Page 210 - What Kind of Yemen ?

What Kind of Yemen?

Let us reconcile the ones who are in confrontation." (2)

If we are to reflect on the conduct of Ankara today, we obviously
see that Turkey is not on the side of war, but of peace in Yemen. Turkey
is actively utilizing its close relations with both Iran and Saudi Arabia
for the settlement of peace in Yemen. As a matter of fact, in a joint press
conference with his Sudanese counterpart, Ali Ahmed Karti, the Turk-
ish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mevlut Cavusoglu noted this effort.
Cavusoglu made the following statement:

"There is a fire in Yemen. We need to put out this fire. There are
countries responsible for the current state of affairs in Yemen. We bla-
tantly brought this on the agenda in Tehran. We believe that this issue
in Yemen may be rectified through political dialogue and resolution,
and countries such as Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia should play a sig-
nificant role in sorting out this matter. We are in agreement with Iran
on the basis of cooperation to that end. Now, we are in contact with
Gulf countries and will pursue our intercourse. We are already in dia-
logue with Zarif on every opportunity and will be in closer contact in

the coming term. Likewise, we will undertake this correspondence
with Gulf countries and Arabic states." (3)
Could Turkey really be an intermediate for peace in Yemen?
Looking at the Middle East, Turkey stands out as one of the key
actors of the region. Eight years ago Turkey was influential in bringing
Israel and Syria to the peace table, yet peace was interrupted at the last
minute due to Israel's Lebanon operation at the time. Alon Liel, Israel's

former ambassador to Ankara, explained in detail in Haaretz Daily the
effort Turkey made for peacemaking. (4)
Another example for Turkey's peacemaking efforts in the Middle
East includes Syria. When unrest against Assad began, Turkey did not
come out against Assad at once, but made a sincere effort to establish
peace. She advised Assad to democratize and stabilize Syria. Addition-
ally Turkey has preached a lesson of peace and compassion to the
world by hosting on her territory 1.6 million refugees without discrim-
inating between religion or ethnic identity. This stance of Turkey is a

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