TURKEY AT TURNING POINT AHEAD OF EU TALKS
Christopher Wade | Ankara, Turkey
Mail & Guardian Online, South Africa
Sept 28 2005
Last minute-wrangling aside, Turkey’s long-awaited accession talks
with the European Union are to finally get under way on October 3
marking a major victory for the Ankara government and the beginning
of one of the country’s biggest diplomatic endeavours.
“This is an historic turning point ahead of Turkey,” Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the nation in a televised address during
the week. “October 3 will be a new and unforgettable date.”
Turks won’t be waking up to find their country radically changed on
October 3 but Erdogan is right to call it a “turning point”.
Turkey became an associate member of the EU in 1963 and formally
applied to become a member in 1987. It took another 12 years however
before the EU brought itself to actually recognise Turkey as a
candidate.
Now, more than 40 years after Turkey first signalled its intentions
to join the bloc, the negotiations are finally about to start.
To say that Turkey has changed significantly since it was accepted
as a candidate in 1999 is an understatement.
In just six years the country has undergone a revolution in human
rights thanks to its efforts to conform with the political criteria
laid down by the EU.
The death penalty has been lifted, Kurdish language classes are
allowed, torture in custody has dropped considerably, women’s rights
have been strengthened, notoriously strict press laws have been
relaxed and a completely new criminal code introduced.
These reforms are impressive when one considers that Turks are
predominantly conservative, religious and have a high level of respect
for the state.
Even more surprising has been the way that the reforms have been
pushed through by Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP),
a party with its roots in moderate Islam who just a few years before
preferred Turkey to look to the east and its Muslim neighbours.
Before coming to power in 2002, the AKP wasn’t expected to be so keen
on “European values”, but a realisation that the rights of religious
conservatives could be easier guaranteed inside the EU led to a
dramatic turnaround.
With the strictly pro-secular military and establishment looking on
warily, Erdogan has largely avoided issues close to his supporters —
such as lifting a ban on the wearing of headscarves at universities
or by public officials — instead choosing to focus on the reforms
needed to get the EU on side.
Despite the significant progress, officials on both sides acknowledge
that the reforms still have some way to go.
Detainees are still tortured in custody, police still resort to
their batons almost immediately when faced with an illegal protest
and opinions out of line with “official thinking” can still land you
with fines or a prison sentence.
Turkey’s most famous author, Orhan Pamuk, has been charged over
comments made about the deeply contentious World War I-era Armenian
genocide.
“A million Armenians were killed in these lands and nobody but me
dares talk about it,” Pamuk told a Swedish magazine. The author has
been charged with “denigrating the Turkish identity” and faces up to
three years jail if found guilty.
However change is evident even on the Armenian genocide issue.
Turkey denies that mass killings of Armenians in the then Ottoman
Empire during and after World War I constitute a “genocide” and has
bitterly contested any such allegations.
However just a week before the beginning of EU accession talks a
conference was held in Ankara at which such allegations were aired;
something that analysts say would have been impossible only a short
time ago.
Despite last minute legal hitches the conference went ahead with the
blessing of the government. Turkey has realised that open discussion
of even the darkest parts of its own history is not as destructive
as feared.
“At the conference they said ‘genocide’. The world is still turning.
Turkey still exists,” the liberal Radikal newspaper said after the
conference.
Analysts say October 3 marks yet another milestone in Turkey’s mission
to be fully accepted by the West. However it could be 25 years before
the country is ready to join the 25-member bloc.
In the meantime there will be many hiccups and no doubt a few crises
over issues as diverse as Turkey’s non-recognition of the Republic
of Cyprus, to the first time that a factory will have to be closed
due to stringent EU pollution laws.
“In the end it is the process that is important to Turkey,” said one
government official.
“We are implementing these reforms both to comply with the EU and
for ourselves. Who knows, perhaps in 15 years, when we are ready the
Turkish people won’t want to join.”
“Who knows what the EU will be like in 15 years?”
Turkey’s 40-year struggle Turkey first applied in 1959 for membership
in the European Economic Community, as the EU was then known. The
following is a chronology of developments:
1959: Turkey makes its first application to join the European Union
1963: Europeans respond to the request by proposing — and signing —
an Association Agreement with Ankara
1970: Signature of an Additional Protocol to the Ankara pact focusing
on a timetable for eliminating tariffs and quotas on goods traded by
the two sides
1980: Temporary freeze in relations because of Turkish military
government
1983: Restoration of relations following multi-party elections
1987: Turkey applies for full membership
1990: The European Commission and the European Council confirm Turkey’s
eligibility for membership
1995: Establishment of a customs union between Turkey and the EU
1999: Turkey is officially recognised by the European Council as a
candidate state
2003: The European Council adopts a revised Accession Partnership
for Turkey, focusing on preparations for membership
2004: The European Council defines the perspective for opening talks,
sets October 3, 2005 date for start of negotiations
June 2005: European Commission sets out negotiating mandate for the
October 3 talks
September 2005: EU governments agree a unilateral declaration on
Turkish-Cyprus relations and adopt negotiating framework – Sapa-DPA