Ahmet Davutoglu: ''The Union of the Middle East is an outcome of our natural history''

Çıragan Iftar Meeting, October 16- 2008

When Turkey acts  as anolder brother, there will be nobody in the whole regionthat would refuse to accept Turkey as the older brother. Shiites, Jaferites, Saudis and the Iranians will all accept it.For example, when President Ahmadinejad came  he prayed behind a Sunni imam in a Sunni mosque. What does that mean? It means I will accept it if you are the leader. That is clear, He said, “I have given a political message hereI have issued a very important message”, he said. What more could he say? Hezbollah will accept it and so will everyone. Nobody in the whole region will refuse Turkish leadership, because Turkey is  the most moderate, agreeable and reasonable country. Its people are respectable, worthy, highly cultured and well brought up.  The country has acted as a leader for many years, as you are aware . It has experience from Ottoman times. Turkey will emerge as the older brother of all Turkic and all Islamic countries.  Everyone will see that. I am stating it openly. I will  put my name to those words again in 10 years time, insha’Allah.

Agreement on cooperation in 4 spheres for the Union of the Middle East

In the framework of continued efforts to establish a quartet cooperation council which would bring Syria Turkey Jordan and Lebanon together,   Foreign Ministers from the four counties held a meeting in New York. Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan agreed to cooperate in fields of commerce, energy, transportation and tourism.H.E. Davutoglu said, “This cooperation is the outcome of our natural history”.