The oppressive and devastating waves of communism and fascism and the Cold War era following World War II saw the years when Turkey’s own peace efforts proved effective within its scope of power. When the Cold War era ended, we found a Turkey troubled by problems with all its neighbors. The problems with Bulgaria centered on the oppression of fellow Turks living there, an airspace problem with Greece along with numerous Aegean troubles caused by conflicts over territorial waters and the continental shelf, the persisting Cyprus crisis, the PKK crisis with Syria as its host, security crises with Iraq again centered on the PKK, crises with Iran stemming from its never-ending export of the “Islamic revolution,” Nagorno-Karabakh and “genocide claim” crises with Armenia and, as always, tense relations with Russia.

urkey’s experience throughout the 1990s was marked by never-ending rifts with all the neighbors and did not fit the “Peace at home, peace in the world” motto. Of course the role of our neighbors in building this picture was great, yet they never adopted similar for their foreign policy.

urkey made significant headway around the year 2000 to putting the relations with neighbors back on track. The relations with Syria, which was forced by Turkey in 1998 to kick the head of the PKK, Abdullah Öcalan, out of the country, embarked in a very positive direction particularly after the death of the father, Hafez al-Assad. And relations with Greece, after the shame Athens brought upon itself when caught red-handed daring to abet Öcalan, began to go more smoothly, especially with the efforts of the late former Foreign Minister İsmail Cem and the atmosphere of solidarity that came about following the Aug. 17, 1999 earthquake.
The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government took over Parliament in 2002, aware that Turkey’s interests lay in bettering relations with its neighbors. Following a “Zero Problem Policy,” a policy to minimize the problems with its neighbors, the AK Party elevated relations with all countries to the highest level possible, except those with Armenia. And the returns were fast to come, particularly in foreign trade. Turkey’s close involvement with its neighbors and the world’s many problematic regions during the AK Party’s time in power has meant that Turkey’s traditional peaceful attitude is developing and becoming more tangible.

hile Turkey’s peaceful attitude was apparent throughout the March 1, 2003 vote [against a bill allowing US troops to use bases in Turkey to support its invasion of Iraq], its facilitator role for negotiation on the Israel-Palestine conflict and its “Alliance of Civilizations” project along with its efforts to rehabilitate the conflict areas threatening the world were sincerely appreciated.
However, the recent peace moves Turkey has been arduously pursuing have obviously been misinterpreted by certain countries. Even though they rejected the Annan plan, which had been the most serious chance of establishing peace and resolving the problem, the Greek Cypriots were accepted into the European Union (despite the Turkish Cypriots’ acceptance of the plan), and upon being accepted as the only legal representative of the island, they took the bit between the teeth.

his approach of Turkey, which has recently followed a path of reconciliation and has always been a step or two ahead, was apparently misleading to the Greek Cypriots. Otherwise, why would they be trying to unilaterally claim economic resources -- considered the common property of all Cypriots, be they Greek or Turk -- in the island’s territorial waters and continental shelf and to make offshore licensing agreements with third countries? What could this mean but dangerous provocations?
It would suffice to look back into the near past for Greeks to understand how serious Ankara is, who warned the Greek Cypriot administration, spoilt by the EU, and “third countries” Egypt and Lebanon. And I think Turkey sending warships to the waters near the region yesterday is sufficiently informative in demonstrating its intolerance over any sort of “fait accompli.”
Certainly Turkey will not remain a passive spectator while the Greek Cypriot administration is preparing to usurp about 8 billion barrels (approximately $400 billion worth -- as research conducted by a Norwegian oil company revealed) of crude oil reserves around the island. Adding one more “casus belli” to the list would not make much difference for Turkey, but such a development would be of vital consequences for the Greek Cypriot administration, even if it is an EU member.