Tweet
Financial Times (London, England)
September 28, 2005 Wednesday
London Edition 1
A sour mood as Ankara stands on the threshold
By VINCENT BOLAND
Last Saturday morning, a few hundred protesters gathered outside
Istanbul Bilgi University and threw eggs and insults at a group of
historians and human rights workers as they rushed between riot
police into the sanctuary of the university's main building. Amid the
shouts of "treason" and "lies", it seemed that, despite many
indicators to the contrary, the battle between progressives and
reactionaries that has been such a notable characteristic of modern
Turkey has not yet been won.
The cause of the most recent outbreak of hostilities was a conference
on the mass killing of Armenians that took place as the Ottoman
empire broke apart in 1915. A court ruling banning the conference
forced its relocation and sparked a ferocious row over free speech at
an especially sensitive moment, barely a week before Turkey begins
the long and arduous process of joining the European Union. It is
little wonder that Abdullah Gul, Turkey's foreign minister, was moved
at the height of the controversy to observe that "no country can
shoot itself in the foot like Turkey can".
The incident was revealing of the sour mood that Turkey is in as it
stands on the threshold of Europe. The country was desperate to be
asked to join the EU; now that the invitation has been extended, it
seems unsure whether to accept. In this, Turkey differs from the
former communist countries of eastern Europe. For Poles, Czechs and
Hungarians, accession to the Union was a moment of destiny, the
righting of a wrong caused by the second world war.
There is no comparable feeling in Turkey. The country was the vision
of one man - Mustafa Kemal Atatu
It is because so many Turks are suspicious of what the EU wants from
Turkey, and of what it is prepared to offer in return, that there
seems to be so little enthusiasm for the accession process. In a
public opinion survey published this month, the German Marshall Fund
of the US found that the proportion of Turks who believed that EU
membership would be a good thing had declined in a year from 73 per
cent to 63 per cent.
Onur Oymen, a veteran diplomat who is now a senior official in the
opposition Republican People's Party, sums up the ambivalence of many
Turks. "The day Turkey joins the EU as a full member will be a
historic day," he says. "It would be premature to celebrate anything
before then." Ural Akbulut, rector of Middle East Technical
University, adds: "I believe the accession process will succeed but I
am less optimistic now than I was a year ago."
For many Turks, the experience of the EU since December 17 last year,
when the Union's leaders invited urkey to join, has not been happy,
involving too many concessions for too little gain. Cyprus has
bedevilled relations between Ankara and Brussels throughout 2005, as
European governments put pressure on Turkey to recognise the Greek
Cypriot administration in the south of the divided island while, in
the eyes of many in Turkey, ignoring the isolation of Turkish
Cypriots in the north.
That has been a gift to opponents within Turkey of EU accession. Many
Turks also complain that Europeans put too much focus on the plight
of Turkey's ethnic Kurdish minority. Amid an upsurge in Kurdish
separatist violence in recent weeks, these issues have fuelled a rise
in nationalism and euroscepticism. These were the sentiments that
Saturday's protesters against the Armenia conference undoubtedly
sought to exploit.
According to Guler Sabanci, head of the Sabanci family conglomerate
and Turkey's leading businesswoman, there has always been a segment
of Turkish society opposed to EU membership. "These people will find
a reason, any time and anywhere, to be against this journey, and they
have reasons right now," she says. Still, she insists, they do not
represent the broad mass of Turkish society. "Now and in the future
there is a bigger consensus that they should not get away with it any
more."
If the rise of nationalism in Turkey is behind the fall in support
for EU entry, the government must take part of the blame, according
to some commentators. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister,
returned from last December's summit in Brussels in  - triumph. Yet
he failed to follow through, they say, and lost the reform momentum
that led to significant political and economic modernisation in 2003
and 2004.
A certain amount of reform fatigue was probably understandable. But
Mr Akbulut believes the prime minister underestimated the chances of
success last December. "Erdogan and his team were not prepared for
the success of December 17 and its challenges," he says. "We can see
that they did not have the plans and people and programmes in place
to build on the momentum and this damaged his image in Europe."
If Mr Akbulut is right, the EU has as much reason to be disappointed
with Turkey as Turkey has to be disappointed with the EU. The
negotiating process will undoubtedly provide opportunities for mutual
misunderstanding, perhaps even the reason for one side or the other
to walk away. Nevertheless, for some observers, joining the EU is
less important for Turkey than the accession process and the pressure
it puts on Turkey to lose its inhibitions about the outside world,
recognise its democratic shortcomings, reform its institutions and
strengthen its still-shaky civil society.
Dogan Cansizlar, chairman of the Capital Markets Board of Turkey, a
financial markets watchdog, says: "The EU is a direction, an
indicator, a light that Turkey can move towards." Many Europeans, he
says, judge Turkey by the Turkish communities in their countries,
which are often more conservative and hidebound than Turks in Turkey.
Ms Sabanci believes the process of joining the EU will change Turkey
and make it fit better into the union that, she is convinced, it will
eventually join. She had a personal stake in the dispute over free
speech, because a university founded and funded by her family was one
of the organisers of the Armenia conference. She also believes the
dispute over free speech is symptomatic of a growing awareness of the
importance of such things, not just for Turkey's EU aspirations but
for the country as a whole.
"This is a very long journey, and during this journey Turkey will
change," Ms Sabanci says. "The Turkey that will enter the European
Union is not the Turkey we have today."
September 28, 2005 Wednesday
London Edition 1
A sour mood as Ankara stands on the threshold
By VINCENT BOLAND
Last Saturday morning, a few hundred protesters gathered outside
Istanbul Bilgi University and threw eggs and insults at a group of
historians and human rights workers as they rushed between riot
police into the sanctuary of the university's main building. Amid the
shouts of "treason" and "lies", it seemed that, despite many
indicators to the contrary, the battle between progressives and
reactionaries that has been such a notable characteristic of modern
Turkey has not yet been won.
The cause of the most recent outbreak of hostilities was a conference
on the mass killing of Armenians that took place as the Ottoman
empire broke apart in 1915. A court ruling banning the conference
forced its relocation and sparked a ferocious row over free speech at
an especially sensitive moment, barely a week before Turkey begins
the long and arduous process of joining the European Union. It is
little wonder that Abdullah Gul, Turkey's foreign minister, was moved
at the height of the controversy to observe that "no country can
shoot itself in the foot like Turkey can".
The incident was revealing of the sour mood that Turkey is in as it
stands on the threshold of Europe. The country was desperate to be
asked to join the EU; now that the invitation has been extended, it
seems unsure whether to accept. In this, Turkey differs from the
former communist countries of eastern Europe. For Poles, Czechs and
Hungarians, accession to the Union was a moment of destiny, the
righting of a wrong caused by the second world war.
There is no comparable feeling in Turkey. The country was the vision
of one man - Mustafa Kemal Atatu
It is because so many Turks are suspicious of what the EU wants from
Turkey, and of what it is prepared to offer in return, that there
seems to be so little enthusiasm for the accession process. In a
public opinion survey published this month, the German Marshall Fund
of the US found that the proportion of Turks who believed that EU
membership would be a good thing had declined in a year from 73 per
cent to 63 per cent.
Onur Oymen, a veteran diplomat who is now a senior official in the
opposition Republican People's Party, sums up the ambivalence of many
Turks. "The day Turkey joins the EU as a full member will be a
historic day," he says. "It would be premature to celebrate anything
before then." Ural Akbulut, rector of Middle East Technical
University, adds: "I believe the accession process will succeed but I
am less optimistic now than I was a year ago."
For many Turks, the experience of the EU since December 17 last year,
when the Union's leaders invited urkey to join, has not been happy,
involving too many concessions for too little gain. Cyprus has
bedevilled relations between Ankara and Brussels throughout 2005, as
European governments put pressure on Turkey to recognise the Greek
Cypriot administration in the south of the divided island while, in
the eyes of many in Turkey, ignoring the isolation of Turkish
Cypriots in the north.
That has been a gift to opponents within Turkey of EU accession. Many
Turks also complain that Europeans put too much focus on the plight
of Turkey's ethnic Kurdish minority. Amid an upsurge in Kurdish
separatist violence in recent weeks, these issues have fuelled a rise
in nationalism and euroscepticism. These were the sentiments that
Saturday's protesters against the Armenia conference undoubtedly
sought to exploit.
According to Guler Sabanci, head of the Sabanci family conglomerate
and Turkey's leading businesswoman, there has always been a segment
of Turkish society opposed to EU membership. "These people will find
a reason, any time and anywhere, to be against this journey, and they
have reasons right now," she says. Still, she insists, they do not
represent the broad mass of Turkish society. "Now and in the future
there is a bigger consensus that they should not get away with it any
more."
If the rise of nationalism in Turkey is behind the fall in support
for EU entry, the government must take part of the blame, according
to some commentators. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister,
returned from last December's summit in Brussels in  - triumph. Yet
he failed to follow through, they say, and lost the reform momentum
that led to significant political and economic modernisation in 2003
and 2004.
A certain amount of reform fatigue was probably understandable. But
Mr Akbulut believes the prime minister underestimated the chances of
success last December. "Erdogan and his team were not prepared for
the success of December 17 and its challenges," he says. "We can see
that they did not have the plans and people and programmes in place
to build on the momentum and this damaged his image in Europe."
If Mr Akbulut is right, the EU has as much reason to be disappointed
with Turkey as Turkey has to be disappointed with the EU. The
negotiating process will undoubtedly provide opportunities for mutual
misunderstanding, perhaps even the reason for one side or the other
to walk away. Nevertheless, for some observers, joining the EU is
less important for Turkey than the accession process and the pressure
it puts on Turkey to lose its inhibitions about the outside world,
recognise its democratic shortcomings, reform its institutions and
strengthen its still-shaky civil society.
Dogan Cansizlar, chairman of the Capital Markets Board of Turkey, a
financial markets watchdog, says: "The EU is a direction, an
indicator, a light that Turkey can move towards." Many Europeans, he
says, judge Turkey by the Turkish communities in their countries,
which are often more conservative and hidebound than Turks in Turkey.
Ms Sabanci believes the process of joining the EU will change Turkey
and make it fit better into the union that, she is convinced, it will
eventually join. She had a personal stake in the dispute over free
speech, because a university founded and funded by her family was one
of the organisers of the Armenia conference. She also believes the
dispute over free speech is symptomatic of a growing awareness of the
importance of such things, not just for Turkey's EU aspirations but
for the country as a whole.
"This is a very long journey, and during this journey Turkey will
change," Ms Sabanci says. "The Turkey that will enter the European
Union is not the Turkey we have today."