Four capital cities, 10 extraordinary days

I find myself at the center of this traffic when I visited Tehran, accompanying Turkey's Transportation Minister Binali Yildirim during a two-day official visit.

 

Turkey's outlook in the Middle East becomes clearer when the details are observed...

 

This is the movement of traffic...

 

George Mitchell, the new special U.S. envoy for President Barack Obama, pays a visit to Turkey's capital city of Ankara.

 

Yildirim meets with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki...

 

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani meets with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the same hours...

 

Pakistan is there again...

 

Mottaki visits Geneva and stops by Turkey on his tour.

 

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is due to come in Turkey on March 7-8.

 

Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan will fly to Tehran immediately after his meeting with Clinton...

 

Following this, influential officials from the Turkish Foreign Ministry will travel to Tehran.

 

And finally, Turkish President Abdullah Gul will pay a visit to Tehran on March 11.

 

All this takes place in 10 days.

 

What can come out from such a level of traffic... The opening of a passage between the U.S. and Iran...

 

In other words, this traffic is the result of the "pro-active foreign policy" spoken about by Ahmet Davutoglu, the chief foreign policy adviser for Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan...

 

TURKEY IS THE COMMON POINT

If we make it clearer, the U.S. has three outstanding issues other than economic crisis...

 

1) Iran’s nuclear activities and the country’s relations with Israel and the U.S...

 

2) The withdrawal of American soldiers currently stationed in Iraq...

 

3) The new power balance in Afghanistan and Pakistan...

 

Turkey is the only country which stands as a common point in the solution alternatives for all three issues... Yes, Turkey...

 

And the reason:

 

A larger Turkish military presence in Afghanistan is on the agenda...

 

Turkey is a country in which both Iran and the U.S. have trust...

 

Turkey is on the withdrawal path of American soldiers leaving Iraq...

 

Therefore it is meaningful that Gul is due to pay a visit to Tehran following Clinton's arrival in Ankara...

 

PREPARED TO NORMALIZE RELATIONS

When it is observed from this perspective, the situation stands as follows:

 

- The new U.S. administration sends warm messages into the streets in the Middle East, including Iran. At least there is some hope of sitting at the table with Iran. Turkey will do what it can during this phase. This doesn't mean that Turkey is "a country announcing itself as a mediator and as trying to play a role" in this.

 

If we talk about Tehran; I have seen that Iran is ready to begin a normalization process with the United States. But the elections in Iran and the influential role of its domestic policy increase the sensitivities.

 

If we look at the situation from Turkey we see that;Â

 

Turkey, who is seeking to boost trade relations, can be a "normalization base" between the U.S. and Iran at this phase, rather than being a mediator...