AK Party kicks off initiative to build ties with foreign parties abroad


The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) is preparing to adopt a new diplomacy initiative to further strengthen relations with political parties in different countries.

AK Party Deputy Chairman Cevdet Yilmaz said on Saturday that the party has four main priorities and the first one is to kick off a new diplomacy policy to mend the negative perception constructed abroad by some factions against Turkey. "Our first priority is to establish an inter-parties dialogue. We have already established official dialogues. We are now focusing on having dialogues with all parties from different countries and establishing more civil relations," Yılmaz said.

Accordingly, Germany, Russia and China are among the first countries to build a dialogue. Yılmaz stated that his party will visit Germany next month in line with the new policy and hold talks with the ruling party as well as other mainstream parties, while visits to Moscow, Brussels, and Beijing have yet to be planned in detail. He also added that there may be a visit to the United States, but they are not certain. Pointing out the visits will focus on "all-out" lobbying, Yılmaz stated that there will be workshops in a bid to cement parliamentary diplomacy and they will invite foreign officials to Turkey to show them "realities of the country on site."

He added that they will also exert efforts to build intergovernmental relations with the nongovernmental organizations and urge Turks abroad to actively engage in the process.

Commenting that the view abroad is substantially fueled by domestic parameters, Yılmaz said, "We will re-establish the right perception through contacts with domestic factions that create this perception abroad. We will be in dialogue with the business world, media, reasonable people from the opposition and academicians."

Particularly following the failed July 15 coup by the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), there have been attempts in the West to de-legitimize Turkey's fight against the terrorist groups including PKK and FETÖ. Yılmaz also said that they will submit reports prepared on the economy and the fight against terrorism.