Turkish PM to visit Iran amid foreign policy worries

Reuters ^ | 10/23/2009 | Ibon Villelabeitia

[a_Turk]

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's visit to Iran next week adds to concerns that Ankara may be slowly turning its back on its Western allies and seeking to regain its status as a regional power in the Middle East.

Following what Turks saw as Arab betrayal in World War One, Turkey made joining the elite club of Western powers its number one foreign policy objective, joining NATO in 1952 and first applying to join the European Economic Community in 1963.

Nearly 50 years on, Muslim Turkey is still kept at arms length by the European Union, but now having the world's 17th biggest economy, and half a million-strong army, it has the potential to become a powerhouse in its eastern backyard.

{snip}

Other analysts disagree Turkey is taking an "Islamic" foreign policy course, as AK Party's secularist opponents say.

They point to a visit by U.S. President Barack Obama in April as proof U.S.-Turkish ties were in good shape.

Turkey, which dreads the thought of a nuclear Iran, has said it is willing to mediate between Iran and the West over Tehran's controversial nuclear enrichment programme.

Bilateral trade reached $7 billion (4 billion pounds) in 2008. Turkey's Energy Minister Taner Yildiz told Reuters this week he hoped the two countries could finalise a $3.5 billion deal to develop part of the world's largest gas field in Iran.

[AU72]

Thanks to Obama the strategic power of the US is bleeding away.

[karnage]

“... slowly turning its back...”???

This was predicted - and observed - years ago.