EU MUST NOT TREAT TURKEY DIFFERENTLY, SAYS AHTISAARI
Hurriyet Daily News
Friday, September 25 2009 00:03 GMT+2
The European Union should not treat Turkey differently, said former
Finnish President Marti Ahtisaari, now the chairman of the Independent
Commission on Turkey, adding that the EU’s credibility was at stake.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner spoke about his commission’s latest
report on Turkey, "Turkey in Europe: Breaking the Vicious Circle,"
at a conference in Washington late on Wednesday.
During his speech at the Brookings Institute, Ahtisaari said some
EU countries expressed their opinions that Turkey would not be an
EU member after the negotiations had started, which was against EU
decisions made unanimously at EU summits.
He said more than half of the chapters of the negotiation process
were blocked, adding that such a negative attitude caused a drop
in support in the Turkish public for the EU. "Nearly 70 percent of
Turkish people had been in favor of EU membership in 2000, but now
it dropped to 42 percent," Ahtisaari said.
Energetic stance
Ahtisaari said there was no reason for Europe to be afraid of Turkey’s
membership, adding he would not feel uncomfortable if a Turk, such as
former head of the United Nations Development Program Kemal DerviÅ~_
or Turkish President Abdullah Gul, presided over an EU meeting.
He noted that Turkish government should continue its energetic
stance, as in the first half of this decade, over reforms that he
said were slowed down "after some domestic issues such as the closure
case against the ruling AKP [Justice and Development Party], coup
rumors, controversial presidential election, Ergenekon probe, and PKK
terrorism." Ahtisaari also urged Turkey to amend the 1982 Constitution.
But Ahtisaari also said there were encouraging signs in Turkey, which
he listed as the approval of the National Program, the appointment
of a chief EU negotiator, the launch of a state-run TV broadcast
in Kurdish, academ d in universities, the meeting between Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Democratic Society Party, or DTP,
leader Ahmet Turk, and the new law that allows the trial of military
personnel at civil courts.
He said he had meetings with European leaders before his trip to the
United States and asked them to treat Turkey fairly, stop blocking
negotiations and not talk about anything other than full membership.
Ahtisaari also touched on recent development about relations between
Turkey and Armenia and said resolutions made in foreign parliaments
regarding the incidents of 1915 were not helpful for efforts to settle
problems between Turkey and Armenia.
He said good relations between Turkey and Armenia would have positive
impacts throughout the Caucasus.