Turkey: This is the moment… but EU goes back in the fridge if terms are too tough
by Anthony Browne, Brussels Correspondent

The Times (London)
December 16, 2004, Thursday

TURKEY gave warning yesterday that it would abandon its 40-year dream
of joining the European Union if it is presented with unacceptable
conditions by EU leaders at a dinner in Brussels tonight.

In an apparent last-minute attempt to soften entry conditions,
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish Prime Minister, said that he could
modernise his country without the EU. He made the statement just as
the European Parliament voted to let Turkey join the EU, and Jose
Manuel Barroso, the President of the European Commission, said:
“This is the moment.”

Tony Blair and his counterparts in the European Council are almost
certain to approve starting entry talks with Turkey tonight. However,
they are set to include a series of conditions to appease the deep
misgivings in many member states about letting such a large, poor,
Muslim and mainly Asian country become the biggest member of the Union.

France and Austria are demanding that entry talks should not
necessarily lead to full membership, while EU leaders have already
agreed that Turks could be permanently barred from the right to live
and work in EU countries, a right given to other EU citizens. Turkey
will also be required to reach a deal on Cyprus, and officially
recognise the Cypriot Government.

Almost unanimous agreement has been reached between member states. A
British official said last night: “It’s within grasp, but not in the
bag. We are almost there, but not there.”

However, Mr Erdogan dramatically upped the stakes in unusually
forthright language, saying as he left for Brussels: “We do not
expect any unacceptable conditions to be put before us, but if such
conditions are imposed…we will definitely put the matter in the
refrigerator and continue on our way.”

Asked whether it would make a difference to the final hours of
negotiations, the British official said: “It’s a factor. It’s going
to be on people’s minds; of course it is.”

Turkey is particularly annoyed at the demand for a “permanent”
safeguard against Turkish immigration to Western Europe, and at the
suggestion that entry talks – which are expected to last ten years
-may end only in a “privileged partnership” and not full membership.

Wolfgang Schussel, the Austrian Chancellor, insisted that the EU must
make it clear that the talks will not necessarily lead to membership.
“It has to be in there that the result will come from an open process,
and that this result cannot be guaranteed in advance,” he said,
adding that he would not accept giving all Turks the right to work
anywhere in the EU. “This would overwhelm the capacity of our labour
markets in the EU,” he said.

Mr Erdogan said that his campaign to join the EU, which has been his
top political priority for the past two years, was a “civilisation
project” to modernise Turkey.

However, he insisted that the country could carry on without the EU.

“We want to move this project forward together with the European
Union…but if unacceptable conditions are put forward,” he said. “I
have to openly say that this will not be the end of the world. We
will continue on our way, because Turkey is strong enough to shoulder
this task.”

Abdullah Gul, the Turkish Foreign Minister, said: “What we demand
is nothing more than our legitimate rights. We will not accept any
injustice.”

The threat is likely to cause annoyance with more sceptical EU
leaders, who feel that Turkey is trying to bully its way into the EU.
Last weekend Mr Erdogan said that Islamic terrorism would continue
unaba-ted unless the EU stopped being a “Christian club”.

In many European countries already struggling to integrate Muslim
minorities, such as France and Germany, there is widespread popular
opposition to letting Turkey join.

In London, Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, set out the reasons
for membership to the House of Commons. “Turkey’s dynamic economy and
society would be a valuable asset to the whole of Europe,” he said,
“but Turkey’s European destiny is also important for wider reasons,
because of the signal which a European Turkey would send to people
everywhere of Europe’s commitment to diversity and to truly universal
values.

“We want to see an economically successful, democratic Turkey anchored
in Europe and that would deal a heavy blow to those who stoke up
mistrust and division and it could be an inspiration to many others
in the Muslim world.”

After a bitter debate, the European Parliament in Strasbourg passed
a non binding motion calling on EU leaders to start entry talks
with Turkey, by 407 votes to 262. The Parliament urged EU leaders to
open talks with Turkey “without undue delay” and rejected decisively
amendments offering a “special partnership.”

It also called on Turkey to accept that it committed genocide against
the Armenians in 1915, a condition that France has also insisted on
but that Turkey has rejected.

As the momentum to start negotiations seemed unstoppable, Senhor
Barroso said: “It is now time for the European Council to honour
its commitment to Turkey and announce the opening of accession
negotiations.”

He insisted that current concerns about Turkey should not be used
as an excuse to delay negotiations. “I believe this is the moment,”
he said. “In ten years, Turkey won’t be the same as today…and fears
that exist today can be put aside.”

*THE LONG ROAD TO EUROPE

1952: Turkey joins Nato

1963: Turkey signs first “association agreement” with the European
Economic Community, offering possibility of eventual membership

1980-1986: “Association agreement” suspended after a military coup

1987: Turkey formally applies for EU membership

1989: European Commission rejects Turkey’s application because of
human rights abuses

1996: Customs union starts, giving Turkey access to the EU single
market

1999: European Union accepts Turkey as an official candidate

2002: EU leaders set down human rights and political conditions for
starting membership talks with Turkey

October 2004: European Commission’s EU executive declares that Turkey
has met conditions and recommends that formal membership talks begin

December 16: EU leaders decide on membership talks