After Esad, Eyes Turn to Putin and Khatemi

The Foreign Ministry acts in the direction of a new framework mentioned in the Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) program to redefine priorities of Turkish foreign politics to catch up with changing regional and global realities. The Ministry is establishing a new balance between national interests and those realities and is trying to improve relations with neighboring countries. Within the framework of goodwill, visits are paid to neighboring Iraq, Iran, Syria, Greece, Bulgaria, and Azerbaijan. After the first Syrian presidential level visit, it is expected that Russian President,, Vladimir Putin will visit Turkey. Putin’s visit will be the first presidential visit from the Russian Federation.

Turkey has similar issues with Iraq as well. Former Prime Minister, Yildirim Akbulut, visited Iraq under the rule of Saddam Hussein and no reciprocal visit has occurred.
Top Iranian officials visited Turkey a few times. After President, Ahmet Necdet Sezer’s, visit to Iran on June 17, 2002, Khatemi is expected to visit Turkey this year.