Turkey, September 18: Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that Turkey was planning to purchase missiles from the United States for its own security.
“The missile purchase is not for fighting current threats from any country,” Davutoglu told the private CNN Turk channel.
Davutoglu said missile purchase had nothing to do with Iran or any other country.
“There cannot be a permanent atmosphere of security without economic dependence on each other,” Davutoglu said.
Davutoglu also said that when there was serious polarization in the Middle East, that would lead to polarization in Iraq and jeopardize Turkey’s borders.
The Turkish minister said that Turkey would increase its influence in the region, and the projects were not only limited with the Middle East but also included the Balkans and the Caucasus.
“What we want to do is to boost our bilateral relations in the region, base them on a strong ground, and lay the necessary groundwork,” Davutoglu said.
On relations with the European Union (EU), Davutoglu said that Turkey was the most important parameter that would make the EU a global actor when Turkish-Syrian-U.S. relations, Nabucco natural gas pipeline project and Turkey’s role in its region were taken into consideration.
“From now on, Turkey-EU relations should not only be technical negotiations, but also should have a strategic vision,” Davutoglu also said.
—Agencies