Turkey pursuing 'proactive diplomacy': Foreign minister

ANKARA

Turkey is pursuing a "realistic foreign policy" based on the superiority of the diplomatic initiative over a wide geography, the country's foreign minister said Thursday.

"We have a proactive approach to diplomacy, not reactive, without letting events rule us," Mevlut Cavusoglu said at the closing ceremony of the virtual International Security Academy organized by the International Relations Association.

Cavusoglu stressed that the global security environment was getting increasingly fragile.

"After the Cold War, great power competition is fueling tensions in different regions such as Ukraine, the Balkans, the Black Sea, Taiwan, and the South China Sea. The effects of relatively modern challenges such as climate change, terrorism, cyber attacks, irregular migration and the pandemic are being felt everywhere," he said.

He underlined that in the current environment of rapid change, one of the most important points in international relations that has remained constant was the international order established after World War II.

"While software updates come to our mobile devices every few weeks, the fact that the international system has not been updated for 80 years makes it difficult for the system, especially the UN, to find solutions to problems," he said.

Cavusoglu pointed out that in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, the "need for multilateralism" had emerged once again.

"We cannot say that a significant distance has been covered on this road in the last year. However, we see that concepts such as multilateralism and solidarity come to the fore, at least at the level of discourse," he said.

Russa, Ukraine, NATO relations

The Turkish top diplomat said during his speech that today, the rivalry between Russia and Ukraine as well as between Russia and NATO has reached "dangerous" levels.

"We will not ignore our principles and close relations with Ukraine just because we have extensive relations with Russia. In many difficult equations like this, we do whatever the spirit of the time and our national security require. It's hard work, but that's what diplomacy is for," Cavusoglu said.

In 2014, Russia began to support separatist forces in eastern Ukraine against the central government, a policy that it has maintained for the past seven years.

For the second time this year, Moscow reportedly concentrated military troops in and around Ukraine last month.

NATO and the EU have warned Russia that if it shows an aggressive attitude towards Ukraine, it will face a serious response and heavy sanctions.

Cavusoglu went on to say that NATO has also undergone a transformation, noting that it was trying to adapt itself to new developments and that the focus was on strengthening the political dimension in the NATO 2030 process.

He emphasized that Turkey, as the country with the second-largest military in NATO and fifth-greatest contributor to the alliance's operations and missions, plays an active role in these efforts.

"There are efforts by some countries to present the EU as an alternative to NATO. This is not constructive and unrealistic. The indivisibility of transatlantic security is our fundamental principle," he said.

*Writing by Jeyhun Aliyev