Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
June 23 2005
EU’s New Scapegoat: Turkey
* “No” votes mean Turkey can not join EU soon… The real problem is
Turkey -Prodi
Jan SOYKOK and Cathrine GULCAN, JTW(ROME and ANKARA) – Turkey has no
chance of joining the European Union (EU) in the foreseeable future,
former European Commission President Romano Prodi said in newspapers
on Wednesday. According to Prodi, one of the key reasons of `nos’ in
the referendums of France and Netherlands was Turkey. However experts
say `Turkey is not EU member and cannot be responsible for any
current problem. The EU leaders are reluctant to face the real
reasons’. Only 3 percent in France said `the real reason for their no
votes was Turkey.’
European Commission President Jose Barroso called also for a “frank
discussion” of Turkey’s prospects of joining the European Union,
saying opposition to Turkish membership helped defeat the EU
constitution. `We should discuss seriously the signals that were sent
by the electorate regarding Turkey” Barroso told a Brussels press
conference. `We need to have a frank discussion on that matter’ he
added.
The commission will on June 29 outline its strategy for entry talks
with Turkey, a decade-long process due to start Oct. 3. All 25 EU
countries will have to approve the negotiating road map.
Barroso said that `for the time being’ the EU governments haven’t
altered the bloc’s commitment to Turkey. Polls in Germany suggest
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder will be ousted in an election in
September by `anti-Turkish’ Angela Merkel. Merkel is against Turkey’s
membership and favors a `privileged partnership’ with Turkey which in
fact means keeping Turkey outside. Turkey has already had customs
union with the EU.
Turkey, which says the talks with the EU will help attract record
levels of foreign investment to its more than $300 billion economy
(17th biggest economy in the world). Turkey will be the first and
only Muslim EU member if it will be accepted. It has a population of
70 million people, almost equal to the total of the 10 countries that
joined the bloc last year.
Romano Prodi, who as Barroso’s predecessor championed Turkey’s entry
last year, has changed his mind about Turkish membership, according
to an interview with the Gazzettino newspaper.
`I now believe that there are no longer the conditions for Turkey to
join the EU in the short or medium-term,’ Prodi told the daily
newspaper. `We need to rethink things.’
Prodi, now leader of Italy’s centre-left opposition, implied many
Italians had an emotional fear of Turkey, a populous and
predominantly Muslim country on the edge of mostly Christian Europe.
“I come from a country where my mother, when she wanted to say
something scary, would say: ‘The Turks are coming’.”
Prodi’s position marks a clear difference with Prime Minister Silvio
Berlusconi, who supports Turkey’s EU entry despite opposition from
many in his centre-right government.
“Better late than never. Finally even he has realized Turkey must
stay out,” Calderoli told the Corriere della Sera daily.
Many politician in the EU countries believe that Turkey must be out
because of religious and cultural differences.
`EU NEVER KEPT ITS PROMISES’
Dr. Sedat Laciner from Ankara-based Turkish think tank ISRO says
`Turkish public will not be surprised, because they know that the EU
has never kept its promises about Turkey’. According to Dr. Laciner
the main reason is cultural differences and the EU leaders’
narrow-minded civilization understanding:
`Europe has changed very little since the Medieval Europe. Religion
and civilizational differences are still vital. There are very little
difference between Chirac and Pope when we are talking about Turkey’s
entrance to the EU. Turkey is one of the first countries, (even
before the UK, Ireland, Spain and many others) who applied to become
EU member. Turkey’s economy and political conditions were better than
Poland, and other Eastern European countries after the Cold War. All
these former communist countries are now inside, while Turkey has
been kept outside.’
French President Jacques Chirac on June 17 urged the EU to re-
examine the planned enlargement, calling for a special summit on how
the process can continue `without having the institutions capable of
making the enlarged union function efficiently.’
`FULFILL YOUR PROMISES’
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan today urged Europe’s
politicians to fulfill its promises to Turkey.
“The negotiations must start on Oct. 3,” he told his deputies in a
speech at the Turkish parliament.
“We are implementing the steps that we promised. I believe that the
EU will overcome the current problems that it’s experiencing.”
Similarly Dr. Gulcan says `the EU does not keep its promises’:
`We are used to it. They said the isolation of the TRNC (Turkish
Cyprus) would be left if the Turkish Cypriots had supported the UN
Peace Plan. Turkish Cypriots strongly supported the Annan Plan, while
the Greeks rejected the Peace Plan. However the EU accepted the Greek
Cypriots and kept no promises about the Turkish Cypriots at all.
Turkish public understood the role of religious differences in the EU
policies. The EU leaders has showed religious solidarity and accuse
only Turkey in Turkey’s relations with the Christian neighbors. For
instance, Armenian forces occupied Azerbaijan. However no EU leader
focuses on Occupation problem of 20 percent of Azerbaijani
territories. Armenia does not recognize two European countries’
(Turkey and Azerbaijan) national borders, yet no one warns Armenia.
Ordinary Turkish now thinks that if you are Christian, you are right.
If you are Muslim, you must die’.
`THE WORLD NEEDS A MIRACLE’
Sedat Laciner says the EU leaders cannot understand the vital
importance of Turkey’s EU membership for the global security and
peace:
`The Muslim world does not believe the EU’s and the West’s sincerity.
There are many Muslim nations in Europe, but none of them is the EU
member. Turkey, Albania, Bosnia, Azerbaijan, Turkish republic of
Northern Cyprus… None of them has a hope to become EU member, while
many problematic countries like Southern Greek Cyprus became EU
member. Turkey’s EU membership will prove that a coexistence is
possible between Muslims and Christians. The Islam world and the
globe needs a miracle. And Turkey is the miracle the people have
expected for the long years.’
The U.S. and Britain have urged the EU to embrace Turkey to help
democracy in the Middle East, which Turkey borders.
POPE: `TURKEY IS NOT EUROPEAN’
Pope Benedict XVI, the spiritual leader of the Roman Catholic Church,
showed a suspicious attitude towards Turkey’s EU membership in the
first book he has written since becoming the new Pope in the Vatican.
Pope Benedict XVI indicates in his new book titled “The Example of
Benedict in the Crisis of Cultures” (L’Europa di Benedetto nella
crisi delle culture) that Turkey does not have Christian roots
contrary to European countries. According to the news published by
Apcom, a private Italian news agency, the Pope invites readers to
think about Turkey’s EU bid. The Pope had defended that Turkey should
not be EU member because it is not Christian. The new Pope is
considered `anti-Turkish’ by most of the Turkish public.