ISTANBUL: Turkey’s efforts to solve regional problems such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or the dispute over Iran’s nuclear programme have enhanced its standing among its Arab neighbours, a report said yesterday.
About three-quarters of Arabs believed Turkey, should be more active in tackling the region’s problems, according to the study by the Istanbul-based Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation, or Tesev.
It said 61 percent believed the country, which has a secular constitution but is largely Muslim, was a successful model for the Islamic world.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Islamist-rooted government had broken with the foreign policy of the past that was largely disengaged with the Middle East and has boosted Turkey’s political, cultural and economic presence in the region, said the report, entitled “Perceptions of Turkey in the Middle East”.
“A party with Islamic roots taking power democratically that has worked to strengthen democracy has increased the Middle East’s interest in Turkey in a measurable way,” it said.
Seventy-five percent of those questioned had a “very positive” or “positive” view of Turkey, making it the second most popular country in the region after Saudia Arabia, according to the survey of 2,006 people conducted in Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian Territories.
“Turkey has favoured a policy of conflict resolution, which has received serious backing from people in the region,” Mensur Akgun, the head of Tesev’s foreign policy programme and one of the authors of the report, said at a news conference.
To retain that support, Turkey must be impartial in the region’s conflicts and emphasise mediation, he said.
Ties between Turkey and Israel, which have a strong military alliance, have cooled since a three-week Israeli incursion into the Gaza Strip at the start of the year, which Erdogan has criticised. He said this week Israel no longer trusted Turkey to mediate with Syria.
On a visit to Tehran last month, Erdogan defended Iran’s right to develop nuclear power, raising concern among Western allies that the NATO member was shifting its focus to the east.
Such statements would stand in the way of Turkey playing a mediating role, said Meliha Altunisik, international relations professor at the Middle East Technical University and an author of the Tesev report.
However, 79 percent of the survey’s respondents believed Ankara should mediate between Israelis and Palestinians, and 76 percent said Turkey had the influence to bring peace to the Arab world.
More than half supported having a Muslim country in the European Union and 64 percent said Turkey’s bid to join the bloc had a positive effect on the Arab world, the study showed.
“As long as Turkey is active in the Middle East, we see its hand is strengthened with the EU and that it will continue to gain acceptance from regional countries,” said Sabiha Senyucel Gundogar of Tesev, who also co-authored the report.
