A senior official from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AK Party) defended Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu on Friday in the face of domestic criticism, saying he implements the foreign policy decided upon collectively by the AK Party government.
Çelik was responding to Gürsel Tekin, a Republican People’s Party (CHP) lawmaker, who said there were “rumors” that Davutoğlu is to be removed from office amid increasing criticism over the way he has handled the Syria crisis.
Çelik defended Davutoğlu, writing on his Twitter account that Davutoğlu was not even a member of the AK Party when the party’s manifesto, including its foreign policy priorities, were first written down in 2001. In what appears to be a defense of the government’s Syria policy, Çelik also wrote: “As in every field, it is not possible in foreign policy for every attempt to yield positive results. Not every drilling attempt results in finding oil. But this does not mean you should stop drilling. Logic necessitates that you renew your assessments and keep drilling until you find oil.”
