Turkey's FM urges neighbours to drop "threat mentality"

Speaking to Egyptian journalists, Davutoglu, currently holding talks in Cairo, said, "we should refrain from seeing each other as threat. I am not talking only for Turkey and Egypt. I am saying this for all the regional countries. Stability can only be restored in the region with this mentality. Only with this way we can establish a strong alternative against other growing economic regions. Arab League meeting takes place at an extremely critical period. Today's decisions will be very important for 2010."

Davutoglu said he came to Egypt for the second round of strategic dialogue between Turkey and Egypt, noting that regional problems were taken up in detail during his talks with high-level Egyptian officials.

"We want to add a new momentum to Turkish-Egyptian relations," Davutoglu said adding that Turkey could reach Africa via Egypt and Egypt could reach Europe via Turkey.

Davutoglu stated that Turkey and Egypt had central positions, and noted that, "strategic preferences Turkey will make in the next 20-30 years will determine all the balances. We believe that we should make a joint planning between Turkey and Egypt."

Davutoglu said there was a long cooperation perspective between Turkey and Egypt, "despite all the negative developments we have experienced, we should plan future of our children with a future vision. We should alter fate of the region together," he noted.


/World Bulletin/