Davutoglu: "Ball" to come to Turkey again over Iran nuke talks

The Turkish foreign minister said on Tuesday that Turkey would become an influential and wise country whose principles, values and suggestions would be seriously taken into account in 2011.

Speaking at a TV program broadcast by TRT-1 Channel, Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmet Davutoglu said one of the main goals of Turkish foreign policy in 2010 had been improvement of Turkey's "visibility" in the international arena and such goal had been achieved successfully.

Davutoglu said, Turkey had not only managed to strengthen its strategic ties with NATO, EU and Council of Europe in 2010, but it had also expanded its cooperation areas with neighboring countries and extended its activities to new regions such as Africa, Far East and Latin America.

Davutoglu said Turkey blended the values of the East and the West in the best way.

"We have all the opportunities to act as a country that creates solutions in areas of clash and leads the way for others. We have the chance to become the world's wise country. This is our next goal. We want to become a country that has principles and values and a certain power of influence," the minister said.

"Ball to come to Turkey again"

Commenting on the negotiation process with Iran on nuclear issue, Davutoglu said Turkey had been displaying an accurate and principled policy on the matter.

Davutoglu said that it is natural for Turkey to step in Iranian issue.

"Turkey never concerns itself, meddle with no one's issues. Everyone knows how much principled Turkey's Iran policy is. That is why ball comes back to us all the time, it will. Because, if we pay the price for everything happening in this region, we have the right to say something. No one should expect us to be spectators in this regard, "he said.


/World Bulletin/