The Sunday Times (UK)

October 02, 2005

Turkey cools on joining club Europe

Gareth Jenkins, Istanbul and Nicola Smith, Brussels

SIPPING a latte at a cafe in a leafy Istanbul suburb, Inci Can, 34,
looks as if she should be a natural supporter of European Union
membership for Turkey. A graduate of Exeter University, she wears
fashionable western clothes, leaves her shoulder-length hair uncovered
and travels frequently to western Europe on business.

Yet as EU foreign ministers meet today to resolve an impasse that
threatens to prevent formal talks on Turkish entry from starting on
schedule tomorrow, Can and increasing numbers of her compatriots are
questioning whether they really want to join after all.

`If the EU doesn’t want us because we have a large population or an
undeveloped economy, then fair enough,’ she said. `But it should say so,
not keep hiding behind new excuses. All my life I’ve wanted Turkey to
join the EU but in the past few weeks I’ve begun to think that maybe we
should stay outside.’

That Can’s views are shared by many of her compatriots is evident from a
poll yesterday that showed 57% of Turks wanted to join the EU – down
from 68% a year ago. Support among workers is even lower: only 44% of
trade unionists are in favour and a mere 24% believe that Turkey will
ever be admitted.

They may be right to feel unwanted: just over half of people in the EU’s
25 countries oppose Turkish entry. In Austria, the country leading the
opposition to full EU membership for Turkey, eight in 10 are against.

At an emergency meeting in Luxembourg tonight, Jack Straw and other EU
foreign ministers will put pressure on the Austrians, who have insisted
the Turks be told from the outset they have to make do a `privileged
partnership’ that stops short of full membership. Diplomats say the hard
line taken by Wolfgang Schüssel, the Austrian chancellor, has been
dictated in part by regional elections today and hope he will soften his
stance once polls close.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, has refused to proceed
with membership talks if there is any downgrading of his country’s
prospective EU status.

For Turkey, a predominantly Muslim country of 70m people, it is the
apparent whiff of racism – coupled with suggestions that it is not fit
to join a `Christian club’ – that especially rankles.

One of the main stumbling blocks is Turkey’s refusal to recognise the
Greek Cypriot government in Nicosia with which it has been at odds since
a breakaway Turkish republic was established in the north of Cyprus in
1974. Many Turkish nationalists also fear that they might be obliged to
make their country’s 13m Kurds equal partners in a federal state.

The mood has been further soured by a European parliament resolution
last week making it a precondition for membership that Turkey should
formally recognise the killing of 1.5m Armenians between 1915 and 1923
in the last days of the Ottoman empire.

Turkey’s poor human rights record also remains a matter of contention. A
two-year investigation by Mental Disability Rights International, a
Washington-based lobby group, revealed last week what it described as
`inhuman and degrading conditions of confinement’ in Turkey’s mental
health and social services system. A recent report by Amnesty
International, the human rights group, found torture and ill-treatment
continue to be a widespread problem.

While Can is seething quietly at European attitudes to her country,
Turkish politicians and businessmen are finding it difficult to contain
their anger.

At a rally on Friday Erdogan gave one of his strongest hints yet that
Turkey might walk away if the EU continues upping the ante. `They should
behave as honestly as Turkey,’ he said. `If we don’t see this honesty
then the response we shall give will be very very different to the
responses we have given to date.’

Omer Sabanci, chairman of the Turkish Businessmen’s and Industrialists’
Association, said those supporting a `privileged partnership’ were
`exhibiting a 19th century mentality’.

This morning the ultra-militant Nationalist Action party (MHP) will bus
tens of thousands of demonstrators to Ankara, the capital, to protest
against what it regards as the EU’s unacceptable demands. `Membership
should be honourable,’ said Mehmet Sandir, its vice-chairman. `It should
not convene our national interests or distort our history.’

For Straw, finding a way out of the impasse at tonight’s meeting is of
vital importance. The successful launch of entry talks would be one of
the few tangible achievements of Britain’s six-month EU presidency.

However, matters have been further complicated by the entanglement of
the Turkish issue with Croatia’s bid to join the EU. This was suspended
in March over Croatia’s failure to co-operate fully with the
international war crimes tribunal over the search for Ante Gotovina,
indicted as an alleged war criminal.

Austria is one of the strongest backers of the Croatian application.
Carla del Ponte, the tribunal’s chief prosecutor, who visted Croatia
this weekend, was due to make a statement to ministers tomorrow.
Indications this weekend were not positive.

Even if entry talks do begin tomorrow, many more hurdles remain. Angela
Merkel, expected to become Germany’s next chancellor, has misgivings,
while France has promised a referendum before the Turks are finally
admitted.

Diplomats fear the last-minute hitches could reduce Turkey’s enthusiasm
for the long and costly reforms that it must make to everything from the
regulation of industry to the judicial system as a precondition for
eventual membership.

Equally important, however, is the effect on the attitude of Can and
other Turks who are rapidly losing faith in an organisation they once
saw as a key to the modernisation and development of their country.

`Of course we are not perfect. We still have a lot of things to do
before we finally join,’ said Can. `But we have done everything that was
asked of us in order to begin negotiations. When you join a club you
have to abide by its rules. But adding new rules only for us just isn’t
fair.’