21.11.2010, 01:14
Zitat:Finland’s Stubb: Turkey has more clout than any single EU state
In strongly worded remarks, Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb has stressed the value of recognizing Turkey’s growing strategic importance.
Stubb, in an interview with the UK’s Financial Times published on Sunday, criticized attempts by certain EU member countries to hinder Turkey’s accession into the 27-member bloc. He argued that the EU candidate country’s clout in world politics has been larger than any single EU member country.
“I belong to the camp of people who believe that Turkey is more influential than any single EU state in world politics,” Stubb told the daily. “If you look at the role of Turkey in the western Balkans, the Horn of Africa, the Persian Gulf, Iran, its role as a linchpin between east and west is huge.”
This is not the first time that Stubb has strongly heralded Turkey’s growing influence on the global stage. In September, during an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, the Finnish minister called the EU candidate country “one of the top five countries in the world today” with respect to foreign policy.
Later in September, Stubb and his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoğlu, launched a joint peace arbitration initiative — aiming at innovating mediation culture — by establishing a group called “The Friends of Peace Mediation” on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
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