Distinguished Members of the Diplomatic Corps,

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to extend to you all a heartfelt welcome.

We have all entered this year, in the year 2008 with a lot of hopes.

Thank you all for coming. I know that for some of the people who are in this room it is the first time we are meeting, after almost six months of the new government. And most of you had different chances to meet and to interact. I thought it would be a good opportunity to come together and also give a chance to some short chats about Turkey, about our relations between your countries and also maybe give a perspective of how we see Turkey and develop Turkey for the year 2008 and then for years to come.

Through the plans we make and the also actions we take today, we believe that we can lay foundations for a better, more peaceful and prosperous future for all ourselves. We all live in an age of increasingly globalized challenges and also opportunities. Our shared concerns necessitate collective strategies and action which in turn require a sense of common destiny and responsibility. No country has the luxury of delegating the task of thinking about answers and remedies to others any more. And the name of the game is participation. We must all be players in the field and not mere spectators.

For its part, this is what Turkey has been doing for a number of years now and also intends to keep on doing in the days, weeks and months to come. Last year, our foreign policy actively dealt with many of the issues that occupied the top slots on the global agenda. Turkey gave strong support to the resumption of the Middle East Peace Process, especially the Israeli-Palestinian track. We also continued our contribution to Afghanistan’s security and stability. Our neighbor Iraq’s national reconciliation and rebuilding process received a strong support in the form of the Neighboring Countries Process which Turkey has spearheaded. From Kosovo to Lebanon and beyond, Turkish troops, police officers and observers continued their field duty to help entrench peace and stability. Through increased humanitarian and developmental assistance in a vast belt stretching from Africa through the Middle East to Southwest Asia, Turkey further intensified its efforts to fight underdevelopment, diseases and also illiteracy.

Last year, we also took pride in the fact that the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization celebrated its 15th anniversary in a well-attended summit in Turkey. This milestone showed that one of our most cherished initiatives had grown deep roots in the region and proved its longevity. On another level of integration, Turkey maintained its steady course toward EU membership with new chapters being opened for negotiations. This happened despite doomsday scenarios. Another front where we made progress was the energy area. Our energy diplomacy achieved most of its goals for the year 2007 increasing Turkey’s role as an important energy hub in the region.

The current year will be no exception to the accelerated pace of our diplomatic, political and economic engagements with the world. Together with increased number of bilateral visits, we will also be holding new summit meetings in Turkey, such as the Turkey-Pacific Islands Foreign Ministers Meeting in April and the Turkey-Africa Summit in August. All of these attest to our resolve to reach out to as many and diverse regions of the world as possible, and also underline the multi-dimensional nature of our foreign policy.

Last week I was in India and this was an official visit of a Turkish foreign minister after 30 years.

This year we have targeted to open ten new embassies in Africa, mostly sub-Saharan African countries.

I wish to take this opportunity to renew Turkey’s determination to press on with the EU accession process in 2008. As our President recently stated, and as Prime Minister Erdoğan reiterated just a few days ago in Munich, EU accession continues to be a priority goal for Turkey. Turkey has shown its maturity with two major elections held with widespread pluralism and open atmosphere of political debate. After those elections in 2007, we are ready to make this year a period of continued reforms and forward movement in our accession process. But we also know that actions speak louder than words. In this connection, it is only fair to say that EU, too, must keep its end of the bargain in this historic journey and do its best to keep the negotiations on track.

We see EU accession process as not just having a one more member in the EU but it is also a peace project in global terms. It is also an enormous process which helps Turkey with her transformation in terms of politics, in terms of democracy, in terms of how our economy functions.

This year will also be important for our efforts to achieve a comprehensive solution in Cyprus under the good-offices mission of the UN Secretary General and on the basis of the established UN parameters. The solution will be based on the political equality and equal status of the two constituent states that will come together to establish a new partnership. We will continue to work towards that end. Turkey will also carry on with its policy of further developing bilateral relations with its neighbors and maintain its goodwill efforts aimed at helping solve any outstanding problems in the region.

The recent Forum meeting in Madrid showed that the Alliance of Civilizations initiative is becoming the flagship of international endeavors to build new bridges and promote empathy and cooperation between different cultural and faith systems. We are already looking forward to the second Forum meeting to be held in Turkey next year. In the meantime, we will continue our active involvement in the work of the Alliance and try to expand the circle of the Group of Friends even further.

2008 will also be the moment of truth for Turkey in two key areas. One is the election to be held on March 31st to determine the host city for the Expo exhibition of 2015. Turkey’s candidate, İzmir, is keen and more than ready to take on this challenge. We believe that İzmir’s selection will be a fair and rightful decision, especially in light of the fact that this will be the first time any Turkish city will be hosting this important world event. So, we look forward to the election date with optimism and in anticipation of the valuable support of each and every country represented here.

The second watershed event is the election to be held in the United Nations General Assembly in October for the non-permanents seats on the UN Security Council. As I am sure everyone in this room knows, Turkey has put forward its candidature for one of these seats for the term 2009-2010. In view of its growing responsibilities in the international arena, Turkey’s election will only be fair and will also give a boost to its efforts to help realize the goals and vision of the United Nations. Turkey has invested a huge amount of diplomatic and political effort in this quest. We hope that the world community will recognize Turkey’s increasing contributions to global peace and security by giving us this honor and also responsibility.

If I were asked to extend a simple, take-home message from tonight, it would be this: Turkey is determined to live up to its responsibilities in building a secure, peaceful, free and democratic world where prosperity is spread more evenly. We are ready to work with each and every country that shares this ideal.

In concluding, I wish all of you a happy, healthy and fruitful New Year, which brings you and your respective countries a lot of goodness.

Thank you and enjoy the evening.