Difficult to Name

It will present itself on international platforms firstly at the G-8 summit in the US and the NATO summit in Istanbul this month. Obviously when Washington was preparing this project to ‘help’ mostly Muslim countries from Marrakesh to Bangladesh, it considered its own interests as well. Yes, the aim is to promote free and democratic regimes for countries in the region and bring them up to modern levels through radical economic and social reform. However, when Washington undertook its leadership, it aimed at taking this broad region under its strategic and economic wing. When the US was talking about the GME, it thought it could reach its aim. However, their latest contacts have led them to take a more realistic stance.

In this respect, Ankara recently gave certain important opinions and recommendations to Washington. Turkey made them accept that it’s not a ‘target’ country but a ‘partner’ one, i.e. not a country which needs advice. The issues on which Turkey is insistent are as follows: democracy cannot be made through imposition. Thus, during the implementation of this project, the impression that it’s being imposed should be avoided. Economic support to accelerate the development of these countries should be given priority, and NATO shouldn’t be involved in security cooperation. Turkey’s message to Washington is about its own role. Turkey neither wants to be a model to the countries in the region, nor to be held up as such. However, Ankara is also ready to help those who want to take Turkey’s experiences as an example. This will be Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s message at the G-8 summit.”