HISTORY OF THE EU
BY ULUC GURKAN (STAR)
Appearing on television yesterday, Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey had taken the
steps necessary for a Cyprus resolution, adding,
however, that it was impossible for Turkey to recognize
Greek Cyprus before this month’s European Union summit.
“The EU cannot impose this on us,” he said. Erdogan
stressed that he hoped Ankara’s accession talks with the
EU would begin in the first half of next year and
reiterated that proposals for “privileged partnership”
were unacceptable. /Cumhuriyet/
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday met with Iraqi Vice
President Ibrahim al-Jafari. During their one-hour-plus
meeting, al-Jafari said that his country wanted to
strengthen ties with Turkey. He added that during its
reconstruction process, Iraq hoped to learn from
Erdogan’s experience in both politics and democracy. For
his part, Erdogan stressed the importance of all sectors
of Iraqi society having a seat at the country’s
political table, adding that he hoped to see more action
to end deadly attacks on Turkish truck drivers doing
cross-border business. In related news, two more Turkish
truck drivers in Iraq were reportedly killed this week.
/Turkiye/
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday was honored with the
“European of the Year” award presented by Brussels-based
weekly newspaper European Voice. The accolade was
received in Erdogan’s stead by Saban Disli, the ruling
Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) deputy chairman.
Speaking at the ceremony, EU officials praised Erdogan’s
accomplishments and leadership. /Turkiye/
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, who is currently paying a visit to
Slovenia, yesterday met with his counterpart Ivo Vajgel
in Jubljana. Asked afterwards by reporters whether
Turkey would recognize Greek Cyprus, Gul said that in
the absence of a settlement on the island, Ankara did
not favor doing so. Gul reiterated that Turkey had
fulfilled the Copenhagen criteria and that no hurdles
remained to Turkey beginning its European Union
accession talks. Stressing that Ankara would not accept
any “special status” with the EU short of membership,
Gul said, “We already have a special status; we are in
the Customs Union, although we’re not a full EU member.”
For his part, Vajgel stated that his country would
continue to push for a specific date being given for
Turkey starting its accession talks. In addition, Gul
addressed a conference at Ljubljana University on
Ankara’s EU membership process. /Turkiye/
In Berlin yesterday, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and visiting
Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt pledged to
coordinate their support for Turkey’s European Union
membership bid. The two leaders stated that Turkey
should start its membership talks in 2005, stressing
that the talks’ ultimate goal should be the country’s
full membership. Alternate arrangements such as a
“privileged partnership” are unacceptable, they added.
/Hurriyet/
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Spanish Prime Jose Luis
Rodriguez yesterday both expressed their support for
Turkey beginning its accession talks with the European
Union. Speaking at a joint press conference, Berlusconi
said that they had agreed to support Ankara beginning
its EU talks. “We should encourage Turkey’s desire to
integrate with the EU,” added Berlusconi. /Cumhuriyet/
Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende and his Danish counterpart
Anders Fogh Rasmussen yesterday declared that if Turkey
doesn’t faithfully follow its European Union accession
reform program, then its expected membership talks
should be suspended. Beginning Ankara’s talks doesn’t
mean that the country can automatically join the EU,
they added, predicting further that the talks could last
for 10-15 years. /Aksam/
European Parliament President Josep Borrell yesterday characterized an
EP report on Turkey adopted earlier this week as
“positive.” Speaking to Turkish reporters in Brussels,
Borrell said that the report also underlined the
continued failure to solve the Cyprus issue, adding that
Turkey should recognize Greek Cyprus in order to start
its accession talks. “You can’t sit at the table with a
country which you don’t recognize,” he added. /Aksam/
At a joint press conference yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Abdullatif
Sener, Finance Minister Kemal Unakitan and State
Minister for the Economy Ali Babacan yesterday unveiled
a new pre-European Union accession economic program
(KEP) meant to push Turkey’s EU bid. Speaking to
reporters, Sener said that the KEP would be a basic
reference document for Ankara’s medium-term program with
the International Monetary Fund. Asked whether the KEP
had been prepared on the assumption that Ankara’s EU
accession talks would begin, Sener said that the Turkish
economy was ready to face a range of contingencies. For
his part, Babacan said that negotiations on a new
standby agreement with the IMF were nearing completion,
adding, however, there was not yet a firm signing date.
“The standby will be limited compared to the KEP,” added
Babacan. Also addressing the gathering, Unakitan said
that the privatization of state oil company TUPRAS would
be raised again soon. /Milliyet/
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer is set to chair a special meeting next
week with the participation of Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, Chief of
General Staff Gen. Hilmi Ozkok and Foreign Ministry
Undersecretary Ali Tuygan, as well as Murat Sungar,
Turkey’s European Union secretary-general. Opposition
Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal is
also expected to be invited to the gathering, which will
focus on Turkey’s European Union membership prospects on
the eve of the Dec. 17 EU summit. /Turkiye/
Shocked on Tuesday by a surprise Slovakian Parliament resolution urging
recognition of the so-called Armenian genocide, the
Foreign Ministry demanded an explanation from Slovakia’s
Embassy in Ankara. Embassy officials replied that they
were also shocked by the development, adding that it is
not a binding resolution. Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul
is expected to summon the Slovakian ambassador for a
more in-depth briefing after returning to Turkey from
his current visit to Slovenia. The decision is entirely
ignorant of history, charged Foreign Ministry officials.
/Hurriyet/
Ankara is ready to welcome Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin
for a two-day visit beginning this Sunday. Security
forces will take unprecedented measures to protect the
Russian leader, as with 3,000 policemen deployed in the
city. Putin’s wife Ludmila Putina is expected to
accompany him. In related news, Moscow has filed a
complaint with the International Maritime Organization
(IMO) charging that Russian ships were held up by
Turkish officials during a recent passage through the
Bosphorus. The complaint was discussed yesterday during
an IMO meeting in London, and is due to be taken up
again next week. Turkey is defending its measures to
regulate and protect the straits. /Hurriyet/
Greek Cyprus yesterday objected to a leaked section of a draft
statement on Turkey prepared by European Union Term
President the Netherlands saying that Ankara needed to
recognize Greek Cyprus for its EU bid to go forward.
Greek Cypriot Foreign Minister George Yakovu, visiting
The Hague, said yesterday that his government would not
make solving the Cyprus issue a precondition for Ankara
to begin its EU negotiations. “On the contrary, we want
to help Turkey enter the Union. But, in order to do
that, they should first help us,” said Yakovu. /Turkiye/
State Minister for the Economy Ali Babacan yesterday met with
International Monetary Fund Turkey Desk Chief Reza
Moghadam to discuss a proposed new standby agreement
with Ankara. Among other issues they discussed were
recent reforms on taxes, social security and banking law
as well as changes in health insurance and retirement.
/Star/
State Minister Kursad Tuzmen and Russian Energy and Industry Minister
Victor Hristenko yesterday signed an investment protocol
at a Turkish-Russian Joint Economic Commission (KEK)
meeting in Moscow. While in the capital, Tuzmen also
visited the Russian-Turkish Businessmen’s Union. “We
want to boost our investments in Turkey, particularly in
the fields of oil, natural gas and aluminum,” said
Hristenko. Praising the Turkish companies doing business
in his country, Hristenko underlined that Russian firms
want to take part in Turkey’s privatization process. For
his part, Tuzmen noted that a Turkish Commerce and
Investment Zone is soon to be established on Russian
soil. /Star/
Columnist Oktay Eksi comments on Turkey’s European Union membership
bid. A summary of his column is as follows:
“As the Dec. 17 European Union summit approaches, we
are facing new annoyances. A draft statement prepared by
EU Term President the Netherlands includes sections
implicitly calling for the recognition of Greek Cyprus
as well as proposals for ‘open-ended’ talks, permanent
limitations on the movement of Turkish workers into EU
countries, a ‘special partnership’ for Turkey instead of
membership, and ending the talks if seen as necessary.
These proposals aren’t well-intentioned aims for
integration with Turkey. Instead they seek to discourage
our membership bid or test our pride. What these
proposals actually say is: ‘After you hang about for 10
or 15 years, we don’t want to see you as an equal member
of the Union, but as modern servants to sweep the
streets of Europe.’
It’s clear that this war of annoyances will continue
until Dec. 17, where EU leaders will decide on starting
our accession talks. I don’t say ‘whether to start
accession talks,’ because the decision of the Helsinki
summit of 1999 is clear: If we fulfill our duties, the
way to our membership would be opened. It’s been over
four years. First they wanted us to fulfill the
short-term criteria in one year and the long-term
criteria in three. We fulfilled all of them, and they
confirmed this with a report. When we asked them whether
anything remained to fulfill the Copenhagen criteria,
some countries (especially France, Netherlands and
Austria) started to be evasive. They proposed ‘special
partnership’ for Turkey. French President Jacques
Chirac’s attitude proposing a ‘special partnership’ is
very disappointing. If you had such an idea in mind, why
43 years ago did you promise that Turkey would become an
EU member after fulfilling certain criteria?
It would be terrible for the EU to maintain this
stance, for they would be discriminating against a
country which they promised equal membership. For it
would mean they lack the honor to keep their promises.”
Columnist Uluc Gurkan comments on Turkey’s European Union membership
bid. A summary of his column is as follows:
“When can Turkey join the EU? The leaked draft
statement prepared by EU Term President the Netherlands
doesn’t answer this question. In addition, French daily
Liberation wrote, ‘Turkey can’t become an EU member
before 2015 or 2020.’ The EU is giving Turkey a process
of membership negotiations lasting more than 15 years
but isn’t guaranteeing full membership. It also stated
that talks might be suspended if human rights violations
continue. The approval of two-thirds of the 25 EU
countries is envisaged to decide on this issue. The
draft statement doesn’t say that Turkey should give up
full membership and accept a special status. However, it
also doesn’t guarantee that this emphasis on special
status won’t be added to the final document at the Dec.
17 EU summit at France’s behest. Actually, what’s
envisaged for Turkey doesn’t seem to be full membership.
The draft statement clearly said that free movement
might be permanently limited. Obviously, if Turkey
becomes a full member, the EU will be under some
pressure, so such limitations are natural. Likewise,
this was tried for other new members. However, these
limitations can’t be valid for full members.
It’s understood that during our membership talks
process, we will face a great many difficult conditions.
The most important of these are recognizing Greek
Cyprus, solving our Aegean disputes in favor of Greece,
and recognizing the so-called Armenian genocide. Turkey
can’t accept these conditions by insisting on EU
membership as our only aim. Accepting them would mean
giving up being a nation. Turkey should be a real
negotiator after Dec. 17. The way to ensure this isn’t
resisting all these conditions. Turkey should implement
certain arrangements which will improve its democracy
and respect for human rights. In addition, it should
begin human-oriented development. Claims of bad
treatment and torture should end and the use of
excessive force in the fight against terrorism should
stop. Turkey should take steps to bring its democracy to
world standards on its own, not at the EU’s insistence.
Turkey and Turks have the power and experience to
integrate advanced democracy with our own national
values.”
