Turkish foreign policy: promoting 'zero problems'.

• Author: Lynch, Brian
• Position: Roundtable

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Ambassador Unal Cevikoz, the Deputy Under-Secretary at the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, visited New Zealand in April for formal consultations with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. On the 15th, accompanied by the Turkish Ambassador to New Zealand, Mehmet Taser, he met in a roundtable format in Wellington with members of the NZIIA Standing Committee.

In welcoming Ambassador Cevikoz, NZIIA President Russell Marshall noted that current trends and developments in Turkey's policy were of close interest to many in New Zealand. He invited Cevikoz to outline the context and purpose behind Turkey's more assertive diplomacy and the country's emergence as an increasingly influential regional power.

Ambassador Cevikoz observed that the end of the Cold War had placed Turkey in a new setting and altered its threat perceptions. For example, with the dissolution of the Soviet Union there were now three new neighbours on Turkey's northern borders. Russia was not seen as a security threat and was now Turkey's number one trading partner. Instead, the main threat source had shifted to the south and east of the region, where terrorist groups had their bases. This change in security perceptions had brought a necessary shift in Turkey's diplomatic and 'soft power' emphasis to the Middle East and the realm of the old Ottoman Empire, away from the longstanding trans-Atlantic and NATO focus. However Turkey was not 'turning away' from its traditional allies. Its foreign policy approach was not to be mistaken for a form of 'neo-Ottomanism'. NATO remained a fundamental part of Turkey's external 'architecture', and the ambition to join the European Union was still strong.

Driven by Foreign Minister Davutoglu's concept of 'strategic depth', Turkey's new foreign policy objectives were underpinned by four key principles:

* 'active diplomacy' as a contribution to a secure environment in Turkey's immediate neighbourhood, hence the willingness to facilitate meetings to resolve tensions between particular neighbours (Syria and Israel, Syria and Lebanon, Afghanistan and Pakistan);

* a goal of 'zero problems' with neighbours to mitigate if not eradicate bilateral differences, with a view to attaining a win-win, non-zero sum result;

* the opening of 'new horizons' in regions where the Turkish presence had previously been small or non-existent, in Africa and Latin America for example;

* and making fuller use of existing international forums...