Let’s note two events held in Ankara this week: the sixth annual Ambassadors Conference with a theme of “strong democracy, dynamic economy, effective diplomacy,” and the German Marshall Fund’s conference, “Turkey’s Foreign Policy Reset.” While the former sends a message of absolutism about the current path of Turkey’s foreign policy, the latter simply suggests it needs restoration. The gap between these two perceptions seems unbridgeable.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, for example, said in his Jan. 13 opening remarks at the Ambassadors Conference, “Remember the excitement after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Democracy was expected to spread all around, but we see an opposite trend in the first 14 years of the 21st century: 9/11, interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq, the continuing revolts since the Arab Spring. At such a time, it is crucial that our diplomacy holds a position. What is this diplomacy holding a position? It’s respect for human dignity.” He added, “There can be no solution in Syria without honoring human dignity.”
