TURKEY’S EXISTENCE NOT DEPENDENT ON EU ENTRY, SAYS BABACAN

Today’s Zaman
Dec 5 2008
Turkey

In the face of rising criticism from Brussels over the Turkish
government’s apparent lack of ambition for reform, Foreign Minister
Ali Babacan has suggested that the issue of EU membership was not a
matter critical to the existence of EU candidate Turkey.

Most recently, during a debate on a draft report on Turkey, the
European Parliament on Tuesday stated that it was impossible for the
ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government to keep its
promise to modernize the country — a promise it voiced after being
elected for the second time in July 2007 with 47 percent of the vote,
without making further political reforms.

The draft report debated by the European Parliament’s Committee on
Foreign Affairs is full of serious warnings for Ankara, which the
draft says has lost its ambition for political reform.

Babacan, who attended a meeting of foreign ministers of NATO member
countries in Brussels, spoke in an interview with the STV news channel
on Wednesday night.

Ups and downs along the EU membership process stem from the issue’s
nature and are normal, Babacan said. The government aims to raise
the standard of living for the Turkish people through reforms, said
Babacan, who is also the country’s chief EU negotiator.

However, "we do not have any issue of belonging. We are not a country
which can only maintain its existence by joining a group or becoming
a member [of a group]. Turkey is already a very important country on
its own with its history and culture," Babacan was quoted as saying
in the interview by the Anatolia news agency.

Turkey, which began entry talks in 2005 but has seen its accession
bid flag because of slow progress on reforms, often argues that the
EU would be short-sighted if it rejected a moderate Muslim country
key to its energy security and foreign policy ambitions.

In its draft report, the European Parliament praised Turkey for
its foreign policy, in particular its rapprochement with Armenia,
but stepped up calls to improve human rights, reform the judiciary
and curb the power of the military.

Turkey, a NATO member, has in recent years boosted diplomatic and
commercial ties with Central Asia, Iran, Russia, the Caucasus and
the Middle East. In October, it won a nonpermanent seat on the UN
Security Council.

With few natural resources of its own, Turkey has positioned itself
as a hub for the transport of Caspian and Central Asian oil and gas
exports to Western markets.

When a separate report by the executive European Commission last
month rapped Turkey for slow progress, Ankara hit back, saying the
EU’s status as a global power was at stake if Turkey was left out. It
also said Ankara was committed to full membership and that it would
push ahead with reforms.

Babacan was also reminded during the interview that Turkish leaders
have been paying fewer visits to Brussels in recent years.

In response, the minister suggested that frequent visits from Ankara
to Brussels took place on the eve of the EU’s December 2004 summit,
when EU leaders said the membership negotiations with Turkey should
begin in October 2005.

During that period, candidate countries were also invited to
EU summits, but such invitations have not since been extended to
candidate countries, Babacan said. He added, however, that Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was planning to pay an official visit
to Brussels in the near future, while President Abdullah Gul also
had plans to visit Brussels.

Both Gul and Erdogan have lent support to the country’s EU membership
process, Babacan said, when reminded that the European Commission’s
report praised Gul for his role in domestic and foreign policy,
while it criticized the government led by Erdogan.

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Babacan has bilateral talks with Armenian, Azeri ministers in Helsinki
Foreign Minister Ali Babacan had separate talks yesterday with his
Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts in Helsinki, on the sidelines of
a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE).

No statement was released following the talks, the Anatolia news
agency reported. On Wednesday, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward
Nalbandian and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met with
representatives from Russia, France and the United States, co-leaders
of the OSCE’s Minsk Group, working for a peaceful settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh dispute. Anatolia said Babacan assessed the results
of Wednesday’s meeting during talks with Nalbandian and Mammadyarov.

In September, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York,
Babacan, Nalbandian and Mammadyarov had three-way talks to discuss
the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute.

Earlier this week, during an official visit to Baku, Babacan said
resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will have a positive
impact on Armenian-Turkish relations, describing the conflict as a
problem not only for Azerbaijan but also for Turkey and the entire
region. Ankara Today’s Zaman with wires