Turkey's message to the world: "Give me the money while I still pollute"

The most difficult issue to agree on during the G-20 Summit that took place last month in Antalya, Turkey, was climate change, a global challenge for which world leaders have gathered today in Paris.

This hardly surprises Turkish experts, as they thought the weakest statement of the G-20 came on the topic of climate change.

Still, they are disappointed that during its presidency Turkey has not succeeded in convincing the parties to make a more ambitious statement.

Similarly, there is also disappointment in terms of Turkey's policy that is expected to be pursued during the Paris summit.

According to Semra Cerit Mazlum, a scholar that has been following Turkey's policies on climate change, the government endorses an inward looking policy rather than contributing to international efforts to fight global warming.

While Turkey was not expected to endorse ambitious national targets to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions during the Paris summit, says Mazlum who went to Paris for the global meeting, the government could have at least played an active role in voicing the concerns of the less developed countries. After all, Turkey claims to pursue a conscience-based foreign policy and is still the president of the conference focused on less-developed countries, she recalls.

Indeed, Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu underlined this conscience dimension of Turkey's foreign policy last week when he read the government program in the parliament.

"We will work day and night to pursue a foreign policy that is efficient, result-oriented and based on conscience," he said.

Interestingly, the Turkish word for conscience ("vicdan") starts with the letter "V." And at the Paris summit, there is a group of countries called...