SHOULD TURKEY NOT ENTER THE EUROPEAN UNION?
by Sedat Laciner
Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
Oct 3 2006
Until now, I have strongly defended Turkey’s EU membership. I
have thought that this would significantly contribute to Turkey,
the EU, the world peace, stability and economy. However, the recent
developments make me question my thoughts on the issue. I can’t help
but ask myself if I am wrong?
***
The EU says "you want to enter the EU. So, you have to do whatever
we want you to."
This is a sound approach at first glance. If you want to be a part
of an establishment, you need to obey its rules.
But Turkey’s EU membership cannot be assessed just in this narrow
context.
***
First and foremost, the EU doesn’t have predetermined criteria
for Turkey’s membership. The EU put forward different criteria for
Turkey and other candidate countries. Turkey had almost an identical
political structure and economy with Greece. In the past half century,
Greece was able to enter the EU as a full member, but Turkey was
excluded. When the Cold War system collapsed, Turkey’s economy and
political structure were far more better than the Central and Eastern
European countries. Even the Polish, Czech and other politicians
used to come to Turkey to understand and take some lessons for their
countries from the Turkish model in economic liberalization and
democratization. All these countries are now EU members. On the other
hand, there are still question marks regarding Turkey’s EU membership.
***
There are only the Helsinki criteria officially. But we all know that
the EU’s demands are infinite. Nowadays, some EU members try to put
the Armenian issue as a condition. Thinking that Turkey cannot be
stopped by legitimate ways, some politicians such as French President
Jacques Chirac are hitting under the belt. They endorse the Armenian
claims as if they were the historical facts and proclaim Turkey as the
perpetrator of so-called "genocide." And the anti-Turkish groups in
the European Parliament (EP), whatever nations they know of, claim that
Turkish people committed genocide against all these nations. For now,
Armenians, Pontus Greeks and Assyrians are on the so-called "genocide"
list. There are Kurds and others on the line-up. Once there are a few
drops of blood or a minor clash, someone says "Turks have commited
genocide." However, for the 1,5 million Algerians massacred by the
French, they say "this is none of our business, let the historians
decide on that."
The play is getting really dirtier. If this is the way it is, Turkey
should give up from its EU quest as soon as possible. Otherwise,
there will be many "genocide" accusations for Turkey in near future.
Some circles in the EU accuse Turkey of these acts with the aim of
slandering. It’s hard for Turkey to cope with such strong, planned and
organized assaults. It might be better to give up from the EU instead
of being unjustly labeled as "murderer" or "perpetrator of genocide."
***
The never-ending EU demands have caused mass anger among the Turkish
public. The pro-EU politicians have been exhausted by trying to answer
the rightful questions of the people. The EU has been demanding without
contributing anything to Turkey. The burden is getting heavier and
heavier for pro-EU Turkish politicians and the Turkish Government
without receiving any gains. As the pro-EU Turkish politicians have
just convinced the public in favor of the EU, the EU says something
on the Armenian or Cyprus issues in an extremely inconsiderate and
anti-Turkish way. As a result, all the Turkish efforts are going in
vain. The anti-EU groups in Turkey, of course, abuse this situation
as their mission. For these reasons, the EU process should be stopped
in order to prevent a permanent hatred against the EU. By this way,
the EU’s ‘absurd’ demands will stop, the Turkish politicians will not
have to defend the EU membership, and the negative feelings among the
public will have finished without growing into hatred and animosity
against the EU.
***
The most important reason of the EU membership for the pro-EU
politicians persistently defending it was the improvement in
democratization and human rights. However, Turkey’s human rights
situation has surpassed many EU member countries though Turkey
is not a member. There has also been a noticeable improvement in
democratization. The only problem for now is to decrease the army’s
influence in the politics to a reasonable level. In other words, it
is to cancel out the possibility for a military coup. The governments
in Turkey have seen the EU as a natural ally against the militarist
groups and have voiced the democratization argument for the EU quest.
But the racist and even religionist statements and discriminatory
acts from the EU circles against Turkey jeopardize the EU process as
well as the objectives claimed. If there will be a military coup in
Turkey, the most important reason for that will be the EU’s Turkey
policies. The EU so crudely pressures and humiliates Turkey that
the Turkish politicians cannot defend their pro-EU stances and the
non-democratic forces are emboldened.
***
Turkey’s EU membership could have best contributed to the cessation
of clash of civilizations. The Muslim communities in the world think
that the West is not sincere in its struggle against terrorism and in
its policies toward the Muslim world. There is a notable feeling of
victimization among the Muslims. The peoples, whose natural resources
(oil, natural gas etc.) have been taken from their hands, think that
their autocratic regimes are collaborating with the West and they
are paying the price for that. They trust neither their governments
nor the West. In such a case, "people’s resistance" such as Hamas
and Hizbullah or other extremities gain power. Despair leads to
extremities. The expected ‘miracle’ could have been Turkey’s EU
membership. Turkey’s participation could have proved that the West is
not solely a Christian Club and that the West could have had a genuine
cooperation with the Muslim world. However, the meaningless statements,
which are almost racist and religionist, waste these hopes. The
Cartoon Crisis, almost an insult to the Prophet Muhammad, and the
Pope’s irresponsible statement are followed by excessive demands from
Turkey. In Cyprus, the EU only blames the Turkish people. As the EU
included the Christians of the Island as a full member, it excluded the
Muslim Cypriots. Taking Armenian side in the historical disagreements
between the Armenians and the Turks, the EU doesn’t even say a word
for the Armenian occupation of Azerbaijan’s territories, which is
another Muslim Turkish state. The Armenians and Turks are so similar
nations: Almost the only difference is their religions. All these
developments are watched closely by the Muslim world of course. More
than 1 billion Muslims witness the double standards on Turkey. To
put it short, Turkey’s EU process does not ease the "victimization"
of the Muslims, it consolidates "victimization". In such a case,
it might be meaningful for Turkey to end its EU process immediately.
***
We also know that Turkey’s alliance with the EU and the US in combating
terror causes resentment among organizations like Al-Qaeda.
The target of the bombs in Istanbul in November 2003 was the British
bank HSBC, the British General Consulate and the synagogues. But the
entire Turkey has paid the price. Turkey can reposition itself to a
less visible point in the war between the West and the fundamentalist
Islamists like Al-Qaeda so as not to be considered as a target. If full
membership will never happen, why pay the price on behalf of the West?
***
For those who have favored Turkey’s EU process, one of the most
important reasons has been taking the EU as a democratic model.
Turkey would have been more democratic once it had entered the
EU, according to the pro-EU groups. Ironically, those who voice
anti-democratic demands in Turkey are inspiring from the EU now: The
groups defending the extension of the detention period in Turkey for
instance refer to the British anti-terror laws as examples. Both the
US and the EU have turned out to be breaching the human rights in
combating terror more than Turkey has done. In this case, Turkey’s
EU quest pushes Turkey to a tougher point, not to democratization.
***
The most risky part is the Turkish economy. Countries such as Greece,
Spain and Portugal have used enormous funds from the EU budget so
far. It is now Poland which seems a great burden for the EU. The French
farmers, who have been subsidized from the EU funds for decades,
were the group which prevented the approval of the EU constitution
despite its financial contribution to them. Turkey, on the other hand,
has been the country which contributed the most to the EU economy,
leave alone being a burden. Turkey is the first and only country which
entered the Customs Union without being an EU member. Turkey has given
up billions of dollars of revenue from custom taxes in favor of the
EU. Today, though ostensibly funded by a few EU funds, Turkey cannot
even compensate for the contribution it has made to these funds. In
short, Turkey hasn’t achieved anything thanks to the EU.
Turkey is the 17th largest economy in the world and it has achieved
this success despite the EU. Today, the Turkish businessmen are not
expecting any assistance from the EU. Their only demand is stability
and they anticipate that stability will more increase once Turkey
enters the EU. However, it is quiet clear that the EU doesn’t want
to see Turkey as a full member and that it only procrastinates Turkey.
The EU gives promises to Turkey, signs agreements with Turkey and
the Turkish economy adjusts itself accordingly. When the relations
are good, foreign investments flow into Turkish economy. But the
EU’s inconsistent policies seriously harm the stability of Turkish
economy. The worst thing for an economy is these ups and downs. The
best option is that French, Dutch, German or other politicians should
declare that they will never accept Turkey as a member. By this way,
the short-term cycles will decrease and Turkish economy will grow
with stability. In short, it might be better for Turkey to stop the
EU process for the sake of Turkish economy.
***
Another reason to end the EU process of Turkey is the burden incurred
by the Turkish economy as a result of the EU regulations. Turkey is
now even more advantageous than China. It is close to the EU, but
still exempt from any disadvantages of the Union. In other words,
it is a China in the close vicinity of European markets. After the
accession of Romania and Bulgaria, Turkish economy will have no rivals
in terms of competition. By now, many companies have dismantled their
factories in Europe and moved them to Turkey. If Turkey disregards
the EU process and only concentrates on the competitiveness of
its economy, Turkish domination will be inevitable in the European
markets. Moreover, it is also possible to increase foreign trade by
making alliances with China and India. In the opposite case, the EU
will continue to be a burden on Turkish economy. As the EU will not
grant billions of dollars for customs, and will not channel $30-50
billion for agriculture, it is not wise to expect even one Euro from
the EU. Instead of all these, it might be more beneficial to leave
the EU process for larger gains in the economy.
***
Worse than all those above is the EU’s acts in international politics,
which lacks the principles of even the simplest international actor
has. Turkey definitely will have to fulfill the demands of the EU. But
the EU should at least meet the basic principles such as pacta sund
servanda and being honest. Turkey’s objective since 1959 has been
full membership and the EU confirmed this in every agreement. But
it failed to take action. For example, according to the documents
approved by the EU, the Turks should have been granted the freedom
of movement in the EU beginning from the early 1990s. If one checks
the statements of the EU on Cyprus in 1994, the Greek Cypriots should
have been punished and the Turkish Cypriots should have been saved
from isolations. The EU insincerity list can be extended, but there
is no need to do that. It might be profitable for Turkey to reassess
its EU process as soon as possible.
If Turkey leaves the EU process, it will have the following advantages:
· It will no more be the target of organizations like al-Qaeda,
· It will no more be the target in the transit point of the clash
of civilizations,
· It will no more have to take the EU’s criticisms seriously,
· The EU will no more be an actor in the Armenian issue,
· It will be able to develop a policy independent from the EU in
the Caucasus. It will be able to make alliance with Russia or any
other country,
· The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus will be able to proceed
for independence in an atmosphere of lack of solution,
· The anti-EU sentiments, which have unnecessarily grown, will calm
down in Turkey,
· The EU will no more be seen as the origin of all problems and more
realistic assessments will be made in Turkey,
· More effective struggle can be carried out against the PKK terror.
It is now the time to be honest. I ask myself honestly: Will it be
better not to enter the EU?
3 October 2006
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