Focus News, Bulgaria
Jan 3 2010
Balkans 2009: Turkey – the path of democratisation of the country;
aspirations for EU membership
3 January 2010 | 06:36 | FOCUS News Agency
Life in Turkey in 2009 was marked by a number of important political
events and processes ` the local elections towards the end of March;
the revision of the cabinet following the elections; the policy for
democratisation, which has different aspects but the main one is
considered the democratic solution of the Kurdish issue, undertaken by
the ruling Justice and Development Party (JDP); the start of the
process for normalisation of the bilateral relations with Armenia; the
EU accession talks; the activation of the Turkish foreign policy
towards the Middle East, Caucasus, and Russia, as well as the
pro-European policy and the traditionally good relations with USA. The
trial against the scandalous organisation Ergenekon, accused in
preparation of a coup against the ruling JDP, continued in 2009. The
court started working on the second indictment of the process. A
verdict is yet to be reached. The suicides of some of the accused in
made the trial even more scandalous.
Policy for democratic solution of the Kurdish issue
2009 will be remembered for the policy for democratisation, orientated
towards the solution of the Kurdish issue, which was undertaken by the
ruling JDP. The project of the government for democratic solution of
the Kurdish issue is called `Kurdish opening’ or `democratic opening,’
in the statements and documents of the cabinet. This was arguably the
most discussed topic in the country and by the media. According to the
government, the `democratic opening’ policy aims to isolate
PKK(Kurdistan Workers’ Party)’s terrorism, to provide the Kurds in
Turkey with democratic rights by starting emissions in Kurdish in the
national TV and radio air, to introduce Kurdish language in the school
curriculum, as well as Kurdish Philology in universities, to restore
the Kurdish names of towns and villages in the areas, traditionally
populated with Kurds, and etc.
The `Kurdish opening’ was the main topic of many government sittings,
and sittings of the National Security Council of Turkey, in 2009. The
aim of the government was to discuss all possible aspects of the
process and the measures that need to be taken in order to receive
political and public legitimacy. The policy was harshly criticised by
the opposition ` mainly by the Republican People’s Party and the
Nationalist Movement Party, who reacted strongly about the day,
scheduled for parliamentary discussion of the `Kurdish opening’ `
November 10. The date coincided with the anniversary of the death of
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey and its
first President.
PKK announced a truce and a ceasefire, waiting for the actions of the
government for realisation of the policy. EU praised the `Kurdish
opening’ policy. Carl Bildt, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden,
said at the Turkey – EU Troika meeting held in Istanbul in November,
that this policy has brought Turkey much closer to EU.
Groups of Kurds from refugee camps in Northern Iraq started returning
to Turkey, through the Habur border crossing, in October, as a part of
the process of democratisation. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
ErdoÄ?an, however, temporarily stopped the returning of Kurdish
separatists from Iraq, because of the reception ceremonies and the way
they were broadcasted, trying to avoid possible tension and
casualties.
Turkey – EU
Egemen BaÄ?ıÅ? was given the position as chief negotiator of Turkey in
accession talks with the EU, at the start of 2009 when the position
was separated from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, thus prioritising
Turkey’s Eurointegration. Turkey’s EU accession process saw two new
chapters in 2009, despite the positions of major European politicians
` like French President Nikolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela
Merkel, who opposed Turkey’s EU accession. The Czech and Swedish
presidencies in 2009 supported Turkey’s EU membership, under the
condition that the Balkan state fulfilled all necessary requirements.
The `Taxation’ chapter of Turkey’s pre-accession talks was opened
towards the end of the Czech Presidency, while during the Swedish
Presidency the `Environment’ chapter was opened as well. This makes
the total number of opened chapters ` 12 out of 33.
The Turkish government actively promote the benefits of Turkey’s EU
accession to the EU representatives. According to Turkey, the fact
that the country is situated on two continents and is practically a
bridge between Europe and Asia and the Middle East would turn EU into
the biggest global player on the international political sphere.
According to Egemen BaÄ?ıÅ?, Turkey’s EU accession would be a positive
signal not only to the 70 million Turks, but also to the 3 billion
Muslims, who feel neglected and isolated by Europe. BaÄ?ıÅ? noted that
Turkey’s EU accession, which was filed in back in 1959, was supported
by all political parties in the East Balkan state.
Is there a change in the foreign policy orientation of Turkey?
The Turkish foreign policy made very important steps in 2009. The
appointment of Ahmet DavutoÄ?lu as Turkey’s Minister of Foreign
Affairs, in the beginning of May, was considered as a positive step of
Turkey’s diplomacy with the Islamic world and closer ties with the
Middle East. Despite the fact that foreign analysts and media consider
DavutoÄ?lu as a neo-Ottoman, he rejects such accusations. The Western
media define the new Turkish foreign minister as `the name that stands
behind Turkey’s closer ties with the Middle East.’ One of the main
priorities, which DavutoÄ?lu announced for his foreign policy, was `No
problems with the neighbours.’ In this connection DavutoÄ?lu increased
the efforts for normalisation of Turkey’s relations with Armenia.
DavutoÄ?lu also rejected the statements that Turkey has drifted apart
from the West and has changed the axis of its foreign policy. He
stated that the axis of Turkey’s foreign policy was very clear `
European orientation and integration of Turkey, and urged the EU not
to erect new `Berlin walls.’
New beginning in the Armenia ` Turkey relations
The process of normalisation of the relations between Turkey and
Armenia started on September 6 2008 with the visit of Turkey’s
President Abdullah Gül in Yerevan for a football game between Armenia
and Turkey. 2009 marked a strong diplomatic traffic between the two
states, criticised by the opposition parties in both countries. The
Presidents of Turkey, Armenia, and Azerbaijan ` Abdullah Gül, Serzh
Sargsyan, and Ilham Aliyev had an official meeting in Prague, where
they discussed the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, which is one of the most
controversial issue between the three countries. Azerbaijan protested
when Turkey and Armenia reached a decision to re-open the border
between the two countries, stating that this should only happen after
`Armenia stopped its occupation’ in Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenia
expressed its position on a number of occasions, saying that there
should be no preset conditions behind the normalisation of the
Turkish-Armenian relations. The Armenian opposition accused President
Serzh Sargsyan in betrayal of the cause for recognition of the
Armenian genocide and about Nagorno-Karabakh, because of the
established relations with Turkey.
The protocols for normalisation of the relations between Armenia and
Turkey were signed on October 10 in Zurich by Turkish Minister of
Foreign Affairs Ahmet DavutoÄ?lu and his Armenian counterpart Edward
Nalbandian with a slight delay, because of certain phrases in the
statements that had to be made after the signing. The agreement, which
stipulated establishing of diplomatic relations between the two
countries and extension of the bilateral relations, was defined as a
`historic’ one. US President Barack Obama expressed his satisfaction
with the historical event, after the ceremony, and stated his support
behind the process. EU also welcomed the process and expressed hope
that it would contribute to strengthening and improvement of the ties
between Armenia and EU.
Local elections 2009
One of Turkey’s milestones in 2009 was the local elections on March
29. The global economic crisis and its reflection on Turkey, which was
seriously affected from the very beginning, played a major part on the
election results. JDP won around 40% of the votes, which is more than
7% less than their result from the National Assembly elections on July
22 2007. According to the opposition and the critics of the
government, it has failed to take adequate actions as the economic
crisis was deepening.
Prime Minster Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an expressed his confidence, before
the elections, that the global crisis would have a slight effect on
Turkey. The unemployment in Turkey reached record-high levels of
between 13.8% and 15.5%, in the first months of 2009. ErdoÄ?an
promised, after the elections, that the government would quickly adopt
an anti-crisis programme, and with the revision of the cabinet in the
beginning of May he aimed at having more control on the economic
policies of the government. The main fields of the Turkish industry
like the automobile and textile had a serious downturn, but after the
anti-crisis measures for temporary reducing and removing of certain
taxes, the consumption was stimulated, which also had a positive
effect on the production in the period August ` October. According to
the economic prognoses, Turkey would recover from the crisis very
quickly.
Nevena Gramatikova