By Angela Wu '12

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke of a friendlier foreign policy and a more trusting "new global order" in a wide-ranging speech at Princeton’s Richardson Auditorium on Sept. 23, sponsored by the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

The Prime Minister also touched on regional topics including Turkey's tense relationship with Armenia and the country's longstanding bid to join the European Union. Erdoğan spoke through a translator to an audience of approximately 800 undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, and community members.

He held up Turkish foreign policy as an example of an open way to build positive international relationships, and described the country, which sits between Europe and the Middle East, as an “important balancing factor in the region.” In her introduction of the Prime Minister Princeton University President Shirley Tilghman described the country as “both a key American ally and an increasingly influential regional power.”

“A policy of zero problems with our neighbors is the basis of our foreign policy,” Erdoğan said.  “In fact when we first came to power we had many problems with countries surrounding us. We had problems with almost all of our neighbors, so much so that the situation was at times threatening. We said that our goal is not to make enemies but to make friends, and that was why we wanted to establish a friendship.”

Over more than ten years, Turkey has developed good relations that the country intends to protect, he said, with Greece, Azerbaijan, Georgia and other nearby nations, including Iraq and Iran. Erdoğan described the importance of communication and dialogue, saying that even “frozen conflicts have the potential to convert themselves into major conflicts,” in reference to recent clashes in the Caucuses.

“If one can remove prejudice and preconceptions, it is not so difficult at the end of the day to make friends. And our relations have come to a very positive point,” he said.

Erdoğan also spoke of the traditionally hostile relationship between Turkey and Armenia, saying that a possible agreement between the two countries could be ratified by Parliament by October 10th or 11th. He said that a relationship between the two countries “can be conducted with mutual respect.”

The longstanding tension between the two countries, which arose from the killing of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire during World War I, may be coming to an end as they establish diplomatic ties.

"The world public opinion has been closely following developments between Turkey and Armenia,” Erdoğan acknowledged.  “Those steps that we have taken forward have taken us to an important position, and if we don't see prejudice or some domestic political considerations at play, I believe the preparation for an agreement, which has been initialed between Turkey and Armenia could be taken to Parliament to be ratified.”

Erdoğan also spoke extensively about the need for general international cooperation in the 21st century, saying that a “new global order has become a necessity.” He added that he believed that some attempts to reform the United Nations and international Monetary Fund have been in response to this need, and called for more action from the UN to put its many policies into practice.

“The global problems of our age require solutions at a global scale. We are confronted with quite a number of important problems,” he said, citing issues including terrorism, global poverty and climate change. “But none of these problems are problems that we cannot solve.”

“We need a new global order for the solution of these problems, and this global order should be an order which embraces everyone, which is based on sharing, which sees differences at a source of enrichment—an order that should be based on trust,” said Erdoğan, who was in the country for the UN General Assembly Meeting and a G-20 meeting.

Erdoğan also clearly expressed a sense of frustration at the continued obstacles to Turkey’s EU accession.

“We have, in that process, something quite peculiar,” he said. “1959 was when we started our discussions with Europe. We are in 2009. Fifty years have passed and there is no other country that has had to wait for that long.”

He said that the difficulties Turkey has faced in its effort to join the EU have led to a “diminishing of trust” by the Turkish people to the EU, adding that only 25 percent of the population believes that the Turkey will be allowed to become a member.

“They come up with different rules, and when we say, this is not right, they say, this is the way it is,” Erdoğan said. He added firmly, “We will keep moving…until we are clearly told the EU will not accept Turkey as a member. Our determination in this regard will continue. We will continue to do what is required of membership.”

Students, some of whom were also invited to a reception where they met the prime minister and members of the Turkish delegation, said they were most interested in hearing Erdoğan’s discussion of current issues firsthand.

“It’s something you hear talked about a lot in classes, and it was interesting to see the prime minister’s frustration –he was very frank,” said Woodrow Wilson School concentrator Jessica Lanney ’10.

Several undergraduate and graduate students in the audience said that they were from Turkey, had studied abroad in the country or were concentrating on the region in their studies.

“I’m Turkish, so I really wanted to know about our fate regarding the EU,” said Bilkan Erkmen ’11, an Economics major from Istanbul. “And in relation to that, it is great to know that they’re going to continue pressing, and it’s good to know that they demand a specific answer. So I’m happy on behalf of my country that we do not want anything in between yes or no [in terms of EU accession].”

“I think it was really important for this speech to happen at Princeton,” said Cale Salih ’10, a Woodrow Wilson School major whose thesis focuses on Turkey. “People forget that Turkey is such an important country playing a part in all of these conflicts and is really …taking over the role of the United States in many cases. I think it was important to have the Prime Minister here to remind people of the importance Turkey has in so many different regions.”