New Turkish Foreign Minister seeks greater regional role

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkey's new foreign minister said on Saturday he wants the country to play a bigger role in the Middle East and Balkans but its relations with the West would continue to be its main foreign policy focus.



Middle East expert Ahmet Davutoglu was appointed as Turkey's new foreign minister on Friday in the largest cabinet change since the Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party, or AKP, first swept to power in 2002.



Davutoglu, a respected but controversial diplomat who expanded Turkey's foreign policy beyond its traditional Western-orientated focus, takes charge as the country seeks to improve regional security, from Armenia to Iraq and Iran.



Taking office on Saturday from Ali Babacan, who was named as the new deputy prime minister in charge of the economy, Davutoglu said Turkey now had a stronger foreign policy vision towards the Middle East, Balkans and the Caucasus region.



"It has to take on the role of an order-instituting country in all these regions," Davutoglu said.

"Turkey is no longer a country which only reacts to crises, but notices the crises before their emergence and intervenes in the crises effectively and gives shape to the order of its surrounding region."



Davutoglu, who has assumed an active role in NATO member Turkey's Middle East mediation efforts between Israel and Arab countries and in solving conflicts in the neighboring Caucasus, said relations with the West would remain Turkey's main focus.



"The European Union and NATO are the most important pillars of the policy of setting a balance between security and freedom," he said, Hurriyet Daily News reported.