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Turkey sounds upbeat about joining EU
Associated Press Worldstream
June 23, 2010 Wednesday 3:44 PM GMT
By SELCAN HACAOGLU, Associated Press Writer
ANKARA Turkey
Turkey's president sounded an optimistic note Wednesday about his
country's prospects of joining the European Union despite its recent
turn toward the East.
The man in charge of expanding the European Union gave a mixed
response, praising Turkey's progress in granting more cultural rights
to the Kurdish minority and curbing the influence of the military on
politics but saying the reunification of Cyprus needs urgent
attention. Cyprus was divided into Turkish and Greek sectors after
Turkish troops invaded it in the wake of a coup seeking to unite the
island with Greece in 1974. The Greek-speaking half of the
Mediterranean island entered the EU in 2004.
"Turkey has been making remarkable steps toward membership," Stefan
Fule, the commissioner for European Union enlargement said on the
sidelines of a Balkan summit in Istanbul. "We trust that Turkey will
give full attention to the Cyprus problem."
EU membership is still regarded by officials at the highest level of
the Turkish state as the ultimate way of advancing and modernizing the
maturing democracy. Europe is Turkey's top trading partner and Turkey
has a customs union agreement with the continent. Turkey also hopes to
help reduce Europe's reliance on Russian energy by supplying gas and
oil from Central Asia and the Middle East.
But there is consistently low enthusiasm about admitting a large, poor
and Muslim nation in much of the EU. The EU and Turkey started
membership negotiations in 2005, but Germany and France have proposed
a special partnership for Turkey that falls short of full membership,
angering Turkish leaders who argue that it violates the principle of
equality for the candidate countries.
Turkey also resents pressure from the West to reckon with the uglier
aspects of its past, by making peace with Armenians and acknowledge
that mass killings of Armenians at the turn of the century were
genocide a claim strongly denied by Turkey. Opponents say Turkey also
has not moved fast enough on promised reforms and should grant more
rights to minority Kurds and withdraw its troops from Cyprus.
"We want the EU to support memberships of countries and to refrain
from taking steps that would delay the process," Turkish President
Abdullah Gul told the summit at Ciragan Palace, an extravagant Ottoman
palace on the shores of the Bosporus strait. "We started full
membership talks with the approval of France and Germany. Small
disputes will of course occur and they will eventually be resolved."
There are fears among Turkey's secular opposition that, with EU
accession moving slowly, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is
steering NATO's only Muslim member away from the West and jeopardizing
the membership efforts' chances of ultimate success.
Turkey recently voted "no" to sanctions on Iran at the U.N. Security
Council and defended Tehran's right to acquire nuclear energy for
peaceful use. Its ties with regional ally Israel are at a new low
after a deadly Israeli commando raid on an aid flotilla headed to
Gaza, left nine pro-Palestinian activists dead, including eight Turks
and an American-Turkish teenager.
On Wednesday, Turkey and 12 other southeastern European countries
issued a joint declaration at the end of a meeting of the Southeast
European Cooperation Process (SEECP) that they want "an impartial,
independent and internationally credible investigation on this
matter."
Turkey was not alone in complaining from EU's attitude on Wednesday.
Serbian President Boris Tadic called on the EU to openly tell his
country "without making any excuses" whether it wants Serbia to join
the 27-nation bloc or not.
Associated Press Writer Erol Israfil contributed to this report from Istanbul.
From: A. Papazian
Associated Press Worldstream
June 23, 2010 Wednesday 3:44 PM GMT
By SELCAN HACAOGLU, Associated Press Writer
ANKARA Turkey
Turkey's president sounded an optimistic note Wednesday about his
country's prospects of joining the European Union despite its recent
turn toward the East.
The man in charge of expanding the European Union gave a mixed
response, praising Turkey's progress in granting more cultural rights
to the Kurdish minority and curbing the influence of the military on
politics but saying the reunification of Cyprus needs urgent
attention. Cyprus was divided into Turkish and Greek sectors after
Turkish troops invaded it in the wake of a coup seeking to unite the
island with Greece in 1974. The Greek-speaking half of the
Mediterranean island entered the EU in 2004.
"Turkey has been making remarkable steps toward membership," Stefan
Fule, the commissioner for European Union enlargement said on the
sidelines of a Balkan summit in Istanbul. "We trust that Turkey will
give full attention to the Cyprus problem."
EU membership is still regarded by officials at the highest level of
the Turkish state as the ultimate way of advancing and modernizing the
maturing democracy. Europe is Turkey's top trading partner and Turkey
has a customs union agreement with the continent. Turkey also hopes to
help reduce Europe's reliance on Russian energy by supplying gas and
oil from Central Asia and the Middle East.
But there is consistently low enthusiasm about admitting a large, poor
and Muslim nation in much of the EU. The EU and Turkey started
membership negotiations in 2005, but Germany and France have proposed
a special partnership for Turkey that falls short of full membership,
angering Turkish leaders who argue that it violates the principle of
equality for the candidate countries.
Turkey also resents pressure from the West to reckon with the uglier
aspects of its past, by making peace with Armenians and acknowledge
that mass killings of Armenians at the turn of the century were
genocide a claim strongly denied by Turkey. Opponents say Turkey also
has not moved fast enough on promised reforms and should grant more
rights to minority Kurds and withdraw its troops from Cyprus.
"We want the EU to support memberships of countries and to refrain
from taking steps that would delay the process," Turkish President
Abdullah Gul told the summit at Ciragan Palace, an extravagant Ottoman
palace on the shores of the Bosporus strait. "We started full
membership talks with the approval of France and Germany. Small
disputes will of course occur and they will eventually be resolved."
There are fears among Turkey's secular opposition that, with EU
accession moving slowly, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is
steering NATO's only Muslim member away from the West and jeopardizing
the membership efforts' chances of ultimate success.
Turkey recently voted "no" to sanctions on Iran at the U.N. Security
Council and defended Tehran's right to acquire nuclear energy for
peaceful use. Its ties with regional ally Israel are at a new low
after a deadly Israeli commando raid on an aid flotilla headed to
Gaza, left nine pro-Palestinian activists dead, including eight Turks
and an American-Turkish teenager.
On Wednesday, Turkey and 12 other southeastern European countries
issued a joint declaration at the end of a meeting of the Southeast
European Cooperation Process (SEECP) that they want "an impartial,
independent and internationally credible investigation on this
matter."
Turkey was not alone in complaining from EU's attitude on Wednesday.
Serbian President Boris Tadic called on the EU to openly tell his
country "without making any excuses" whether it wants Serbia to join
the 27-nation bloc or not.
Associated Press Writer Erol Israfil contributed to this report from Istanbul.
From: A. Papazian