Yeni Safak, Turkey
May 11 2005

Two Important Problems (Turkey’s European Union Membership Bid)

Ali Bayramoglu

Columnist Ali Bayramoglu comments on Turkey’s European Union
membership bid. A summary of his column is as follows:

`On their path towards European Union membership, many candidate
countries first fulfilled the political criteria and then the
technical ones. The Copenhagen criteria make up the initial phase for
candidate countries through which their democracies are harmonized
with the EU’s understanding of the rule of law. In the second phase,
negotiations cover technical, social and economic issues. Naturally,
it is always the first phase which sees the most intense discussions
in the candidate countries, as they feel that their national
sovereignty is being threatened.

However, this hasn’t been the case in Turkey. Despite two years of
radical reforms, significant discussions on the country’s national
sovereignty have been absent. Opposition to reforms has come from
bureaucrats and certain small groups only.

On the other hand, a reactive atmosphere is dominating our country in
the runup to Oct. 3 when our membership negotiations are expected to
begin. This attitude is of a political and social nature, reminding
me of sovereignty discussions.

Although these reactions don’t refer to a clear opposition to EU
membership, they rather signal a more inward-looking national
attitude. The closer we get to the EU, the more we try to box
ourselves into our own boundaries.

There are two overlapping problems that we need to deal with. First,
Turkey must reinforce its recent reforms in terms of both mentality
and implementation. The Armenian issue, a possible retrial of
terrorist Abdullah Ocalan and the Fener Greek patriarch issue are
some of more critical problems that Turkey will have to face in the
future. By their very nature, these problems are different from the
issues related to the reform process. Unlike in the past, we will
have to deal with problems aside from civilianizing the state
structure and maintaining a balance between military and civilian
institutions. This time we’ll tackle deeper problems, ones hard to
identify and distinguish from others such as redefining our social
identity and facing our past. The Armenian and Kurdish problems are
here to stay.

We can’t avoid discussing them. Thus, such tense issues are very
likely to spark social opposition and reactionary mechanisms in the
future, which would probably lead our country to a kind of
polarization. In this stage, we’ll experience both domestic tensions
and international ones.

Each area of tension feeds another. For example, the possibility of
Ocalan’s retrial might exacerbate tension between different groups
and incite ultranationalist reactions even among the most unexpected
circles. This will be a true test for our democracy. Political and
social rationality is crucial now.

The second big problem is an issue which has yet to be resolved
despite all of the recent reforms, one which refers to a cherished
ideal, a democratic hope: the civilianization of the state structure.
The military is still very influential in civilian politics and
institutions. All of these problems can’t be solved immediately. I
guess we need some time to set in motion domestic dynamics which will
heed nothing but the national will.

Today, our biggest problem is that out society has yet to choose
between transformation and maintaining the status quo. In time, we
will all have to face ourselves…’

Source: Yeni Safak via BYEGM, 11 May 2005