"New Turkey" means new union and peace

During the Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) extraordinary congress, Turkey's new Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said that all trade and energy routes, which would start from China and reach Europe, would pass through Turkish territory and the Mediterranean waters under Turkey's control. He stressed that Turkey ushered in a new period of economic growth and restoration. He also implied a new regional economic union as Turkey's economic power will find partners in neighboring countries.

As can be seen in Davutoğlu's speech, Turkey has initiated a new era by tending toward its west and east. It may be too early to say that Turkey has embarked on a quest for a new union. However, at least we can say that the Minsk Meetings held by Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine show us that Russia is not only considering the Eurasia Union as the core of a new political union, but also as a new alternative to the EU and a new emerging economic system.

Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledges that the EU does not encounter market and energy problems alone but said that the bloc's real problem is that it cannot be a union in the complete sense. Germany still considers the EU as its own market and even its own colony. Particularly eastern and southern European countries are rather troubled with Germany's patronizing disposition toward the union and they are aware that this cannot be maintained. Putin stressed during the Minsk Meetings that Ukraine's adaptation to EU standards would cost it 165 million euros (TL 470.43 million) over ten years. Moreover, Ukraine's breakaway from Russia and becoming a part of the EU means it will face a wide range of problems including commercial transits like the other European countries. Even though Russia's Eurasia project is still in the onset, it seems to be more promising than the EU. Taking all this into account, Davutoğlu's speech at the AK Party congress makes perfect sense in many aspects. While Davutoğlu was noting that Turkey's economic power would be felt by all neighboring countries and that they would all benefit from this power, he may have meant that this could be achieved with the Eurasia Union and another new union.

I believe that Davutoğlu will play a complementary role and will make significant contributions to this new era which will start with Erdoğan's presidency. Thus, Davutoğlu's premiership will not only include a short period of nine years, but the period between 2015 and 2019 will also be one of restoration, as he underlined in the aforementioned speech. He described these four years as the "golden years" and in this period Turkey will complete its comprehensive restoration process that was initiated by the AK Party. Turkey will also amend its Constitution to become a "constituent country" in the region. The constituent country concept is very important and tells us, supposing the AK Party enters Parliament with a quorum to amend the Constitution on its own in the 2015 general elections, the Parliament will also adopt a constituent parliament between 2015 and 2019.

Here we have a picture in front of us: Turkey has a great chance to be admitted into the EU, whose together has become questionable and; the EU expanding toward its west and becoming a new and real union that is centered by Turkey. This union should be based on common interests of the member countries and be free from the imposition of such countries like Germany. If this does not come true, Turkey has the potential of establishing a new union dominated by an open economy and free competition.
This may be the only way to maintain the current system.

I think that Israel's offensive against Gaza, which has evolved into a bloodbath, and the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham's (ISIS) attacks against the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) are parallel. Both attacks were carried out to obtain and supervise the energy resources owned by the locals of those regions . Today, such paramilitary elements as ISIS should be eliminated but two things are needed in the region to achieve this: the first is that Israel should transition to a new political system and economy that is based on peace, as Israel's state terrorism nourishes these organizations. The second is that Turkey's regional influence and economic power will expand and the region will soon derive benefits from this. To this end, a new union, which will start from Turkey and end in the Caspian Region, is needed.