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 to withdraw their soldiers. This declaration moved Bush to send a letter expressing discontent to the Spanish premier. American troops were subsequently instructed to not take part during the traditional military parade on the Spanish national holiday in 2004 and in 2005, something which they used to, as both the Spanish and American armies –being NATO allies– are part of joint humanitarian missions; American troops returned to the military parade in 2006; this time Zapatero, being the Spanish premier, stood. Zapatero publicly stated his support for John Kerry as a candidate running in the U.S. Presidential election in 2004. After