Today’s Zaman, Turkey
May 25 2008
`I long for opposition with realizable dreams, not fears’
Politician Murat Mercan has apparently given considerable thought to
what he would nowadays do if he was a member of the main opposition
Republican People’s Party (CHP) instead of the ruling Justice and
Development Party (AK Party).
He has eventually reached an answer which he shared in an interview
with Sunday’s Zaman this week; he would like to see an effectively
active opposition party pushing the ruling party to make more
progressive reforms within the country’s European Union membership
process. The modernization project is a goal of the Turkish state, he
notes, and should not be limited to a particular party. Mercan, a
founding member of the AK Party, is currently head of Parliament’s
Foreign Affairs Commission. During the previous parliament, he led the
delegation representing Turkey at the Council of Europe Parliamentary
Assembly (PACE).
Regarding the issue of reactions, particularly those from opposition
parties, to statements by officials from international bodies, most
notably the European Union, concerning an ongoing closure case against
the ruling party, he said: "I have long given thought to what I would
do if I was instead [a member] of the CHP; that’s possible, we may
well be in opposition one day, that’s a necessity of democracy. I
would definitely work to be more influential for encouraging the AK
Party to act more progressively concerning Turkey’s EU membership
process. Because this modernization project is truly a project of the
state. These are not projects that could be appropriated or
personalized by Ahmet, Mehmet or the AK Party. Our people appreciate
who has made the biggest contribution to this process, and the 47
percent of the vote gained in the July 22 elections by our government
was basically about the realization of certain expectations by our
party," Mercan said.
"In other words, I would prefer to produce realizable dreams for the
future instead of creating fears, if I were in the CHP’s
situation. However, the CHP is unfortunately creating fears stemming
from the past instead of hopes for the future, and I don’t believe
that this is a sustainable way of making politics. Perhaps the CHP
could do much better than we have done, why not?" he continued.
In late March, Turkey’s Constitutional Court decided unanimously to
hear an appeal from a top prosecutor to close Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip ErdoÄ?an’s AK Party on charges that it had become a
"focal point for anti-secular activity." The prosecutor has also
sought a five-year ban from party politics for 71 politicians,
including ErdoÄ?an and former AK Party member President Abdullah
Gül.
>From the outset, a number of international bodies and foreign
politicians have criticized the case, urging respect for the rule of
law and European standards. This criticism was too much for some, who
suggested that it amounted to interference in domestic affairs and was
thus disrespectful vis-Ã -vis Turkey’s national sovereignty and
independence.
"We have to be consistent within ourselves: Turkey has not displayed
the will to become an EU member due to external pressure, and when
this will was first displayed back in the 1960s, the AK Party didn’t
even exist," Mercan said, in an apparent reference to the fact that
the relationship between Ankara and Brussels dates back to 1963, when
the Ankara Agreement was signed between Turkey and the then-European
Economic Community (EEC).
"Following the first application, this will was reaffirmed several
times, most recently during the EU summit in Helsinki in 1999, when
there was a coalition government in power which represented almost all
the political actors of today," he said. Turkey was given EU candidate
country status at the Helsinki summit in December 1999, when it was
also noted that it would be required to meet the same conditions for
accession as other countries.
Turkey started an expansive reform process after the summit in order
to meet the EU criteria and has been continuing this process ever
since. The then-coalition government under Prime Minister
Bülent Ecevit abolished the death penalty in 2002 as a historic
step toward the EU. The Copenhagen summit on Dec. 12-13, 2002, also
moved Turkey closer to the EU. The council finally decided that
negotiations would start without delay if Turkey met the Copenhagen
political criteria by the December 2004 summit.
"The EU is basically a coordination mechanism and has certain
conditions; one cannot demand to be treated according to one’s own
specific conditions. One either accepts these conditions or not; and
if one accepts, later one becomes a member. But if these certain
conditions change in time; one can say that he does not accept these
new conditions and depart from the bloc," Mercan said. "But displaying
the will to become a member and at the same time criticizing constant
conditions is a contradiction."
"It is natural for one to be annoyed with the criticism from
international bodies; there is also some criticism with which I’m
annoyed. For example I’m uneasy with some particular styles or, for
example, with some unfair rebukes by the EU concerning the so-called
Armenian genocide. But what I say at this point is this: You may be
annoyed with certain things, you may not agree with these things —
then there are two things to do, either you persuade your counterpart
by displaying that his view is incorrect, or you reach a point where
you say I’m out of this."
Nowadays, there is one thing concerning the CHP that pleased Mercan:
news reports concerning the CHP’s plans to open a representative
bureau in Brussels. "All of us should work for the rightful perception
and a true image of Turkey. There is a need for the opposition’s
contributions as much as there is a need for those of the governing
party within the EU process. Their contribution is extremely important
for the creation of dialogue and for image. If one is unhappy about
the EU’s stance, what one must do is obvious, as long as there is
sincerity in this uneasiness: It is opening dialogue, there is no
other healthy way."
25 May 2008, Sunday
EMÄ°NE KART / KERÄ°M BALCI ANKARA