Political Marketing and Regional Strategy

Your political opponents also accuse you of selling Turkey

to Western, Arab,

and Israeli investors.

I am not selling.

I market, and I will continue marketing.

They are ignorant on this matter

and do not know what marketing means.

We tell them: Learn

and study management. Politics is marketed,

as are social life and the economy. You must

do that. None of them knows

what marketing means. They think marketing only means marketing

cattle and sheep.

The truth is that politics is marketed,

social life is marketed, and the country's potential

can be marketed in the best way,

and your country's name can be marketed in global markets in the best manner,

making it known.

They say you give the Israelis,

in particular, greater privileges, including investor Sami

Ofer, with whom you denied ties, which the media later exposed.

No,

there is no such thing. And it seems that

this was reflected incorrectly here as well.

We do not agree to any deal unless there are

at least mutual interests,

And we never enter into any business that is not in our interest.

There is no doubt that any foreign investor intending to invest in

my country calculates their interest carefully, and that is their

natural right.

Ofer submitted a bid in the tender like anyone else,

and won the tender

because he made the best offer.

That is all there is to it.

Doesn't the strong entry

of the Israelis into the Turkish market pose economic risks

to you?

We fear nothing. If you are a strong country with no problems, why

would you fear such a thing? On the contrary, they add strength

to our economy.

What is the nature of your relationship with the Israelis now?

We currently have military cooperation and relations,

as well as economic, political, and trade ties,

and our trade volume with them currently stands at around five

billion dollars.

Last May, Israeli Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shalom said

that Turkey plays the role of mediator between Israel and Arab

and Islamic countries. After that, you arranged a meeting between

the Pakistani

and Israeli foreign ministers in Turkey. Are you truly acting as a mediator, or

the broker between Arabs and Israelis?

If we are tasked with such a mission, we will undertake it with all

enthusiasm,

and if there is a need, why not fulfill it?

For every country's mission is not to encourage hostilities

and increase them worldwide, but to foster friendships,

and success in that is far more beneficial.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has now continued for many

long years. Has anything been achieved?

What is your assessment of what Israel is doing now against the Palestinians?

I currently consider the process

of withdrawal from Gaza a positive step,

whatever the goal behind it,

and it is a positive step toward implementing the Roadmap.

I also consider the withdrawal from part of the West Bank a positive

step,

and that must be supported.

But Israeli practices have not stopped.

On the Palestinian side, similar steps must also be taken

to reach a result as soon as possible,

otherwise this situation will continue and you will achieve no

result, seeing tears, blood, and death every day.

Will the situation continue like this? I think it is impossible to reach

anything by talking from a distance.

Are you looking forward to Turkey playing a strategic role in the region,

like a "big brother" role, for example? Right now, you are touring

the Gulf states. You visited Pakistan.

Are you planning a larger strategic role?

We prepared ourselves for this role for some time, and as a result

of our readiness, we took on a role in the Greater Middle East and North

Africa Initiative, and we share a co-chairmanship among

Italy, Turkey, and Yemen.

Does this role stem from Turkey, or was it arranged with the United

States of America and Israel?

No.

This is not limited to America alone. Along with eight different

countries—the G8—Turkey was invited

as a partner country, and so it took part.

But this project is dead.

The G8 project is considered dead; it hasn't moved in a long

time.

This project hasn't died among these countries, nor has it ended, and these

countries are still pursuing their mutual engagements quite

well. We are the ones saying this; there is no need to deceive.

ourselves. These countries manage relations between themselves

in the best way for them, while we sit around

open-mouthed, and there is no need for that. Let's look at ourselves and what

we get. Have we gained anything or not?

The Islamic world has always deceived itself and for years on this

point. Let's first see where we've gotten. When looking

at the Greater Middle East and North Africa project, we wonder about

our goal. What is our level of welfare? Are we still consumed

by conflicts and wars? What is the situation in Iraq and Israel? And what

is it in Syria? In contrast, I wonder if you, as an Arab

and Islamic world, have a settlement for existing problems?

There is no settlement. We must first talk about how to find

a settlement. No result can be reached by running away

from

the negotiating table.

Even if the solution is absolute subordination to Israel and America?

What do you mean by subordination?

Can you talk about facts and explain them? Here

is the issue. If I am able to do what I believe

in it and speak the truths I believe in, then

I will continue on my path.

And if I believe that I will achieve a good outcome

from such a project, then I will take the necessary

steps and play this role.

As Turkey, we now believe in the benefit of such a project,

and from this standpoint, we believe we have carried out the tasks

required of us,

and we feel no embarrassment about that.

We simply took some steps and made good progress.

I want to tell you something: they withdrew from Gaza,

but what if they had not?

They withdrew under pressure because they were under the hammer

of the Palestinian resistance,

and now they ask the Palestinians for the Palestinian Authority to secure them.

Do not deceive yourselves,

for had they not withdrawn from there, the current process would not have started

nor would the previous situation have continued.

I ask you,

steps must be taken for housing in Gaza.

Go ahead and take these steps.

What will you do now?

What is your strength and ability? Go ahead and do

something.

We cannot do anything without receiving support from

another side. We must all do this

together, otherwise nothing will happen,

and so we must do something that is

clear through reason and logic.

We must not get bitten from the place where

we have already been bitten.

We must identify this clearly,

and we must adopt reason, science,

and experience as a starting point

for us to act.

If we set these aside and act emotionally,

we will always be the losers.