STILL DOGGING US!
Tamer Korkmaz

Zaman, Turkey
Oct 12 2005

Turkey waited 42 years in order to start membership talks with the
European Union (EU). Ankara had squandered a huge opportunity by
not applying to the Community during the [Bulent] Ecevit government
in 1978.

In fact, even if we had not wasted that opportunity, not much would
have changed. The coup on September 12, 1980 would have rendered our
EU application meaningless!

Our application for candidacy dragged on until the era of former
Turkish Prime Minister and President Turgut Ozal in 1987. “Our joining
the EU will take up to 20 years,” public opinion was made to believe
at that time.

We crossed the most critical threshold ever during the wee hours of
Tuesday morning. However, remarks like “We have to wait 15 or 20 more
years,” are still dogging us.

If Turkey had “rebounded from the [goal] post” on October 3, this
would have been a very great loss. Had we had abandoned the negotiating
table, this would have hurt the prestige of both Turkey and the EU.

An introverted Turkey then would have been forgotten by the outside
world. And from the inside, we would have been surrounded by an
atmosphere that is more suitable for the Twilight Zone series.

Well, all right then…

Yet, at this point, we have to make a distinction between two events.

Our starting membership negotiations is a vital step; however, we
have to meticulously examine the mines on our negotiation path.

Underestimating or excluding the negotiating framework document mines
from the discussions, would be mere legerdemain. Not only the Cyprus
issue, which is still unsolved, but also the so-called Armenian issue,
are issues we will have to face. In future, Turkey will be told,
“If you want full membership, you must recognize the genocide!”

It is enough to be able to read the expressions with a special status
aroma in the negotiating framework document to see how the EU is
discriminating against Turkey!

The Croatia issue on October 3 once again proved that the EU does
not treat all candidate countries equally.

We cannot close our eyes to the fact that Austria made the start of
negotiations with Zagreb a condition for EU members to say “yes”
to Turkey. The criteria set for candidate countries so far were
immediately frozen when Croatia became a bone of contention!

The EU has sent a very dangerous message to countries hiding war
criminals (Serbia in particular) by giving Croatia the green light.

Let’s assume, for a moment, that Turkey was in Croatia’s position.

They wouldn’t have even allowed us to utter the letter “n” for
negotiations!

***

This is one side of the medallion. On the other side, there is the
“mangal (barbecue) issue” of the Turks!

Rauf Tamer says: “Bottled gas will not explode, houses will not remain
unplastered, cars will not swerve into sidewalks, and our children
will not attend classes with 80 pupils anymore. This is the meaning
of our negotiation process!”

I wonder whether we will be able to overcome these “seemingly small”
problems during the negotiations.

Do you think guns fired in the air during weddings in certain
neighborhoods will stop during the negotiation process? Or will Turkey
organize the biggest armed celebrations in its history on the night
it is admitted as a full EU member? (I hope the day will come).

Or will barbecues at parks in several German cities be extinguished
during negotiations?

Will the Austrian businessman, who went crazy after seeing pickled
anchovies floating in the cabin luggage of a THY (Turkish Airlines)
plane that landed in Vienna in the beginning of 2000, forget this
moment of insanity and say “yes” to Turkey’s full membership in a
referendum that will be held years later?

Or how many times will a Turkish worker, who voted for Angela Merkel
in the last general elections in Germany, abandon his attempts to
build a squatter house somewhere in Berlin?

Will the Higher Education Council (YOK) in Turkey really abandon its
attitude of challenging the political party in power during the EU
process? Will negotiations save our 2,500 school buildings without
toilets?

Let’s wait and see!