Turkey's work on Iran nuclear deal shows emerging diplomatic power

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmed Davutoglu reached far when praising the nuclear deal that Turkey helped broker with Iran on Monday.

He said the agreement, which also involved Brazil, would avert new United Nations sanctions against Iran and was part of the “global and regional vision of Turkey.”

Within hours, though, the deal was in doubt. The US said it had the support of all the permanent members of the United Nation's Security Council for a fourth round of sanctions on Iran over the Islamic Republic's nuclear program. It was a diplomatic slap at Turkey.

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Davutoglu said talk of sanctions was premature because the deal with Iran had created an “important psychological threshold” of trust. “Negotiations with Iran are tough. In fact, chess is a game that was invented in Iran,” he stated. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said there was “no chance” new sanctions would pass.

But whatever the outcome, Turkey's high-profile role in Iran nuclear negotiations is in keeping with an increasingly robust foreign policy that stretches from Congo to Russia to Latin America and seeks to include everything in between. Davutoglu is a key architect of NATO ally Turkey’s broadening influence, which includes a “zero problems with neighbors" policy.

“This is a beautiful symptom of Turkey’s overall foreign policy: build as many networks as possible and put themselves in the middle,” says Stephen Walt, a professor of international affairs at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

“History is flowing, and we are trying not only to be a country in the river, but also one that steers that river,” Davutoglu told Turkey’s NTV channel. Over the weekend, the foreign minister hosted a five-star conference in Istanbul about Turkish foreign policy and the “global order” in the 21st century, at which Davutoglu spelled out Turkey’s ambitions for 90 minutes.

An East-West crossroads

Turkey’s increasing diplomatic clout is partly due to the opportunity of its location – a crossroads for centuries between East and West, and North and South, for people, ideas, trade, and now energy routes.

Another impetus might be Turkey's repeatedly rebuffed attempts to join the European Union, says Fen Osler Hampson, an international affairs specialist at Carleton University in Ottawa.

“It’s a way to show the public there are other things this government can do to stand tall,” says Mr. Hampson. With years of expanding economic growth, Turkey is the “new tiger of Europe. It underscores a sense of dynamism and confidence…. They are looking beyond the region.”

Hampson notes that when President Abdullah Gul traveled in March to Cameroon and Congo, he took with him an entourage of some 140 businessmen, exemplars of how Turkey-Africa trade has jumped from $1.5 billion in 2001 to more than $10 billion last year.

“Nature abhors a vacuum, and we’re seeing a real vacuum in world politics, and countries like Turkey can do it,” adds Hampson.

'Higher standards' of foreign policy?

Davutoglu is a tireless proponent of what he calls Turkey’s “higher standards” of foreign policy.

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