TURKEY SEES GROWING RESERVATIONS OVER EU BID

Deutsche Welle
14.10.2009
Turkey

eu and turkish flags in front of a mosque Groansicht des Bildes mit
der Bildunterschrift: Turkey still needs to step up reforms to join
the EU The EU’s annual report on Turkey’s membership bid has praised
Ankara for its reform and foreign policy initiatives. But this is
being met with little enthusiasm in Turkey as doubts over its bid
continue to grow.

The European Commission’s annual progress report on Turkey’s bid
to join the European Union will have been welcome reading for the
Turkish government. It was largely positive, stressing important steps
on reforms to improve freedom of expression, efforts to resolve the
conflict with Kurdish rebels and significant diplomatic initiatives,
like improving relations with Armenia.

Brussels did voice concerns about press freedom in relation to a
multi-billion-euro tax-evasion case against media group Dogan Media
Holding, a vocal critic of the current government.

Even so, Ergemen Bagis, the cabinet minister responsible for Turkey’s
bid to join the EU, welcomed the report’s largely positive findings.

"EU membership is one of the basic goals of our government," Bagis
said. "We will continue our efforts with great determination and will
work hard to get a more positive report next year."

No EU-wide support for Turkey

However, Bagis’ optimism is increasingly meaningless, according to
Professor Cengiz Aktar, head of European Union studies at Istanbul’s
Bachesehir University. Aktar said such reports from the EU executive
were merely becoming an academic exercise. He said the results
represented "total schizophrenia."

Armenian foreign minister Edouard Nalbandian and Turkish foreign
minister Ahmet DavutogluBildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit
der Bildunterschrift: Armenia and Turkey’s foreign ministers have
just signed an agreement to normalize relations

"On the one hand, Turkey is now moving with this Kurdish opening
and this opening towards Armenia," Aktar told Deutsche Welle letely
stalled. It is like day and night."

Aktar said the rest of Europe was absent.

"The European Commission is there, but the European Union member states
are not," he said. "They are not supporting Turkey in its endeavors."

Currently, various EU members are blocking 15 of the 35 chapters –
areas where reforms may be necessary to bring a country in line with
EU legislation – that Turkey must complete to achieve membership. With
only a handful of chapters remaining, the entire process is threatening
to grind to a halt.

Cyprus is a major sticking point

Many of the chapters are blocked because of an impasse over the divided
Mediterranean island of Cyprus. Turkey has refused to open its ports
and airports to the Greek Cypriots until the EU lifts its embargo
against the Turkish side of the island. The EU accession report
warned that Turkey must meet its obligations to all EU members –
including Cyprus.

But Suat Kiniklioglu, spokesman for the Turkish parliamentary
foreign affairs committee, said Turkey won’t back down despite the
EU requirements that it open direct trade with Cyprus.

"There is no way we are going to open the ports to Greek Cyprus,"
Kiniklioglu said.

The row over the ports could come to a head at the end of this
year. Under a protocol signed by Turkey with the EU, it risks having
the talks suspended unless it opens its ports to Cyprus by December.

Richard Howitt, a member of the European Parliament’s committee on
Turkey, said that Ankara was in danger of throwing away all the good
work it had achieved with this year’s report.

"I warn them that there isn’t too much ambiguity, I would even argue
no ambiguity in that legal text agreed by the council ministers,"
Howitt said. "So don’t underestimate the threat of the talks being
suspended altogether."

But such a threat does not carry the weight it once did. For with
French President Nicholas Sarkozy, who opposes Turkey’s bid to join the
27-nation bloc on principle, there is a growing belief both among the
people and politicians that its bid is d o forever remain just that:
a bid.