Turkey’s recent diplomatic reconciliations with both Israel and Russia came as a pleasant surprise to a country that has lately grown numb to bad news. There are also signs of positive steps with Egypt and even Syria, as signaled this week by Prime Minister Binali Yildirim. Yildirim had promised this shift right after coming to power in late May, when President Recep Tayyip Erdogan replaced former Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu with him. “We’ll increase the number of our friends and we’ll decrease the number of our enemies,” Yildirim had said, and apparently he meant it.
Of course, this pragmatic turn in Turkish foreign policy is a positive move that should be welcomed and supported. However, Turkey’s rulers — Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) — should understand why they moved away from pragmatism in the first place. They should also understand that Turkey desperately needs reconciliation within itself as well.
