ANSAmed

Oct 2, 2009â?

Jewish Telegraphic Agency

TURKEY-UE: DAVOTOGLU IN BRUSSELS, RESTART NEGOTIATIONS

(ANSAmed) – BRUSSELS – Agreements must be respected, whatever the
outcome of the Irish referendum may be. The European Union is
definitively bound for historic and geographic reasons to Turkey and
this necessitates a political response: there will not be a future
role as a global power for Europe without Ankara. And once these
economic ties are established, the commitment made in 2004 must be
honoured, which promised access to the 27-member EU. This was the
message launched by Turkish Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, in his
speech to a conference organised in Brussels by the European Policy
Centre, before meeting with European Commission President, Jose’
Manuel Barroso. According to Davutoglu, the EU cannot barricade itself
behind the current boundaries of the 27-member states because ”there
is no Great Wall of China between the EU and non-EU countries”,
explaining how Turkey plays a key role geopolitically on more than one
common front with Europe:
”Turkey is a European country, but also the Balkans, the
Mediterranean, Asia, and the Middle East, and at this point, the
Gulf”. Essentially, ”the crisis demonstrated that no prosperity is
permanent and having a global vision means challenges. Ankara ”in the
past 7 years has worked on a proactive foreign policy. Our principle
is economic integration with our neighbours,” explained the minister,
”and this provides a prospect of stability. Economic interdependency
and cultural co-existence are the best path to achieve peace”. Then
he posed a question: ”It is better to join Turkey’s potential to that
of the EU or keep them separate? Differently from 10 years ago,”
said the minister, ”I believe that at this point we are all certain
that we provide stability”. Without forgetting about their common
destiny on other fronts, from energy security to environmental issues:
”Turkey provides only advantages,” concluded the minister. The
Nabucco project, which is strategic for Ankara, would not compromise
EU-Russia relations, simply because it is complementary to
others. ”We are not thinking about two competing energy policies,”
he added, ”since we buy energy from Russia. We are talking about
different gas pipelines: one goes from north to south and the other
goes from east to west.” There are only two elements that complicate
the panorama: Cyprus and Armenia, for which we will ”continue to do
everything possible” and negotiations are continuing. This does not
take away from the fact that Cyprus’ entry into the EU has left a bad
taste in their mouth. ”If the Cyprus issue had been resolved back
then,” said Davutoglu, ”today there would not be a problem with the
Customs Union, with Turkey’s ports and airports not being open to
Greek-Cypriots and the embargo against Turkish Cypriots. But Ankara is
not giving up and hope that negotiations to enter into the EU will be
restarted after having evaluated their ”continued efforts” on a
diplomatic level. Certainly ”we will not recognise Greek Cyprus if
the matter is not resolved,” concluded Davutoglu. And as for the
result of the Irish referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon, ”we are not
worried because the European leaders’ commitment to grant access to
Turkey was assumed in 2004 and ”agreements must be
respected”. (ANSAmed).