Erdogan: "Turkey wants to be mediate betweem Iran and the new Obama administration"

Turkey wants to be mediate between the new Obama administration and Iran, using its growing role in the Middle East to bridge the divide between East and West, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the New York Times in an interview published yesterday. "Our principle in foreign policy is we're against earning enemies," he added. Pointing to last week's US historic election of Barack Obama as president, Erdogan stated that it offered a chance for the US to regain the trust of the world and reclaim "an image that's been lost." Erdogan said that the US had "declared certain values firmly at the start of the 21st century," but that "not only did they not advance, they stepped backward." He added, "For me, it's very important to put these values into practice."