The Australian
December 16, 2004 Thursday All-round Country Edition
No half measures, Turkey tells EU
TURKISH Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan turned up the heat on the
European Union yesterday, insisting his nation deserved full
membership and warning that anything less would be a “historic
mistake”.
In a speech to his party that was frequently interrupted by ovations,
Mr Erdogan put the onus squarely on the 25-nation EU ahead of
tomorrow’s summit in Brussels.
He said Turkey, Europe’s biggest Muslim nation, had met all criteria
required to start membership talks, particularly in the areas of
human rights and political reform. “We, as a country, have done what
we had to do to start membership talks,” he told members of his
Justice and Development Party. “The rest is the responsibility of the
EU.”
Tomorrow’s meeting is expected to give the green light to accession
talks with Turkey, but several EU states are pressing for tight
restrictions on the agreement.
These include an understanding that Turkey will not join the EU for
at least a decade and that the talks can be broken off at any time if
Ankara reverses reforms.
The agreement is also expected to include conditions designed to
prevent a flood of Turkish immigrants into richer EU nations.
However, Mr Erdogan said, Turkey had its own, non-negotiable demands.
“What needs to be done is clear: unconditional full membership, a
clear negotiating process without the need for a second decision and
no new political conditions apart from the Copenhagen criteria,” he
said.
The Copenhagen criteria are standards that candidate countries must
fulfil to be eligible for membership talks.
“We have said on several occasions that we will not accept a decision
that is not based on full membership and which offers special
status,” Mr Erdogan said.
“I believe the EU will not approve a historic mistake which will
weaken its own foundations, and will make a decision in line with
Turkey’s expectations.”
While the EU is expected to approve membership talks with Turkey,
member states are divided over the detail. There is no agreement on
when talks should start and some countries support a “special
partnership” with Ankara should negotiations fail.
Turkey has categorically rejected such a partnership and insists it
wants membership talks to start next year.
Draft summit conclusions leaked to the media warn that talks will be
suspended if Turkey violates EU principles and they do not guarantee
that the talks will end in membership.
“The open-ended nature of negotiations carries a dangerous
uncertainty not only about the outcome of the negotiations but also
their objective,” Mr Erdogan said.
“We can keep up our enthusiasm for progress only if all question
marks over the ultimate target of negotiations are cleared from our
minds.”
The draft also says the EU reserves the right to impose permanent
restrictions on freedom of movement in a bid to prevent a massive
influx of immigrants from Turkey, and adds that Ankara must recognise
EU member Cyprus.
In a speech to parliament, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul
slammed the proposal for permanent safeguards as illegitimate and
vowed that Ankara would make no “direct or indirect move” to
recognise Cyprus unless there was a lasting settlement on the divided
island.
Turkey recognises only the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of
Northern Cyprus and not the internationally recognised Greek Cypriot
government in the south.
France, although nominally on Turkey’s side, has also fuelled Turkish
frustration by using the word genocide for the first time to describe
the 1915-17 Ottoman Empire massacre of Armenians.
French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier told parliament yesterday that
Paris would ask many questions, notably about “the Armenian
genocide”, in eventual membership talks.
It is French pressure above all that is likely to result in the EU
failing to abide by a promise to launch accession talks “without
delay” once the leaders give their approval.
Fearful of the Turkey question overshadowing a referendum on the EU’s
first constitution, Paris wants the launch of the negotiations put
back to the second half of next year.
Such fears are not without foundation given that in France, as in
Germany, public opinion is largely hostile to Turkey’s EU bid.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress