The fire that struck an oil pipeline in northeastern Turkey on August 5 underlined the difficulty of providing a secure route for transporting oil from Central Asia, and it was a reminder of Turkey's considerable geopolitical weight. This country is also becoming increasingly important regionally as a counterpart for its neighbors, and it is undertaking active diplomatic initiatives.
On August 13, during a visit to Russia, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan presented President Dmitriy Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin with a proposal for establishment of a Caucasus Stability and Partnership Platform (encompassing Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, and Russia). A US think tank called the proposal "ambitious" and cautioned that the long-standing bilateral conflicts between the envisaged members will probably make it hard to get this concept off the ground.
On August 14, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited Turkey, and while there he apparently discussed the possibility of expanding the supply of natural gas from Iran to Turkey. In response to this development the US State Department warned, "Such a deal by Turkey with Iran would send the wrong message at a time when the Iranian regime has repeatedly failed to comply with its UN Security Council and IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] obligations."
Earlier, in July Erdogan led a Turkish delegation to Baghdad and met with Iraqi leaders to discuss the development of bilateral relations. The two sides agreed on moves to build cooperation in economic and security affairs. A US think tank offered the assessment that improved diplomatic ties would greatly benefit trade relations between the two countries, and it noted that Turkish firms are already very active in Iraq, where they have signed construction contracts worth $4 billion. Meanwhile, Turkey is also mediating peace talks between Israel and Syria. With its distinctive combination of Western values and an Islamic identity, Turkey has thus been actively pursuing diplomatic initiatives in the Middle East.
Turkey's biggest foreign policy goal, to gain admission to the European Union, still faces many hurdles and is unlikely to be achieved in the near future. But this country is playing an increasingly important role at the regional level, and its future diplomatic moves bear watching.
(Mikio Hayashi)
