Zaman, Turkey
Jan 1 2005

Brussels Waits ‘Turkish Issue’

EU Capital in Noel ‘Laze’ to Wake up by Turkey File

Brussels, the capital of European Union (EU), attracted attention
throughout the year, with this years frenzy peaking during the
December 17th summit. Then, the action stopped, hitting rock bottom
for the “Noel laze”.

The EU will wake up from its hibernation in the first week of
January. Traditionally, EU leaders go to their home countries after
the December summit for Christmas and vacation a while. Not only the
leaders, but also the citizens of the world’s richest clubs, go south
for the Noel holiday. This is the reason why more than 4,000 EU
citizens are still missing in South Asia.

In addition to Christmas, the EU also hibernates in August. Brussels
is dead during the month of August and the second half of December.
While it is torture to find a parking spot when the EU is in session,
we now have more than enough space around the EU building to park.
Brussels is a phantom city now. The staff still on duty for the
holidays operates the largest bureaucratic machine in the world while
its in hibernation.

While it was a county in Europe prior to the establishment of the
European Economic Community (EEC), Brussels has since transformed
into one of the two most important capitals in the world. Everyone in
the city knows that if the EU did not exist, Belgium would hardly be
a spot on the map. Perhaps, the bureaucrats in Brussels do not want
to wake up from this long winter sleep because as soon as they wake
up, they will find a huge dossier on Turkey. This file does not
resemble at all those for the other candidate countries. Turkey’s
file requires hard work and “creative solutions”.

Relaxation emerged in Brussels when the EU leaders said, “We’ll reach
decisions on Turkey by considering 2004 Progress Report” at the
Copenhagen summit in 2002… Turkey’s process has been clarified a bit
and taken out of a situation where arbitrary decisions could play a
role.

Since 2002, “Eurobureaucrats” have known that the most critical
decision reached by EU will be on Turkey. In the second half of 2004
in particular, a well-defined Turkey wind blew in the Union and
Turkey was discussed from the earth to the sky.

The Progress Report that was awaited with anticipation was finally
released on October 6 along with its recommendations. The Report laid
down such a conclusion that everyone interpreted it as his wish.
While those who supported “privileged partnership” found satisfactory
sentences in the report, those who feared the Turkish labor force
were satisfied when they saw permanent restrictions. When Ankara,
without discussing the report thoroughly, found it “balanced”, the
owner and the guardian of the report, Enlargement Commissioner Gunter
Verheugen, handed over his duty in peace.

With the October 6th report, the EU signaled that they would treat
Turkey differently than the other candidate countries. Ankara’s
“balanced” judgment was made with the expectation that its mistakes
would be corrected at the December 16-17 summit, when the final
decision was due. Ankara found a conditional and heavy report before
it in the summit. Both Ankara and EU, which will begin membership
negotiations with this report, prepare for 2005. Everyone knows in
Brussels that if the negotiations begin on October 3, the European
public opinion will discuss Turkey, Islam and the history of Turks,
for decades. Members who do not want Turkey’s accession will demand
that Ankara recognizes an “Armenian Genocide”.

2005 will be a Cyprus year again

The agenda to accelerate with the new boss of the Enlargement Olli
Rehn’s Turkey visit in February, will speed up with the preparations
of a new Accession Partnership Document and a negotiation frame. The
EU will determine the negotiation position and lay out short, medium
and long-term priorities. The negotiations, normally handled with 31
parties, could possibly rise to 39-40 parties with Turkey.

Most important, in order for all these preparations to have meaning,
the Cyprus issue will have to be resolved because the EU set a de
facto recognition of the Cyprus Greek Community as condition to start
membership negotiations on October 3. Since there is the possibility
that the Greeks will wake up on the morning of October 4 with the
demand “recognize us”, Ankara knows well that without a solution to
the issue, it cannot proceed in the negotiations because the Greeks
having veto power. And that makes 2005 a year for Cyprus again. Soon,
we will be witnesses to new initiatives regarding Cyprus.

In short, October 3 will be as important as December 17, 2004 for
Turkey.

01.01.2005
Selcuk Gultasli, Zaman, Brussels

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress