed to Russia in official letters, where they expressed hope for normalization of relations. In Turkey, those messages are seen as a serious step towards repairing relations with Moscow.

But, apparently, the Russian president is not in a hurry to make any statements regarding the relations with Ankara.

On June 28, the Kremlin made a statement saying that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in his letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, made a very important step to repair the relations, saying that however the problem cannot be solved in several days.

It means that the further development of relations between Moscow and Ankara depends on the Russian side.

A telephone conversation will be held June 29 between Putin and Erdogan, on the initiative of the Russian side.

And there is no doubt that the sides will be able to solve the crisis in relations.

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Rufiz Hafizoglu is the head of Trend Agency's Arabic news service, follow him on Twitter: @rhafizoglu

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