MERKEL AND CHIRAC UNITED AGAINST TURKEY

Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
Dec 5 2006

ANKARA (JTW) – France and Germany want to freeze European Union (EU)
membership talks with Turkey now. The German Prime Minister Angela
Merkel was against Turkey’s EU bid when she was in opposition and
now Mrs. Merkel with French President Jacques Chirac found a golden
chance to prevent Turkey’s EU talks. However the EU’s Enlargement
Commissioner, Olli Rehn, has urged Germany and France not to step
up the pressure on Turkey over its membership bid. The United States
also warned the EU not to undermine Turkey’s EU membership process.

Turkey argues that the anti-Turkey lobbies abuse the Cyprus issue
to block Turkey’s EU process. "The aim is to keep Turkey outside"
a Turkish diplomat told the JTW.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has suggested an 18-month deadline for
Turkey to open its ports to traffic from Greek Cyprus to keep its bid
alive. But the EU’s Enlargement Commissioner Mr Rehn protested, telling
Reuters news agency that "strict deadlines do not produce results".

"I would ask Chancellor Merkel and President Chirac to look for
a balanced solution which on the one hand shows the consequences
of non-compliance by a candidate state but at the same time keeps
the accession process with Turkey alive, because of its strategic
importance for both Europe and Turkey," he said.

According to Dr. Mehmet Ozcan from Ankar-based Turkish think tank
USAK, "the EU created the Cyrpus crises, and now the EU says the
crises should be solved by Turkey". "There are two states on the
island. The EU promised to end isolation on the Turkish Cyprus. The
EU has not kept its own words. And now the EU only accuses Turkey
for the failure in Cyprus. The EU should decide on whether the Greek
Cyprus or Turkey is more important" he added.

Reuters on the other hand quoted a source in Mr Chirac’s office as
saying: "We are taking the same line as the Germans on Turkey."

France has been recently leading anti-Turkish current in Europe.

France also supported the Armenian groups against Turkey by adopting
a bill recognising the Armenian claims as truth.

Merkel, according to German weekly Der Spiegel, wants an EU review
at the end of the suspension period, which means all members would
have to vote for resumption of the talks.

Merkel has long promoted the idea of "privileged partnership" for
Turkey but after coming to power she pledged to abide by commitments
Germany had made for Turkish membership.