Could a PM Davutoglu repair Turkey's foreign policy?
Turkey’s once overambitious foreign minister is the most likely candidate to take over the AKP leadership and become prime minister, but few expect major changes in Ankara’s foreign policy orientation.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is emerging as the most likely candidate to replace Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was elected president on Aug. 10, and become the leader of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and prime minister. Rasim Ozan Kutahyali explained the reasons why in his Aug. 18 Al-Monitor post.
If Davutoglu proves to be the AKP’s choice, many will be wondering what kind of signal that will send to the world, given his past mistakes that have contributed to Turkey’s isolation in the Middle East and left it with few admirers in the West.
One person who remains skeptical on this score is retired diplomat Murat Ozcelik, Turkey’s former ambassador to Baghdad under Davutoglu in 2009-2011 — prior to which he served as special envoy to Iraq for two years.
“This will be a signal policies that have been maintained since 2011 and that have not been approved of internationally will continue,” Ozcelik, who lectures around the world on the situation in Iraq and Syria, told daily Hurriyet in an exclusive interview on Aug. 18.
