Spokesman of Turkish Grand National Assembly Foreign Affairs Committee Suat KINIKLIOGLU, was hosted by the “Haber Ankara” program on April 6, 2009 during which the visit of Mr. Obama to Turkey was discussed.

In the program presented by Samanyolu TV’s Ankara News Director Remzi Ketenci, KINIKLIOGLU assessed the visit of US President Obama to Turkey and touched upon its significance being the first overseas visit by the President and also added that the visit emphasized the European identity of Turkey supporting full membership to EU due to its being a part of the European tour. KINIKLIOGLU mentioned that negative meanings were tried to be attributed to the visit by some circles but such interpretations failed to reflect the perspectives not properly defining the recent international position of Turkey and its regional role and was a foreign policy approach defeated by domestic considerations.

He continued as: "It is necessary to understand this fact. Turkey has become a country that is respected, that is able to directly influence the events in the region. Ten years ago, a Turkish Prime Minister would not at a Gaza Panel at Davos. Even the presence of our Prime Minister as a speaker in Davos confirms the predominant role of Turkey in the Middle East, in the Caucasus, and the immediate neighborhood. On the other hand, the visit of a US President so early on is a foreign policy success. In fact, the visit of Barack Obama is the confirmation of the growing regional prominence of our foreign policy.”