...it is time for Europe to adopt a different strategy toward Russia, its biggest and most important eastern neighbor. In practice, it means recognizing that Europe’s interests are best served by pursuing its values with soft-power instruments like trade and visa policy, as its relations with North Africa and the Middle East before the Arab Spring show.

Turkish educational institutions in the Balkans have a longer history than Turkish state agencies, in both pre-university and university levels....The schools have managed to gain the confidence of both locals and foreigners by promoting peace and tolerance... In this way, these schools have become a number one choice of the people.

America and Britain invaded Afghanistan 10 years ago, for reasons which were understandable, to wage a short war that was unavoidable...What we have learned is that we hugely overestimated the capacity of our military, diplomatic and intelligence establishments to change other societies.

Given the financial fiasco in the EU in the past two years, EU partisans now seem to be significantly overrating the appeal of membership to prospective candidate nations. Yet that message does not appear to have penetrated the thinking of either Western political leaders or pundits in the policy community.The EU is still the great brass ring of European politics, but it is now a tarnished brass ring.

It bears repeating. The European Union's soft power works. Not always, not everywhere, and not without reverses, but the EU has a transformational capacity to make others adopt their values: free, fair elections; rule of law; market economies that maximize the welfare of citizens; and a pan-European outlook.

Yes, Germans will grumble aboout being on the financial hook for their profligate cousins down south,...But Berlin will ensure that it happens. With great financial responsibility comes even greater power. Merkel now has the opportunity to recreate Europe in Germany's image.

But Europe is not speaking with one voice, despite appeals from the likes of Javier Solana, the former high representative for European Union foreign policy, who has called for unanimous European support for Palestinian membership.

Citizens also appreciate the principles on which his foreign policy agenda is founded - openness to all, excluding so called diplomatic tourism, turning deeds into actions, public diplomacy, economic segment of his foreign policy and most importantly, credibility of his diplomatic engagement.