Foreign policy of the Recep Tayyip Erdoğan government by the international community, both at the institutional and civil society levels, to bridge divides and overcome prejudice, misconceptions, misperceptions, and polarization which potentially threaten world peace, was initiated by Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero of Spain, co-sponsored by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey. During the visit of Prime Minister Zapatero to Turkey in November 2006, on the occasion of the Alliance of Civilizations initiative, a Strategy Paper aimed at further strengthening Turkish-Spanish bilateral relations was signed by the two Prime Ministers. Turkey's Prime Minister Erdoğan was the first world leader to call for Egyptian leader Hosni
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero the American policy in regard to Iraq pursued by Prime Minister Aznar. During the electoral campaign Zapatero promised to withdraw the troops if control in Iraq was not passed to the United Nations after 30 June (the ending date of the initial Spanish military agreement with the multinational coalition that had overthrown Saddam Hussein). Zapatero declared that he did not intend to withdraw the Spanish troops before that date after being questioned about the issue by the People's Party's leader Mariano Rajoy in his inauguration parliamentary debate as Prime Minister. On 19 April 2004 Zapatero announced the withdrawal of the