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Turkey Is Undervaluing The Importance Of Values

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  • Turkey Is Undervaluing The Importance Of Values

    TURKEY IS UNDERVALUING THE IMPORTANCE OF VALUES
    By Victor Makarov and Eldar Mamedov

    European Voice
    Feb 11 2010

    Ankara is understandably, but mistakenly, relying on geostrategic
    arguments to make its case for EU membership.

    A string of high-ranking Turkish officials and politicians have
    in recent months toured Western capitals to make the case for the
    geostrategic benefits that Turkey's membership of the EU would
    bring Europe. But it is not good enough simply to recycle strategic
    arguments when a clear majority of the population in many EU member
    states oppose Turkey's accession.

    For sure, the widespread fear of Turkey is based on historical and
    cultural prejudice, as well as ignorance. Faced with such fear,
    arguments based on geopolitics may seem the only way forward. But,
    if Turkey is to make the reforms needed to become a member, it needs
    to accept that the EU is a union genuinely based on values.

    If anything, the Turkish government's willingness to appreciate that
    is declining. There have, undeniably, been some positive developments
    under the government of the Justice and Development Party (AKP). Many
    sensitive issues, including the massacres of Armenians in 1915, the
    state's treatment of Kurds and the army's involvement in politics,
    can be discussed more freely in public.

    However, in other ways, Turkey seems to be diverging from the
    liberal values fundamental to the EU. The closure of the Democratic
    Society Party (DTP) is a case in point. It is unfortunate that
    the DTP has not distanced itself clearly from the terror committed
    by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), but the ongoing arrests of
    hundreds of DTP mayors, members and sympathisers on flimsy charges
    ensures that the government's 'democratic opening' initiative sounds
    hollow. It is ironic that the AKP, which barely escaped closure in
    2008, has not used its overwhelming parliamentary majority to loosen
    the notoriously restrictive laws on political parties. Nor has it
    lowered an electoral threshold that is so high (10%) that it prevents
    parliamentary pluralism.

    There is also an alarming lack of pluralism in the media. Prime
    Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's earlier calls to boycott the Dogan
    media group's newspapers only fuelled suspicions that the draconian
    fine imposed on Dog?an last autumn was of a political nature. What
    is more, the Turkish authorities have blocked some 3,700 internet
    sites, including major information sources such as Google, YouTube
    and GeoCities.

    Such steps owe more to a prevailing authoritarian political culture
    than to the AKP's Islamist leanings. But its religiously based
    conservatism does hinder Turkey's progress towards the EU. For example,
    in a country where 19% live below the poverty line, the government does
    not seem interested in providing effective social protection. Instead,
    the AKP favours the notion of Islamic charities providing assistance;
    the result is erratic, non-transparent delivery of benefits and
    services. This is politically expedient, but it harms Turkey's EU
    aspirations, since social policy is part of the harmonisation package
    needed to join the Union.

    Equality and non-discrimination are fundamental to the EU; in this
    area, the AKP is failing. There are still no legal provisions against
    direct and indirect discrimination. No government body is in charge
    of equality and anti-discrimination. And when the Directorate for
    Religious Affairs, a public entity, recommends that homosexuality
    be combated as a "perversion", it is elevating discrimination and
    exclusion to the level of state policy.

    The AKP approaches civil liberties in a manner informed more by its
    religious outlook than European values. For example, while the AKP has
    been very receptive to the demands of its conservative grassroots,
    such as the lifting of the headscarf ban in universities, it has
    done nothing to meet the most basic demands of the Alevi religious
    minority, like allowing their children to opt out of compulsory
    religious education, which, in practice, is education in Sunni Islam.

    Turkey will not overcome all the prejudice against it in the EU, but,
    if it is to gain membership, the idea must gain the acceptance of a
    critical mass of Europe's citizens. That, surely, will only happen
    when Turkey's politicians demonstrate that they are narrowing the
    value gap. That would make it harder for EU governments to resist
    the logic of geostrategic arguments.

    Victor Makarov is director of the Riga-based policy centre
    EuroCivitas. Eldar Mamedov is a political adviser to the Socialists
    and Democrats group in the European Parliament, but is writing in a
    personal capacity.
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