Sometimes Turkey really is a bridge between west and east

The Economist August 21st 2010

Turkish foreign policy

The great mediator

Sometimes Turkey really is a bridge between west and east

TN JUNE 2006, days after a young Israeli J. private was captured by Hamas, Israel’s ambassador to Turkey paid a midnight visit to Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister. Gilad Shalit was feared to be gravely ill, perhaps even dead. Could Turkey help? Phone calls were made and favours called in. Mr Shalit turned out to be alive, and his captors promised the Turks they would treat him respectfully.

How can Mr Davutoglu help you?lawyer who took up the case of Sakineh Ashtiani, a woman facing death by ston­ing in Iran for alleged adultery. Mr Mosta­fei fled to Turkey earlier this month after receiving death threats (he has since gone to Norway). Now Turkey has discreetly taken up his client’s case (although Iran has turned down a Brazilian offer of asylum for Ms Ashtiani). It is also press­ing Iran for the release of three American hikers who were arrested, on suspicion of “spying”, near the Iraq border a year ago and who have been rotting in Teh­ran’s notorious Evin prison ever since. Turkey’s mediating skills have even aroused excitement in Africa. Mr Davu­toglu recently revealed that Botswana had sought his help in fixing a territorial dispute with Namibia. Flattered though he was, however, Mr Davutoglu con­fessed that, for once, he was stumped.

Turkey’s relations with Israel, once an ally, have worsened of late, and hit a fresh low in May, when Israeli comman­dos raided a Turkish ship carrying hu­manitarian supplies to Gaza, killing nine Turkish citizens. Yet Turkey continues to lobby Hamas for Mr Shalit’s release.

Turkey’s falling out with Israel has sparked a flurry of anguished commen­tary in the West about its supposed east­ward drift under the mildly Islamist Justice and Development party, which has governed the country since 2002. Concern over its cosy relations with Iran, despite that country’s refusal to suspend suspect nuclear work, has run particular­ly high. Yet nobody complained in April 2007 when Turkey brokeredthe release of 15 British Royal Navy sailors who had been seized by Iran. Similarly, France was delighted in mid-May when a personal intervention by Turkey’s foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, secured the release of Clotilde Reiss, a French teacher being held in Iran on spying charges.

Turkey is the first stop for thousands of political refugees from Iran, Iraq, Af­ghanistan and Central Asia. These in­clude Mohammed Mostafei, an Iranian