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Newropeans Magazine, France
Nov 25 2004
Turkey: Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow?
- 1st Part -
© Newropeans Magazine
An exhibition currently at the German Historical Museum on the Unter
den Linden in Berlin entitled Myths of the Nations has attracted
considerable attention with its displays of how people from different
nations have formed and reformed the narratives of their experiences
both of WWII and the Holocaust over the past sixty years. The purpose
of the exhibition is to impress upon the visitor that national memory
is really the past continuously re-interpreted through the present.
United Kingdom , our partner
Nowhere have the memories of the war faded. On the contrary, they are
constantly being renewed in ever-changing variations (German
Historical Museum, Berlin, November 2004)
However, experiencing the layered myths of Berlin at an exhibition
would remain incomplete if does not also include a long look in the
mirror. The Germans have accepted the responsibility for untangling
their past. But there is such terrible history elsewhere - the Gulag,
the 'disappeared', Cambodia, Rwanda - that needs to be stripped of
congealed myth and denial.
This congealed myth and denial also applies to Turkey and the
massacres perpetrated by the Ottoman regime against Armenians in
Turkey between 1896 and 1923 - including the Armenian Genocide of
1915. And it becomes even more vivid and germane today as Turkey
gears up to enter into negotiations with the EU with a view toward
membership of the European Club some time after 2015 - assuming that
the negotiations proceed on time and without major hitches.
It is therefore understandable that Turkish candidacy to the EU has
opened up discussions regarding Turkish 'appurtenance' to this
regional club. My earlier article of 31 August 2004 entitled Dreaming
West, Moving East focused on some of the issues - from geography to
demography to history to human rights - that are part of the present
discourse. A Convention in Brussels organised last month by the
European Armenian Federation also focused, inter alia, on Turkish EU
membership.
So it seems churlish to re-hash those same points today, save to add
that there are serious concerns voiced by Armenians and non-Armenians
alike not so much over the issue of candidacy per se as much as over
the conditions under which Turkey is being admitted into the EU. In
my view, these conditions or criteria are still not being met today.
Happy is he who calls himself a Turk is the slogan that was devised
by Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, as he set about
forging a fresh 'European' identity for his people. And for most of
the past eighty years, those principles have been held sacrosanct by
the Turkish authorities that have brooked no criticism and tolerated
no dissent or divergence of opinion.
As the latest edition of the Economist magazine writes, Turkey has
indefatigably tried to consolidate its European character over the
past century. It joined the Council of Europe on 9 August 1949, and
later the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation on 18 February 1952. As
far back as 1963, General Charles de Gaulle and Chancellor Adenauer
had already acknowledged Turkey's 'vocation' to join the European
Community. A Customs Union Treaty was signed on 1 January 1996, and
ever since the EU Council of Ministers' summits of Helsinki (1999)
and Copenhagen (2002), a tacit understanding was concluded that
negotiations would open between Turkey and the EU in 2005.
But this tacit understanding was also clearly predicated on a number
of 'pre-conditions' that Turkey would need to fulfil in the
political, legal and socio-economic spheres prior to negotiations. I
would argue that some of those fundamental criteria have not been met
by Turkey to date. It is quite true that we have witnessed a number
of reforms toward democracy under the present Turkish government.
State-run military courts are in the process of disappearing, the
death penalty has been abolished, the defence of 'attenuating
circumstances' in honour killings has been suppressed and the
penalisation of adultery has been abandoned. Also, as the
London-based Minority Rights International qualified in a recent
report, there have been noticeable improvements in the case of
minorities - notably the Kurds.
However, this veneer belies some serious inconsistencies and abuses
of human rights that are either being fudged or side-stepped by the
European Commission in its assessment of Turkey's readiness toward
negotiations and eventual possible accession. Let me provide simply
one example that underlines a culture of repression still prevalent
within the Turkish establishment that makes sharp distinctions
between reforms on paper and implementation in practice. Three years
ago, the Turkish government set up a panel to take a broad look at
questions of human rights and identity, and to suggest how matters
could be improved on the ground. But the government got more than it
expected: the Board's report, out last month, included statements
that were considered almost unutterable in Turkey, triggering a sharp
backlash.
Dr Harry Hagopian, Ecumenical, Legal & Political Consultant
Armenian Apostolic Church - London
http://www.newropeans-magazine.org/articles_voisin/2004/4_251104_1.php
--Boundary_(ID_39cXW3qRaReINPdvNTu20g)--
Nov 25 2004
Turkey: Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow?
- 1st Part -
© Newropeans Magazine
An exhibition currently at the German Historical Museum on the Unter
den Linden in Berlin entitled Myths of the Nations has attracted
considerable attention with its displays of how people from different
nations have formed and reformed the narratives of their experiences
both of WWII and the Holocaust over the past sixty years. The purpose
of the exhibition is to impress upon the visitor that national memory
is really the past continuously re-interpreted through the present.
United Kingdom , our partner
Nowhere have the memories of the war faded. On the contrary, they are
constantly being renewed in ever-changing variations (German
Historical Museum, Berlin, November 2004)
However, experiencing the layered myths of Berlin at an exhibition
would remain incomplete if does not also include a long look in the
mirror. The Germans have accepted the responsibility for untangling
their past. But there is such terrible history elsewhere - the Gulag,
the 'disappeared', Cambodia, Rwanda - that needs to be stripped of
congealed myth and denial.
This congealed myth and denial also applies to Turkey and the
massacres perpetrated by the Ottoman regime against Armenians in
Turkey between 1896 and 1923 - including the Armenian Genocide of
1915. And it becomes even more vivid and germane today as Turkey
gears up to enter into negotiations with the EU with a view toward
membership of the European Club some time after 2015 - assuming that
the negotiations proceed on time and without major hitches.
It is therefore understandable that Turkish candidacy to the EU has
opened up discussions regarding Turkish 'appurtenance' to this
regional club. My earlier article of 31 August 2004 entitled Dreaming
West, Moving East focused on some of the issues - from geography to
demography to history to human rights - that are part of the present
discourse. A Convention in Brussels organised last month by the
European Armenian Federation also focused, inter alia, on Turkish EU
membership.
So it seems churlish to re-hash those same points today, save to add
that there are serious concerns voiced by Armenians and non-Armenians
alike not so much over the issue of candidacy per se as much as over
the conditions under which Turkey is being admitted into the EU. In
my view, these conditions or criteria are still not being met today.
Happy is he who calls himself a Turk is the slogan that was devised
by Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, as he set about
forging a fresh 'European' identity for his people. And for most of
the past eighty years, those principles have been held sacrosanct by
the Turkish authorities that have brooked no criticism and tolerated
no dissent or divergence of opinion.
As the latest edition of the Economist magazine writes, Turkey has
indefatigably tried to consolidate its European character over the
past century. It joined the Council of Europe on 9 August 1949, and
later the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation on 18 February 1952. As
far back as 1963, General Charles de Gaulle and Chancellor Adenauer
had already acknowledged Turkey's 'vocation' to join the European
Community. A Customs Union Treaty was signed on 1 January 1996, and
ever since the EU Council of Ministers' summits of Helsinki (1999)
and Copenhagen (2002), a tacit understanding was concluded that
negotiations would open between Turkey and the EU in 2005.
But this tacit understanding was also clearly predicated on a number
of 'pre-conditions' that Turkey would need to fulfil in the
political, legal and socio-economic spheres prior to negotiations. I
would argue that some of those fundamental criteria have not been met
by Turkey to date. It is quite true that we have witnessed a number
of reforms toward democracy under the present Turkish government.
State-run military courts are in the process of disappearing, the
death penalty has been abolished, the defence of 'attenuating
circumstances' in honour killings has been suppressed and the
penalisation of adultery has been abandoned. Also, as the
London-based Minority Rights International qualified in a recent
report, there have been noticeable improvements in the case of
minorities - notably the Kurds.
However, this veneer belies some serious inconsistencies and abuses
of human rights that are either being fudged or side-stepped by the
European Commission in its assessment of Turkey's readiness toward
negotiations and eventual possible accession. Let me provide simply
one example that underlines a culture of repression still prevalent
within the Turkish establishment that makes sharp distinctions
between reforms on paper and implementation in practice. Three years
ago, the Turkish government set up a panel to take a broad look at
questions of human rights and identity, and to suggest how matters
could be improved on the ground. But the government got more than it
expected: the Board's report, out last month, included statements
that were considered almost unutterable in Turkey, triggering a sharp
backlash.
Dr Harry Hagopian, Ecumenical, Legal & Political Consultant
Armenian Apostolic Church - London
http://www.newropeans-magazine.org/articles_voisin/2004/4_251104_1.php
--Boundary_(ID_39cXW3qRaReINPdvNTu20g)--