AZG Armenian Daily #231, 02/12/2006

Neighbors

EUROPEAN COMMISSION MAKES COURTESY TO TURKEY

European Commission Report Suggest Continuation of
Negotiations with Turkey

Recently Turkey has been involved in certain
international political processes of considerable
importance. After public insinuations as well as
violent protest demonstrations in Istanbul, Ankara,
Izmir and other towns of Turkey, Pope Benedict XVI at
last arrives in Ankara on November 28. Prime Minister
of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan, having received the
Pope, hastily departs for Lithuania in order to take
part in NATO summit.

Meanwhile Turkey was refusing to dislocate its NATO
troops in Afghanistan and Prime Minister Erdogan was
having bilateral meetings with the heads of most
outstanding European states in Riga, The European
Commission made a decision of partial abeyance of the
negotiations with Turkey.

This decision will be considered by the EU Prime
Ministers Council on December 11, Brussels. Unless the
Prime Ministers come to consensus, the question of
EU-Turkey negotiations will be reconsidered on the
summit of December 14-15, 2006.

No details of the 8 articles of the European
Commission’s resolution are reported. Therefore it is
still unknown which spheres of negotiations will be
affected. Only one thing is certain – Prime Minister
of Finland Matti Vanhanen commenting on the resolution
said that he stands for continuing the negotiations on
Turkey’s EU membership. President of France Jacques
Chirac in connection with this issue said that the
partial abeyance of the talks was EU’s only choice.
Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel expressed her
approval of the resolution and stressed that Turkey
must become a "privileged partner", but not member of
the European Union. Her opinion was supported by Prime
Minister of Denmark Anders Volk Rasmusen, while
British Prime Minister Tony Blare warned the public of
the possible negative consequences of halting the
negotiations with Turkey.

Certainly, Prime Minister Erdogan also responded to
the decision of the European Committee. Moreover,
according to the Turkish mass media sources, in the
end of the NATO Summit in Riga, Erdogan expressed
extreme indignation and anger about the decision and
stated that was unacceptable. While in the airport of
Ankara, Erdogan sharply changed his position.

According to the Turkish Public TV, Erdogan reminded
that the decision of the European Commission was no
obligatory, but a consultative one. He added: "I don’t
consider this decision may freeze the negotiations.
Only eight points were frozen. Moreover, it states
that no end of the negotiations was envisaged in none
of the 24 points of the decision. It means that no new
restrictions will be carried out and those implemented
will be annulled. The decision of the European
Commission is not negative. There is no need for harsh
response. We will consistently follow the path we have
picked up," Erdogan said.

Most likely, one should agree with Erdogan, in
particular, from the aspect of the November 8 report
on Turkey adopted by the European commission.
According to the report, till December 14-15 Summit,
Turkey has to open its airports and seaports to the
republic of Cyprus. At the same time, French Foreign
Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy stated that the EU
membership schedule will be reconsidered, if Turkey
doesn’t take any welcoming steps to the Republic of
Cyprus. On the contrary, the same decision taken by EU
is considered to be another version of continuing the
negotiations with Ankara within the framework of the
same structure. Thus, the report that sounded like an
ultimatum for turkey lost its force by the latest
decision taken by the European Commission.

How can we explain this contradiction? Certainly,
Turkey’s geographical position play’s quite an
important part in this issue. This factor makes EU
consider Turkey as a bridge for penetrating to the
Middle East and to Tran Caucasus and let it still
exist in the political arena. Perhaps, that’s why
Europe never treated Turkey as a stranger even before
the beginning of the negotiations for the membership
to the European Union. On the eve of the negotiations,
EU constantly creates preconditions for Turkey’s
membership, at the same time sparing no efforts to
preserve good relations with this country.

By Hakob Chakrian