Mideast Mirror
November 22, 2004
>>From today’s Turkish press
[parts omitted]
EU: An editorial in the secular, Kemalist Cumhuriyet reveals some
deep concerns about Turkey and the EU: “EU sides are eager to insist
on severe political terms for Turkey at the negotiation phase. What
has come onto the agenda on Cyprus is quite striking. The Armenian
genocide claim is being put before us. Greece follows the strategy
of exploiting any opportunity it gets. Calculations about ethnic
contradictions in Anatolia are being made. Let us say that for
the sake of joining the EU, we accept in advance all the political
terms that are being thrust upon us and yet the bargaining is still
open-ended. What will happen if Turkey faces a ‘No’, years after it
says ‘Yes’ to everything in advance?”
Engin Ardic also has doubts about the EU in the centre-Right Aksa:
“We cannot say ‘Let’s join the EU but on our own terms’. Either you
accept their terms or you do not. There is nothing in between. If you
insist on joining the EU, you must pull your troops out of Cyprus,
recognize the South the internationally-recognized Greek Cypriot
authority over the whole of Cyprus and moreover be a mere bystander as
it swallows the North self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
. It will be very good if you can make them add some ‘guarantees’
to the agreements you will make. Still, there is no guarantee that
you will join the EU even after you have made all these concessions…”