Turkey's Foreign Policy: Slip-Up or Success?
While Turkey boasts foreign policy successes in the Middle East, these measures could be more accurately described as blunders.
On Aug. 21, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu gave a TV interview. His first sentence was on the Syrian humanitarian crisis: "Today, while watching the videos our intelligence agency (MIT) captured in Damascus, we Justice and Development Party (AKP) members could not hold our tears back." Davutoglu was referring to the latest chemical attack in Syria.
During this two-hour interview, Davutoglu focused on Turkey's “principled” foreign policy toward Syria and Egypt. He expressed his resentment and surprise on the inaction of the international community. He said he was the first foreign minister to visit deposed Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, and broke the news that the chief of Turkish National Intelligence Agency (MIT), Hakan Fidan, met with Morsi about 10 to 15 days prior to the coup. This revelation made the headlines, and surely deserves further questioning as to why and how MIT is involved in Egypt?
