Word: erdogan
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...After Israel began its offensive in Gaza 12 days ago, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Arab leaders in Syria, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia to promote a cease-fire. He also spoke to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and this week Erdogan's Foreign Minister is promoting truce proposals at the United Nations, where Turkey is starting a two-year term as a member of the Security Council...
...Turkey is the only country in the region with strong military and economic ties to Israel, which supplies Ankara with defense equipment estimated at $100 million annually. The two countries also have a long-established relationship of intelligence cooperation. So, though Erdogan lambasted Israel's Gaza attacks as a "crime against humanity," he also affirmed that long-term relations between the two countries would not suffer...
...Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkey's chief foreign policy architect and Erdogan's top adviser, summarized Turkey's new strategy as "zero problems with its neighbors." The reclusive Davutoglu wrote last year: "A central country with such an optimal geographic location cannot define itself in a defensive manner. It should be seen neither as a bridge country, which only connects two points, nor a frontier country, nor indeed as an ordinary country, which sits at the edge of the Muslim world or the West...
...Although Egypt, which brokered last June's cease-fire but remains hostile to Hamas, invited the radical Palestinian group to talks in Cairo on Monday, Hamas is looking elsewhere for mediation: to Turkey. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been touring the region, and plans to take Hamas' cease-fire demands to the U.N. Security Council this week. Ankara, via its relations with Syria, has better access to Hamas than Egypt does. Turkey also has historically close relations with Israel and is a key NATO member, although it has angered Israeli leaders by condemning Israel for maintaining the economic siege...
...hasn't been renewed. In a speech to the IMF this month, Economics Minister Mehmet Simsek gave no hint about when - or if - a new deal will be struck, although he vowed that "fiscal discipline remains the cornerstone of our economic program." In the meantime, relations between Erdogan and the business community, never overtly cordial at the best of times, have turned nasty. This month, after the head of the leading business lobby, the Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association (TÜSIAD), criticized the government for not being sufficiently proactive in the current crisis, Erdogan shot back, accusing...