Babacan says no shift in Turk position

 "There is no change in our position, there is no shift," Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said in a televised interview in Davos. The Turkish government has come under heavy criticism for its strong rhetoric against Israel during the latest Gaza crisis and has been accused of siding with the Islamic group Hamas.

"We are at an equal distance from all Palestinian groups," Babacan told the private NTV television. Babacan’s previous remarks Ğthat Hamas must make a choice between being an armed organization or a political group Ğ led to a perception that the government had begun moving toward a more balanced approach.

"There cannot be an armed solution," repeated Babacan. "This is valid for both Palestinians and Israelis. Diplomacy and dialogue must be the main instruments."

Babacan went on to say that the harsh criticism leveled at the Israeli policies by the government was natural. "We showed a reaction against these wrongful policies," he said, adding Turkey did the same when a war broke out between Russia and Georgia last summer.

"On the fourth day of the (Caucasus) war we, together with the prime minister, went to Russia and met with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin for hours. Just as we said ’no to war,’ we have said the same (regarding the Israeli-Palestinian violence)," the foreign minister said.

"Who gained in the end of the conflict (in Gaza)?" he asked. "Is Hamas eradicated? Who controls Gaza?" He added Hamas must continue its path as a political movement.

Asked if his statements had not come too late, Babacan said: "Why is Turkey a mediator? Because it is trusted by all partiesÉ Our stance was not favored by some in the short run. There was a game and some remained silentÉ Just as we tell Israel, we tell the Palestinians to resort to political mechanisms at the negotiating table, not to violence."

Babacan said the government’s criticism could lead to unease among the Israelis but stressed that without Turkey, Israel’s presence in the region would not be easy.

No planned meeting with Peres
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan said yesterday that he had no scheduled bilateral meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres, except for their presence at a Middle East panel in Davos.

"There is no planned meeting (with the Israeli president)," he told reporters at the airport before departure. "Such panels usually last between 45 to 60 minutes and I will express my opinion in a 10 minute time frame."  Â

Erdoğan said Turkey always sought to contribute to peace in the Middle East and said the country would never take steps that would overshadow peace. The presence of the two leaders at the same panel will mark the first encounter since Erdoğan’s severe criticism of Israeli policies in Gaza that caused shock in Tel-Aviv.

The prime minister said he would hold talks with the leaders from different countries, including Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Azeri President Ilham Aliyev on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum. He did not rule out a possible meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Serge Sarkisian.

"There can be a meeting, there is no obstacle," he said. Asked if the government was planning to make an opening toward Yerevan before April 24, ErdoÄŸan said they were two separate issues.

"No thunderstorm will break on April 24. We have made sincere efforts since we came to power to normalize ties with Armenia," said ErdoÄŸan. He added Turkey had started flights to Yerevan, allowed close to 40,000 Armenians to illegally work in Turkey and helped restore the Armenian Akdamar Church in eastern Anatolia.

"These are all gestures," he said. ErdoÄŸan implied the agenda of the Armenian diaspora was different and was not shared by the Yerevan administration.

Meeting with Nalbandian
For his part, Babacan said he met with his Armenian counterpart, Edward Nalbandian on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum and progress was made in negotiations with Yerevan. Pointing to the Caucasus Stability and Cooperation Platform, a proposal Turkey came up with in the wake of the Russia-Georgia war last summer, ErdoÄŸan said technical negotiations were already under way and in the near future the format for talks would be raised to the ministerial level.

Officials from the foreign ministries of Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia and Georgia are expected to meet in Istanbul this week for the second five-party discussion of its kind on the regional security platform, the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review earlier reported. The first was held in December on the sidelines of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe meeting in Helsinki.