THE SITUATION IN EUROPE ISN’T SO BAD
By Taha Akyol
Turkish Press
Oct 18 2006
MILLIYET- Turkey isn’t opening its harbors to the Greek Cypriots, and
the European Union isn’t lifting the embargo on the Turkish Republic of
Northern Cyprus (TRNC). It’s a deadlock, isn’t it? It seemed this way,
but EU Term President Finland suggested a solution. So we saw that
there may be searches for interim solutions and meanwhile Turkey’s
membership talks with the EU can continue. This is a very important
development. Instead of asking us to open our harbors this year,
a new terminology is being developed. According to this, Luxembourg
wants us to do it in the following months or years. This was said by
EU Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn. So Turkey will continue
its membership talks, while the issues of harbors and isolation are
being discussed. Our image of a country engaged in EU membership
talks attracted $20 billion in capital to Turkey. This image will
continue uninterruptedly. Meanwhile, strong EU countries are against
the idea of suspending the process of Turkey’s membership talks,
and the Greek Cypriot administration isn’t strong enough to suspend
it. However, for example, the Greek Cypriot administration can hinder
the opening of certain chapters on transportation. Then Turkey would
continue its membership talks, in other words, the train would go on
its way. In Luxembourg, when I talked with Foreign Minister Abdullah
Gul’s advisors during the breakfast break, I heard that this is what
they are thinking.
Another problematic issue for Turkey is Article 301. When we were
talking on the plane, Gul said, ‘Turkey is a free, democratic
country. Everybody can talk and write freely. All the charges filed
under Article 301 ended in acquittal. Of course we know our problems
but we’ll address them. Turkey is developing in the areas of the
economy and democracy. France is the engine of the EU. You saw
what’s going on even there!’ Stating that the EU criticized France
for removing freedom of thought on the Armenian issue, Gul said that
the Turkish public should know this and shouldn’t think that only
Turkey is always criticized. Diplomats are looking for a solution
about Article 301. This issue will be discussed a great deal.
During the press conference later, nobody had a sour face and the
atmosphere wasn’t tense. Rehn started by saying that there are good
developments. It seems that what Gul said about Article 301 had a
positive effect. Finland’s intercession to solve the Cyprus deadlock
on harbors and isolation softened the atmosphere. Nobody is especially
stressing the Cyprus issue. So what will happen if the Finnish plan
doesn’t work? Finnish Foreign Minister Erki Tuomioja and Rehn gave
the same answers to this question. They said that now this was on the
table and that they don’t want to think of another possibility. These
are all positive developments. We can say that the Nov. 8 EU progress
report won’t be as harsh as expected. The situation in Europe isn’t
bad at all.