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Anatolian Times, Turkey
Dec 22 2006
Open And Shut
BY GUNDUZ AKTAN
RADIKAL- The EU Commission's proposal was accepted last week and
Turkey's membership talks were suspended in eight chapters. Thus, the
process of our talks was slowed down. Meanwhile, EU officials and the
press stated that the EU shouldn't close its doors to Turkey,
otherwise the process of reform might stop. When the word 'reform' is
mentioned, we think of the army being subject to civilian authority,
the rights of minorities, in other words, giving collective rights to
Kurds and Christians' religious rights. It's understood that the
Justice and Development Party will continue membership talks under
these conditions. In other words, we will be accepting punishment for
a crime we supposedly committed by not fulfilling our 'obligations'
in the Additional Protocol concerning Cyprus. As we won't be able to
solve the Cyprus issue within the UN before 2009, we will have to
face the issue of unilaterally opening our harbors and ports to Greek
Cypriots. This way we'll postpone this crisis to the end of 2009.
Our relations with the EU have been governed with a similar approach
since the mid-'70s. We were even unable to hold Membership Council
meetings due to Greece's obstructions since 1981, when it became a
full member. We couldn't get the financial assistance allocated to
us. Our 1987 application for full membership also faced similar
obstructions. The Greek Cypriot administration applied for EU
membership as the representative of the island in 1990. In spite of
all our objections, it was accepted in 1993. As part of the 1995
Customs Union decision, the EU said that if the Cyprus issue could
not be solved by 1998, it would start full membership talks with the
Greek Cypriot administration. And it did. This government has been
ready to do anything with the Turkish Cypriots in order to solve the
Cyprus issue during the process of our candidacy. Nevertheless, the
Greek Cypriot administration became a full member and Turkey was left
outside. The decision taken in December 2004 offered limited and
conditional candidacy. We accepted it. The framework document of
October 2005 invented certain obstacles which were never before
applied to another candidate country. We made no objection. Now it
punished us, as if insulting us. We're putting up with this.
Every time we think, 'Let's get through this, we'll consider other
issues later.' This policy was made by paying heavy prices such as
being the only country which has fulfilled its obligations without
any financial assistance and accepting the Customs Union before
becoming a full member. However, we can never reach the goal of full
membership which covers all the areas of our lives without a certain
political will on the other side. The first and foremost reason for
the EU not to have such a will is its prejudices against Turkey.
Other objective factors also strengthen this. Signs of typical
characteristics of a pathological prejudice can be seen in certain EU
member countries which object to our membership. For example, the
French nation and its leaders accuse us of certain bad aspects that
they hate to see in themselves. They turn the genocides that they
committed into claims that we carried out an Armenian genocide. You
wouldn't want a target group, to which you attribute your own bad
characteristics, to be integrated with you. Because if they make us
an EU member, they would fear that Turkey would bring all such bad
qualities with it. So, the fact that Turkey took the French
Revolution as an example, similarities between the two republics and
the importance they attach to secularism would be ignored, and they
would believe that Turkey wouldn't be able to fulfill these goals
like France did. On the other hand, France wouldn't want Turkey,
which has been turned into a bin by France where it can dump its
undesired qualities, to go too far away. It must stay next to Turkey
and use it as a place to accuse of having faults. So, the door is
neither completely closed, nor open for us. Turkey is in a cold,
endless limbo, just like the soul of a dead body which is between
heaven and hell, as in Kipling's famous poem 'Tomlinson'.
Published: 12/22/2006
Dec 22 2006
Open And Shut
BY GUNDUZ AKTAN
RADIKAL- The EU Commission's proposal was accepted last week and
Turkey's membership talks were suspended in eight chapters. Thus, the
process of our talks was slowed down. Meanwhile, EU officials and the
press stated that the EU shouldn't close its doors to Turkey,
otherwise the process of reform might stop. When the word 'reform' is
mentioned, we think of the army being subject to civilian authority,
the rights of minorities, in other words, giving collective rights to
Kurds and Christians' religious rights. It's understood that the
Justice and Development Party will continue membership talks under
these conditions. In other words, we will be accepting punishment for
a crime we supposedly committed by not fulfilling our 'obligations'
in the Additional Protocol concerning Cyprus. As we won't be able to
solve the Cyprus issue within the UN before 2009, we will have to
face the issue of unilaterally opening our harbors and ports to Greek
Cypriots. This way we'll postpone this crisis to the end of 2009.
Our relations with the EU have been governed with a similar approach
since the mid-'70s. We were even unable to hold Membership Council
meetings due to Greece's obstructions since 1981, when it became a
full member. We couldn't get the financial assistance allocated to
us. Our 1987 application for full membership also faced similar
obstructions. The Greek Cypriot administration applied for EU
membership as the representative of the island in 1990. In spite of
all our objections, it was accepted in 1993. As part of the 1995
Customs Union decision, the EU said that if the Cyprus issue could
not be solved by 1998, it would start full membership talks with the
Greek Cypriot administration. And it did. This government has been
ready to do anything with the Turkish Cypriots in order to solve the
Cyprus issue during the process of our candidacy. Nevertheless, the
Greek Cypriot administration became a full member and Turkey was left
outside. The decision taken in December 2004 offered limited and
conditional candidacy. We accepted it. The framework document of
October 2005 invented certain obstacles which were never before
applied to another candidate country. We made no objection. Now it
punished us, as if insulting us. We're putting up with this.
Every time we think, 'Let's get through this, we'll consider other
issues later.' This policy was made by paying heavy prices such as
being the only country which has fulfilled its obligations without
any financial assistance and accepting the Customs Union before
becoming a full member. However, we can never reach the goal of full
membership which covers all the areas of our lives without a certain
political will on the other side. The first and foremost reason for
the EU not to have such a will is its prejudices against Turkey.
Other objective factors also strengthen this. Signs of typical
characteristics of a pathological prejudice can be seen in certain EU
member countries which object to our membership. For example, the
French nation and its leaders accuse us of certain bad aspects that
they hate to see in themselves. They turn the genocides that they
committed into claims that we carried out an Armenian genocide. You
wouldn't want a target group, to which you attribute your own bad
characteristics, to be integrated with you. Because if they make us
an EU member, they would fear that Turkey would bring all such bad
qualities with it. So, the fact that Turkey took the French
Revolution as an example, similarities between the two republics and
the importance they attach to secularism would be ignored, and they
would believe that Turkey wouldn't be able to fulfill these goals
like France did. On the other hand, France wouldn't want Turkey,
which has been turned into a bin by France where it can dump its
undesired qualities, to go too far away. It must stay next to Turkey
and use it as a place to accuse of having faults. So, the door is
neither completely closed, nor open for us. Turkey is in a cold,
endless limbo, just like the soul of a dead body which is between
heaven and hell, as in Kipling's famous poem 'Tomlinson'.
Published: 12/22/2006