WHAT DID YOU DO FOR EU TODAY?
Ismet Berkan

Turkish Daily News
Aug 21 2008
Turkey

I think Foreign Minister Ali Babacan takes the lead among politicians
who get annoyed by hearing the sentence "The government slows down
in the European Union reforms."

Babacan tries to explain the things done for the EU even in the most
stagnant periods. I am the editor-in-chief of a newspaper giving
full support to Turkey’s EU bid. We are trying to report every single
news story in the subject but if Babacan hadn’t said, I wouldn’t have
become aware that a total of 29 EU-related laws passed in Parliament
since the July 22, 2007 elections.

Babacan’s program is really hectic. He cannot say how many cities
he visited, which world leaders he met or which foreign ministers
he talked to, without looking at his itinerary. And this of course
is not stemming from his being a hardworking man; this is because of
Turkey’s increasing significance and being willing to take a key role
in important issues around the world.

Diplomacy traffic

Let me give you an example here: On Monday morning, Babacan woke up in
Ankara and started the day with working on Turkey’s National Program,
based on an EU road map for the next four years. Then he presented this
program at the Cabinet Council, got on a plane, headed to Istanbul and
hosted the Turkey-African League Summit, had a dinner with the African
leaders and top level officials and flew to Brussels at midnight. In
the early hours of Tuesday, Babacan attended the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization, or NATO, extraordinary foreign ministers meeting on
the crisis in Georgia. He was back to Istanbul on the same evening
and then attended a dinner for the African guests hosted by President
Abdullah Gul. Don’t underestimate a NATO meeting, here Babacan met once
again with the State Secretary of the United States Condoleezza Rice;
in fact they were on the phone for the last three days. Then he met
Rice for the second time. Likewise, Babacan took the Caucasus issue
together with his French and German counterparts.

Until yesterday, he was playing a pivotal role in negotiations between
Iran and the West over the Iranian nuclear program. He will continue
to do so. In the meantime, Israel-Syria talks, Syria-Lebanon peace,
bilateral relations with Armenia, etc. are in line. So we are talking
about extraordinary efforts of a human being on a busy agenda.

Communication strategy

I had a chance to talk with Babacan during the Istanbul-Brussels
flight. It was not an interview or a press briefing. It was just a
casual conversation between us. He said that he will make appointments
with opposition leaders in the upcoming days to explain the "National
Program" and seek consensus.

The program is too technical. It states, let’s say, adaptation
of measurement and weighing scales by following such and such EU
directives but on the other side, it also talks about political reform
process, for instance adaptation of the Venice Criteria in the closure
of political parties.

Technical matters, which include a colossal 1,600 word article,
Turkish Trade Law regulations pending in Parliament, are relatively
easier subjects to deal with. But political reforms necessarily
contain constitutional amendments, so they are more sensitive and
certainly requires consensus.

But on the other hand, communication strategy to be followed inside
the country and this communication itself are as important as the EU
bid. If I do not even know that a total of 29 laws were passed in the
previous period, then the public opinion that the EU works stopped
cannot be blamed.

Perhaps the government should reconsider bringing EU reform packages
to Parliament for discussions again. Perhaps then we will revive the
public excitement for the EU bid and an EU promotion can be managed
this way. For instance, The Consumer Courts that now we have in the
system and owe to the Customs Union are in service for the benefit
of people, but this was not even communicated to the public properly.

Expectations of a high gear

I hope the government will take a high gear in the EU works after the
"National Program" and we go back to discuss positive agenda items
and our future.

There is this Georgia crisis by the way. NATO foreign ministers
convened 10 days after the war between Russia and Georgia. They will
probably have no solid decision. So I wonder if it is necessary to
question about why we have NATO. I think it is.

Georgia and the Caucasus are extremely critical areas that cannot be
left to Russia to be its back yard. But I wonder if the Western system
will be able to wake up from this 18-year long sleep and if it does,
isn’t it late?

"No, come on. Nothing had ended yet," say some optimists, but I
disagree with them.

Georgia will claim its place in history as one of the biggest failures
and inattention of the Western system.

And don’t forget that we have our share in this failure too!

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress