ONE DISASTER AND LOTS OF ADVICE
By Orhan Bursali
Anatolian Times, Turkey
Dec 8 2006
CUMHURIYET- EU policy has come to a halt. Both conservative EU
states and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) have halted
relations. The EU is following a long-term strategy to block Turkey’s
EU membership. The first county they used for this purpose was Greece,
followed by the Greek Cypriots. The strategy was determined by letting
the Greek Cypriots into the EU ranks despite their problems. The
strategy was clear: Turkey would be forced to give into every request
by Greece and the Greek Cypriots. This wasn’t enough, because other
issues were waiting after Turkey gives up its rights in the Aegean
Sea and leaves Cyprus: the Kurdish and Armenian questions, etc. This
strategy bore fruit in the first obstacle: You’re not implementing the
additional protocol? Then you’ll pay. So it’s clear what next week’s EU
summit will bring. The US and some EU countries are trying to prevent
this recommendation from going in effect, but nothing will change. When
could they change? When the EU starts to believe that it can’t continue
without Turkey. There’s no prospect of this on the horizon.
And why has the AKP cooled its relations? It thought it could get
EU support for its cause of wearing headscarves in public places and
fundamentalism under the guise of human rights. But it didn’t happen.
What did the AKP not do? It didn’t immediately appoint a chief
negotiator. State Minister Ali Babacan was appointed to his chief
EU negotiator post six months late. And lastly, the EU only made
a declaration that it would lift the embargo against the Turkish
Republic of Northern Cyprus, but never applied it.
One disaster has created a common ground for a discussion on what to
do. Not for EU membership, but for developments without the EU.