Al Jazeera The Rageh Omaar Report

One Middle East country is forging ahead with plans to become a regional superpower. While leaders of the Middle East are caught between solving new and old economic and political problems, and while the peoples of the region are losing hope due to a lack of direction or solutions, one country is quietly forging ahead with plans to become a regional superpower. And one man is directing and implementing this drive. Ahmet Davutoglu was a professor at Marmara University and the chairman of the Department of International relations at Beykent University. He was the chief adviser to Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, before being appointed foreign minister in May 2009. Davutoglu believes that Turkey has the makings of a regional superpower and that its deep historical and geographical connections with Arabs, Kurds, Persians, Central Asians and Caucasians are an advantage. Located on the Mediterranean as well as the Black Sea, Turkey is both in Asia and Europe, a member of Nato and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, Muslim yet secular and democratic, economically and politically stable, and prospering. In an increasingly volatile world, Davutoglu believes that Turkey has the right, ability and confidence to play a major role according to its own interests and not those of any alliance it is part of. Father of the nation Taking its place Turkish identity The EU question People: Ahmet Davutoglu Kamal Ataturk Ahmed Ibrahim Recep Tayyip Erdogan Country: Turkey Syria Israel Pakistan United States Afghanistan Iraq Islamic Republic of Iran Armenia Organisation: European Union North Atlantic Treaty Organization Marmara University Beykent University Department of International Page: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2010/05/201051216450683494.html