Turkey's Foreign Minister on Egypt: "We Took the Most Active and Clearest Position"

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu attended an international conference on security on Saturday. In his meeting with U.S. Foreign Secretary Hillary Clinton, Davutoglu said: "Chances for democracy in the Middle East have been missed twice in the past 20 years. We cannot let this happen once again."

Davutoglu also said that "political transformation is not possible with today's government in Egypt as the current structure does not respond to modern demands" and criticized those who blamed Ankara for being "too late". Davutoglu said: "At the very beginning of the developments I said that 'democratic demands of Egyptians is a very natural right.' Then, I put emphasis on democracy and freedom. My words were heard in Egypt yet not in Turkey."

For Davutoglu, Turkey took "the most active and clearest position in Egypt". On the way back home, Davutoglu said that he made the most critic meeting on Egypt with Clinton and added: "For the time being, our approaches overlap."

Meanwhile, in Munich, Davutglu declined to join a conference titled "Arab Societies to Where?". When asked the reason of not being present at the conference, Davutoglu said: "First of all, while our relations with Israel is in this state, principally, I won't share any meeting with any Israeli officials. Israel is a country that killed our citizens and did not apologize. Secondly, in this conference, there is no representative from Arabs. In a conference without Arabs, I will not talk about Arabs to Israelis."