Why Turkey will be a great partner for Asean
In his letter “Asean should be wary of inviting Turkey into fold”, published on this page yesterday, Mr Jhon Hope alleges that that Turkey’s partnership with Asean will bring chaos and dispute. This is totally wrong. Reasons why Turkey will contribute much to Asean are many and obvious:
– Turkey is the 13th largest economy in the world and 5th largest in Europe.
– The country is situated at the crossroads between the Balkans, Caucasus, Central Asia, Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean,
– It is a member of many major international organisations, such as the United Nations, OSCE, the Council of Europe, Nato, OECD, the Stability Pact for South-East Europe, G-20, D-8, MIKTA, and the Organisation of Islamic Conference.
– Turkey is a founding member of several sub-regional organisations and initiatives, such as the Black Sea Economic Cooperation, Southeast European Cooperation Process, Economic Cooperation Organisation, Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building measures in Asia, and Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States.
– It also has observer status in the Arab League and the African Union.
– It is pursuing membership of the European Union.
– It co-chairs, with Finland, the Group of Friends of Mediation at the UN.
Turkey conducts its foreign policy guided by the principle of “Peace at Home, Peace in the World”, as set out by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Turkey has a comprehensive, peace-oriented and principled vision and is committed to making use of all its means and capabilities towards this twin objective.
Asean will benefit from Turkey’s partnership.
Tolga Uncu,
First Counsellor, Embassy of Turkey,
Bangkok
