Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Saturday there was a need for a new vision in the Middle East, Anadolu Agency reported.
In a speech, titled "Security and Stability in the Middle East", and delivered at the 46th Munich Security Conference, Minister Davutoglu said that peace and stability have to be established in the Middle East.
We need a new vision in the Middle East, Davutoglu underlined.
The image of the Middle East must be changed. The region does not deserve the bad image it has when one looks at the region's historical and cultural past. Mutual respect must be established in the region. The region should no longer be a burden on the group of nations. The region must be turned into one that makes all winners, Davutoglu stressed.
There is a need for a reactive policy in the Middle East. We should not permit cases of crisis to be forgotten. A Palestinian child has the same value as an Israeli one, Davutoglu emphasized.
We must first of all recognize borders in the region. And, as such, we need to know where the borders exist. We are in favor of establishing a Palestinian state in the Middle East. Furthermore, the State of Israel must exist within secure boundaries and in security, Minister Davutoglu underlined.
We did criticize the attack on Gaza (last year) within this context. We do not want to see any country in the region possessing nuclear weapons, be it Israel or Iran. We are making serious efforts so that the number of nuclear weapons in the world go down, if not drop to zero completely, Davutoglu said.
Turkey sincerely believes that the international community must focus on four principles in order to realize the new vision in the Middle East. The first principle involves facilitating security for each human being in the region.
As a second principle, we favor a rise in the number of political dialogues. The third principle involves creating economic independence and the urgent need for such independence, Davutoglu said.
And, the fourth principle involves facilitating co-existence among different cultures in the region. There is a need for multi-culturalism in the towns and cities of the Middle East, Davutoglu said.
The rights of the Palestinians who lived on the territories in the region before the Israeli state was founded should not be limited. We just can not accept an incident as that happened in Gaza (last year), Davutoglu said.
There is no need for nuclear weapons in the world. Such weapons are an element of a threat rather than an element for protection, Davutoglu said.
We do not need such nuclear weapons. We are under the protection of NATO. Nonetheless, we need nuclear energy for our economy, Davutoglu also said.