On Monday, Turkish President Abdullah Gul stated that Turkey is ready to cooperate with regional states, Turkish Zaman daily reads. However, the President made it clear that “Turkey’s foreign policy moves in the West and in the East are complementary to each other, not contradictory.”

“The speech to a large extent focused on the main aspects of Turkish foreign policy. Gul apparently used his speech at the summit as an opportunity to respond to arguments suggesting the presence of a shift in Turkey’s foreign policy orientation. Some international commentators have argued that Ankara may be slowly turning its back on its Western allies and seeking to regain its status as a regional power in the Middle East,” the daily reads. According to Zaman, Gul underlined that Turkey supports the resolution on Iran’s nuclear program “through diplomatic means.”

“As a concrete indication showing the evaluation of global developments and geographical needs together, Turkey is in intense commercial and economical relations with both the Western world and Islamic countries. The European Union membership process pursued by our country and its efforts within COMCEC are complementary elements of our foreign policy, but are not elements which exclude each other. Turkey and Iraq signed 48 memorandums of understanding. We are determined to turn the Mesopotamian basin into a zone of joint stability and welfare through projects in a wide range of fields such as energy, commerce, health, public works, water resources and transportation with the support of COMCEC member-countries,” Zaman quotes Gul.

The Presidents of 11 states, including Afghanistan and Iran, 41 members of Islamic conference, as well as observers from Russia, North Cyprus and Bosnia and Herzegovina participated in the summit.