ANKARA
Delivering the opening remarks of a meeting of the International Contact Group (ICG) for Afghanistan at Ankara's Hilton Hotel on Friday, Ahmet Davutoglu stated that Afghanistan should not be viewed as a country of chaos and instability.
"Afghanistan has been the cradle of many old civilizations and a symbol of co-existence of many cultures. Currently, the people of Afghanistan are trying to rebuild their glorious history," Davutoglu noted.
"The meeting today is just one of such platforms. The participants today are discussing Afghanistan's future and how they could assist the Afghan people," Davutoglu stated.
"Many conferences on Afghanistan took place in the world in the past decade. The international community continues to work effectively to help Afghanistan," Davutoglu indicated.
"There are preparations being made for the period after 2014 when the NATO mission and the transitional process would end. The next two years have to be used effectively so that the future of Afghanistan is taken under assurance," Davutoglu noted.
"The arrangements being made in Afghanistan are crucial. Security in the country must be established and supported by the training of the Afghan army," Davutoglu stated.
"A national consensus in Afghanistan must be established with the inclusion of all people. Otherwise, steps to be taken for security would not facilitate a wide scale security," Davutoglu said.
"Policies on security must be well coordinated and synchronized with works on national consensus," Davutoglu indicated.
-Support to Rabbani-
Reminding that one of the Afghan leaders, Burhanuddin Rabbani, lost his life while trying to establish consensus, Davutoglu extended support to his son Salahuddin Rabbani.
"I am confident that Salahuddin Rabbani would complete his father's mission. We will support Rabbani's efforts as Turkey," Davutoglu said.
"Turkey is a country which has established excellent relations with all Afghan groups. Turkey will do everything possible so as to facilitate national security in Afghanistan," Davutoglu emphasized.
"Training the Afghan army should be a process triggered by the Afghan army itself. Turkey will continue to train Afghan security personnel so security gets established. We want to pledge once again that we will continue our training programs after 2014. Such training programs will continue without any conditions," Davutoglu expressed.
"Another process that Afghanistan needs to work on is the economic process. If sources of employment do not get created and works on alternative production techniques do not take place, it would not be possible to prevent individuals from doing other things," Davutoglu noted.
"All ethnic groups of Central Asia have come together in Afghanistan and formed the Afghan people. As such, surrounding countries must support the atmosphere of peace and stability in Afghanistan," Davutoglu underlined.
-"Istanbul process to continue forever"-
"As Turkey, we began two processes on Afghanistan. The first one was a trilateral summit between Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkey," Davutoglu said.
"Last year's Istanbul process is one based on regional cooperation to establish a secure and stable future in Afghanistan," Davutoglu stated.
"In the past one year, we have taken successful steps in and around Afghanistan to create especially confidence building measures. Many of the issues declared in Istanbul last December have been realized. The Kabul conference in June was a follow-up meeting and was highly successful. I want to congratulate the Afghan government and all the neighbors who supported this process for the very successful result. The Istanbul process will continue forever," Davutoglu indicated.
"The international dimension of the Afghan issue should certainly not be forgotten. In this frame, three important steps were taken in recent times: the tenth anniversary of the Bonn Conference, NATO's Chicago Summit and the conference of donors in Tokyo," Davutoglu stressed.
"I do hope that our meeting on Friday would be a historic benchmark. The international community must express in Ankara that they are shoulder to shoulder with the Afghan people and that the future of Afghanistan is bright," Davutoglu also said.
