Turkish leaders call leaked critical diplomatic reports a relic of past era

Leaked US diplomatic reports critical of Ankara don't reflect the current US administration's view of the government, Turkish leaders said this week, as the reports were posted during a period when diplomats incapable of understanding the strategic nature of the bilateral relationship between the two allies were in charge. "These reports are the individual products of diplomats and don't necessarily reflect the political positions of ruling parties," Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Tuesday in Washington at a panel organized by Foreign Policy magazine. Davutoglu cited how US President Barack Obama, speaking to the Turkish Parliament last year, called Turkey one of the world's most important strategic players and voiced a will to develop a "model partnership" with Turkey. "The (leaked) reports came to Washington" from US diplomats in Ankara, said Davutoglu. "But they weren't taken seriously and Obama made a strategic choice to take his first overseas visit to Turkey." Davutoglu argued that perhaps these diplomats found themselves unable to adapt to the new situation in which Turkey and US need each other due to the new global order. "I'm sure that Obama and the current US administration and Congress are extremely aware of the newly emerging geopolitics," he added. "We will have strong ties in the years to come, and the reports coming from Ankara will be much better."