WordBulletin

World Bulletin/News Desk

Turkey's EU Minister Egemen Bagis said that Turkey had no aspirations to be a "model" for the Mid-East.

But we are ready to share any experience and provide any support if asked, said Bagis in his letter published in the Observer as a response to a previous news story of Guardian newspaper as "There is no peace and there is no plan. Syria rebels are past talking to the enemy".

"Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister, clearly outlined this when he said Turkey was ready to do its fair share to promote democratisation in the Middle East," said Bagis.

He noted, "if Turkey is seen as proof that Muslim nations can advance through democracy, let it be. Meanwhile, some try to muddle minds through another "Turkish model" - namely, a bizarre concoction of a military government that controls civilians; an anti-democratic system, where elected governments are curbed or sidelined. It is true that a sham called "custodian democracy" ruled Turkey in the past few decades but this tragedy ended with the election victory of the Justice & Development (AK) Party in November 2002."

Bagis said, "we cannot and will not condone any political system that falls short of addressing the full democratic aspirations of its people, whether it's in Egypt or Syria."

The news story in the Guardian as "There is no peace and there is no plan" written from Antakya, Turkey's south, quoted a Syrian who was being treated at a hospital in Turkey and said "Nobody listened to Kofi Annan. Not the regime, and not us. There is no dealing with these people, and that is the truth. It's the regime that needs to go."