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Links: 'We Turks want to be a part of Europe, but with our honour and values
intact': People say they cannot continue to sacrifice their culture and feel
insulted by hostile European attitudes
The Guardian - United Kingdom
Dec 18, 2004
HELENA SMITH IN BEYPAZARI
Since Ottoman times, the people of Beypazari have rarely had to stop
their slow-motion lives to think of the world beyond the Anatolian
slopes that surround them.
But this quiet town, a showcase of social and economic progress which
is anchored at the country's east-west crossroads, has been obsessed by
the thought of Turkey achieving membership of the EU, and the arguments
raging here yesterday were doubtless being echoed across the land.
For some in the town, there is the giddy excitement that a 40-year
wait to join the continent of Europe may be coming to an end; others,
though, say this must not come at any price. And if they had one
thing in common yesterday, it was irritation with the EU.
Many said they felt unhappy at what they viewed as the EU's lack of
regard for the country's culture and traditions.
"They [Europeans] have been teasing us for 40 years. And now they're
delaying our membership again. It really bothers us," said a local
jeweller, Ismail Akbay. "We don't have to accept whatever the EU
asks from us. That's just too many sacrifices. We should try and find
a mid-point."
Even worse, said Yakup Turkoglu, a restaurant owner, was the blatant
discrimination of some EU states against the predominantly Muslim
country. "Personally, I think our bond with the EU can only be
economic. We can't be united politically or culturally because the
EU has so many prejudices against us as Muslims."
Huddled against the biting cold in a popular tavern, Peri Memis, a
headscarved mother-of-two, agreed. "I'm really worried that Europe's
going to ask us to change our traditions and bring up our children
with cultural values that aren't our own," she said, clasping her
daughter's hand. "They've already said we're not allowed to eat the
intestines of sheep."
But in Beypazari, at least, it is the perception of being "humiliated"
by an EU allegedly bent on moving the goalposts that remains by far
the biggest complaint. Why, many asked, should Turkey fulfil any more
conditions if there was no guarantee of the country joining the union?
"We Turks want to be part of Europe, but with our honour and values
intact," said Irfan Solmaz, a factory worker. "The Europeans are
humiliating us with so many conditions. We're afraid that as Muslims
we'll be assimilated in this Christian club."
Even Mansur Yavas, the mayor of the market town and an undiluted EU
enthusiast, said he felt "hurt" by the attitudes of Europeans towards
his country. All the talk about minority rights for Turkey's Kurdish
and Armenian communities, he said, had rekindled suspicions that
Europe's underlying intention was the break-up of the Turkish state.
There were certain red lines that Turks couldn't cross. "Now they're
asking us to say we discriminated against the Armenians when we never
did any such thing," he said indignantly.
"The conditions they're placing on us are becoming comical. Soon
they'll be saying Turkish men should cut off their moustaches and
change their hairstyles. All of these are double-standards that were
never imposed on any other [EU] candidate."
So far, under the leadership of the prime minister, Tayyip Erdogan,
Ankara's Islamic-leaning government has skilfully contained mounting
resentment towards the EU. Yesterday, Mr Yavas admitted that, like
Turks elsewhere, many of his constituents' ambivalence over Europe
was born of ignorance.
But he added: "Every day they wake up to a new condition from the
EU. The misconception that we'll have to change our culture is very
much to blame on the confusion that has arisen as a result."
Few places evoke as much admiration among Turks as Beypazari, and
there is recognition here among business leaders of the advantages
that EU membership could bring.
Barely five years ago, the town was a jumble of decaying wooden houses,
testimony to the poverty and unemployment that have marred Turkey's
EU aspirations.
Under Mr Yavas's entrepreneurial mayorship, buildings have been
restored and the handicraft industry re-energised, triggering a
tourism boom that few ever expected. Far from hiding in their homes,
women now stride purposefully along the streets, selling their wares
in gaily coloured shawls.
"Beypazari proves how fast things can change in Turkey," said the
mayor, seated behind a laptop computer in his spacious office.
With the success has come optimism, highlighted by the dream of
joining the EU. Locals hope that, soon, they will begin exporting
rice and cotton as well as the town's famous carrots to the bloc.
"We made the decision to look west with Ataturk [the soldier-statesman
who founded the modern republic out of the crumbling Ottoman empire
in 1923]," said Mr Yavas. "Turks have always wanted to have the same
living standards as people in the west."
www.byegm.gov.tr/on-sayfa/ab/ eu-np.htm Turkish government: EU
programme
www.deltur.cec.eu.int EU delegation to Turkey
guardian.co.uk/turkey
An EU flag flies in front of a mosque in the Turkish capital, Ankara
intact': People say they cannot continue to sacrifice their culture and feel
insulted by hostile European attitudes
The Guardian - United Kingdom
Dec 18, 2004
HELENA SMITH IN BEYPAZARI
Since Ottoman times, the people of Beypazari have rarely had to stop
their slow-motion lives to think of the world beyond the Anatolian
slopes that surround them.
But this quiet town, a showcase of social and economic progress which
is anchored at the country's east-west crossroads, has been obsessed by
the thought of Turkey achieving membership of the EU, and the arguments
raging here yesterday were doubtless being echoed across the land.
For some in the town, there is the giddy excitement that a 40-year
wait to join the continent of Europe may be coming to an end; others,
though, say this must not come at any price. And if they had one
thing in common yesterday, it was irritation with the EU.
Many said they felt unhappy at what they viewed as the EU's lack of
regard for the country's culture and traditions.
"They [Europeans] have been teasing us for 40 years. And now they're
delaying our membership again. It really bothers us," said a local
jeweller, Ismail Akbay. "We don't have to accept whatever the EU
asks from us. That's just too many sacrifices. We should try and find
a mid-point."
Even worse, said Yakup Turkoglu, a restaurant owner, was the blatant
discrimination of some EU states against the predominantly Muslim
country. "Personally, I think our bond with the EU can only be
economic. We can't be united politically or culturally because the
EU has so many prejudices against us as Muslims."
Huddled against the biting cold in a popular tavern, Peri Memis, a
headscarved mother-of-two, agreed. "I'm really worried that Europe's
going to ask us to change our traditions and bring up our children
with cultural values that aren't our own," she said, clasping her
daughter's hand. "They've already said we're not allowed to eat the
intestines of sheep."
But in Beypazari, at least, it is the perception of being "humiliated"
by an EU allegedly bent on moving the goalposts that remains by far
the biggest complaint. Why, many asked, should Turkey fulfil any more
conditions if there was no guarantee of the country joining the union?
"We Turks want to be part of Europe, but with our honour and values
intact," said Irfan Solmaz, a factory worker. "The Europeans are
humiliating us with so many conditions. We're afraid that as Muslims
we'll be assimilated in this Christian club."
Even Mansur Yavas, the mayor of the market town and an undiluted EU
enthusiast, said he felt "hurt" by the attitudes of Europeans towards
his country. All the talk about minority rights for Turkey's Kurdish
and Armenian communities, he said, had rekindled suspicions that
Europe's underlying intention was the break-up of the Turkish state.
There were certain red lines that Turks couldn't cross. "Now they're
asking us to say we discriminated against the Armenians when we never
did any such thing," he said indignantly.
"The conditions they're placing on us are becoming comical. Soon
they'll be saying Turkish men should cut off their moustaches and
change their hairstyles. All of these are double-standards that were
never imposed on any other [EU] candidate."
So far, under the leadership of the prime minister, Tayyip Erdogan,
Ankara's Islamic-leaning government has skilfully contained mounting
resentment towards the EU. Yesterday, Mr Yavas admitted that, like
Turks elsewhere, many of his constituents' ambivalence over Europe
was born of ignorance.
But he added: "Every day they wake up to a new condition from the
EU. The misconception that we'll have to change our culture is very
much to blame on the confusion that has arisen as a result."
Few places evoke as much admiration among Turks as Beypazari, and
there is recognition here among business leaders of the advantages
that EU membership could bring.
Barely five years ago, the town was a jumble of decaying wooden houses,
testimony to the poverty and unemployment that have marred Turkey's
EU aspirations.
Under Mr Yavas's entrepreneurial mayorship, buildings have been
restored and the handicraft industry re-energised, triggering a
tourism boom that few ever expected. Far from hiding in their homes,
women now stride purposefully along the streets, selling their wares
in gaily coloured shawls.
"Beypazari proves how fast things can change in Turkey," said the
mayor, seated behind a laptop computer in his spacious office.
With the success has come optimism, highlighted by the dream of
joining the EU. Locals hope that, soon, they will begin exporting
rice and cotton as well as the town's famous carrots to the bloc.
"We made the decision to look west with Ataturk [the soldier-statesman
who founded the modern republic out of the crumbling Ottoman empire
in 1923]," said Mr Yavas. "Turks have always wanted to have the same
living standards as people in the west."
www.byegm.gov.tr/on-sayfa/ab/ eu-np.htm Turkish government: EU
programme
www.deltur.cec.eu.int EU delegation to Turkey
guardian.co.uk/turkey
An EU flag flies in front of a mosque in the Turkish capital, Ankara