TURKEY LUNGES FOR THE EU
EuropeNews
Sept 10 2009
Belgium
Gates of Vienna 10 September 2009
Our Austrian correspondent ESW has compiled a report on last week’s
podium discussion at the University of Vienna on the accession of
Turkey to the EU. Most of her material is translated from an account
by Harald Fiegl, and we owe him a debt of gratitude for his careful
observations of the proceedings.
Report: A Common European Future and Turkey By ESW
Podium Discussion with
Egemen BAGIS, Minister for EU-Affairs and Chief Negotiator
Welcome: Otmar HOLL, Director OIIP
Moderation: Cengiz GUNAY, OIIP
Wednesday, September 2, 2009 6:30 p.m.
Kleiner Festsaal University of Vienna 1010 Vienna, Dr.-Karl-Lueger-Ring
1
organized by OIIP Harald Fiegl, a member of the Akademikerbund
and author of the essay "EU, Turkey, and Islam", attended a podium
discussion featuring the Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs, who
attempted to present Turkey’s point of view with respect to his
country’s accession aspirations.
Here is Harald’s assessment:
Bagis showed neither the intention of persuading the European
population nor the need to forge friendships. He spoke from a position
of power and considers Turkey’s full membership in the EU beyond any
doubt, as a privileged partnership is out of the question.
Bagis’ arguments in favor of this position are as follows:
* Turkish contributions to European culture and way of life, such as
Mozart’s Turkish March, the opera "The Abduction from the Seraglio",
and coffee; Turkey has geared its policies towards the West for the
past centuries (after 1683, an army reform modeled after European
armies; the term "sick man at the Bosphorus" points to Turkey’s
European affiliation.
* Turkey’s military support of the West in Korea, Somalia, and
Afghanistan as well as Turkey’s sacrifices.
* The EU is in need of Turkey’s young and well-educated and trained
manpower.
* Turkey is crucial for European energy resources.
* Turkey as a full member raises the political strength of the EU.
* Turkey is pushing democratization.
During the question-and-answer session, Harald was able to ask the
following questions:
1. How do the following examples prove "Turkish Europeanness"?
PM Erdogan’s speech in Cologne and the issuing of ultimatums in
EU/Turkey negotiations.
Reply: Erdogan only told Turks living in Germany to learn German.
Why did Turkey take the lead in the Islamic World in the cases of
the Mohammed cartoon crisis and nomination of the new NATO Secretary
General?
Reply: We respect freedom of speech, but we do not respect insulting
religion.
For sake of good relations of NATO with Islamic World Turkey objected
to Rasmussen. We do not want to put at risk the life of western
soldiers. In Ankara we had iftar together and Rasmussen expressed
respect for Islam.
2. During a private conversation, Harald asked even more questions,
such as:
During the course of democratization, will Turkey dismantle the Diyanet
(religious authority)?
Reply: No, as this would be an act of revolution.
By the military?
Reply: No, by the supreme court.
Bagis adds that he himself has already been indicted, he knows how
the Turkish justice systems operates.
3. Other questions from the audience:
– – – – – – – – –
Turkey uses its water to act as a political strongman vis-a-vis Syria.
Reply: This has been sorted out with Syria and there will be
investments made in the area.
Parties with less than ten percent of the vote cannot sit in
parliament, which is not very democratic.
No clear answer.
Will the democratization process end the influence of the military?
Reply: The military is in favor of EU accession.
Religious minorities have no rights in Turkey.
Reply: We are making progress.
In an interview with the Austrian newspaper Kurier (print edition,
Sept.3, 2009, page 5) (), Bagis added, in response to
the interviewer’s question regarding the population’s skepticism,
"The most important factor is time. Europe’s challenges are rising:
energy supply, an aging populace, climate change, the lack of new
markets, the struggle against migrants (immigrants), drug dealers,
and terrorists. At the end of the day, the EU needs Turkey more than
vice versa."
Bagis also explained that "Turkey is currently working on a new
communications strategy, especially geared towards Austria (whose
citizens are extremely critical of Turkey’s accession plans). One
thing is for certain: We do not want to burden the EU; we want to be
part of the EU to solve problems."
To explain these statements, here an excerpt from Harald’s essay
on Turkey:
Turkey’s Janus-faced relations with Europe and the EU — there
was never a Turkish Europeanness and there never will be a Turkish
Europeanness.
Turkey is a regional power with a specific foreign policy and foreign
intervention doctrine, which enables it to counter the divided EU
foreign policy with great power. It has only its own interests in
mind; EU interests are not considered or are even actively worked
against. In line with this foreign policy opportunism, the thrust of
its foreign policy is not only aimed at the EU or Europe, but also
the Islamic and central Asian regions.
There is no shortage of military interventions to enforce its foreign
policy objectives. Approximately 30,000 Turkish soldiers have been
stationed in Cyprus since 1974, although the reason for intervention
(the fall of the Greek military regime) has been eliminated. Military
interventions in northern Iraq are also part of the intervention
doctrine.
Turkey intervenes in order to enforce its interests; if a military
intervention is not feasible, Turkey uses any means of considerable
political and economic pressure. This includes diplomatic activities
in the U.S. and the EU with respect to the Armenian genocide and the
Kurdish PKK.
Turkish interventions against the nomination of former Danish prime
minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen as NATO secretary-general remain in
fresh memory. Not freedom of expression, but Muslim sensitivities
were important for Turkey.
Anti-Western sentiments from Turkey are no surprise. In the framework
of the OIC, where the secretary-general is a Turk, Turkey acts as an
important spokesman in the battle of Islam with the West.
This was the case in the cartoon controversy, as it is now with
the current efforts of the OIC to subordinate the UN Human Rights
Declaration of 1948 to sharia law. This notion aims at subduing
criticism regarding the Islamic view on human rights.
Turkey has a constitution incompatible with that of the EU
because political life and religion are under the influence of the
military. The right to exercise religious beliefs and the right to
belong to a religious group are not in the individual’s sphere as it
is in the western world.
The religious authority, the Diyanet, regulates the religious life of
Sunni Islam, the confession of the majority of the population. Other
beliefs are disadvantaged.
The once-thriving Christian minority has been reduced to numerical
insignificance. Even 20 million Alevis, who are considered Muslim,
are impeded by the Sunni majority from practicing their religion.
The Diyanet appoints imams and sends them to countries with Turkish
populations and with populations of Turkish descent, for example
to Germany and Austria. There are local Diyanet representations in
both countries fostering religious and national ties with Turkey,
but not mandating integration efforts into the host society.
In Austria, the Diyanet is represented by ATIB. Turkish secularism
is imposed from above, not grown from the bottom up like Western
secularism. The comparison with French laicism is misleading.
The founder of the Turkish Republic, Kemal Ataturk, established the
separation of religion and state about eighty years ago, with the
military being the guarantor of the secular state and the overseer
of everything from religious life to the banning of political parties.
Despite all of Kemalism’s control, its efforts to inculcate
secularism in the population have failed. Even today there are still
two antagonistic groups: the religious population in rural areas,
including migrants to the cities, and the diminishing group of
western-oriented people in the cities.
One reason for concern is the failure of the Turkish constitutional
court: the judges could not agree on the banning of the ruling
party and the banning of the prime minister, and the head of state
as well as other politicians from politics as such due to disrespect
of principles of Turkish laicism.
For all intents and purposes, Turkey finds itself in a clash
of cultural beliefs. The headscarf has been and remains a highly
explosive ideological matter. In twisting the facts, the EU supports
the Islamic side.
The "moderate Islamist" government is step by step leading Turkey
towards the establishment of an Islamic state, and is currently
completing the necessary ideological reorientation within the state’s
administrative system.
The Turkish constitution provides not only for the special roles of
military and religious authority, but also for a religious-ethnic
centralized state. Consequently, Turkey’s constitution recognizes
no ethnic minorities, such as the twelve million Kurds living within
its borders.
In accordance with this centralized state, a striking nationalism
in Turkey lives protected by penal code provisions (prohibition of
insulting Turkishness, no criticism of the official position towards
the Armenian genocide and the Turkish invasion of Cyprus).
The omnipresent Ataturk images and statues testify to this nationalism
together with the national motto — visible almost everywhere — "If
you’re a Turk, you’re happy". In addition to Islam, this nationalism
offers an explanation for the lack of readiness for integration and
the capabilities of the Turks in Europe.
A shocking demonstration of this religious-nationalist attitude is
the murder of the employees of a Bible-printing press in Malatya
in 2007. The perpetrators justified this act as a fight against the
enemies of the faith and the Turkish nation.
Then German socialist MEP Vural Oger, of Turkish descent, poured
oil on the fire when he declared that the EU was responsible for
this criminal act because of the pressure applied on the Turkish
legislature to institute reforms.
Bringing the Turkish constitution into line with EU principles would
entail the destruction of both pillars of the Turkish constitution
and would thus put an end to Ataturk’s Turkey.
In addition, it can be seen in all clarity that the EU will either
accept a de facto military dictatorship or an Islamic state within
its ranks provided the "negotiations" with the EU continue to proceed
at the same pace. In any case, the EU will remain the pawn of Turkish
politics.
Turkeys ploughs its way into the European Union. It bullies concessions
and does not show any willingness to fulfill accession criteria. It
follows its well-established negotiation tactics: wooing — being
offended — threatening.
It wants a Turkish Europe, as clearly expressed by the Turkish prime
minister, during his recent appearance in Cologne.
Reason becomes nonsense, benefits turn into menace.