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Egemen Bagis: Turkey And The EU Have A Common Future

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  • Egemen Bagis: Turkey And The EU Have A Common Future

    CAUSE AND EFFECT IN EUROPEAN POLITICS AND ECONOMY

    http://www.euinside.eu/en/news/egemen-bagis-martin-schulz-turkey-and-eu
    Feb 8 2012

    Egemen Bagis: Turkey and the EU Have a Common Future

    Adelina Marini, Sofia

    It is probably different when you have a friend in the EU
    institutions. Of course, it is important what that friendship is based
    upon and also whether there are expectations this friendship to deliver
    something specific. This is what I was thinking while I listened
    to the brief press conference of the Turkish chief EU negotiator,
    Egemen Bagis, and the new president of the European Parliament,
    Martin Schulz. I relied on that news conference very much, because
    there were only photos and video footage from the other meetings of
    Bagis in Brussels. After all, Turkey is a strategically important
    partner of the EU, the oldest candidate for a full membership and at
    the moment a very influential player in the Middle East.

    A little context

    While I was waiting for that press conference to start, I had a few
    questions wandering in my mind. Without enlisting them in order of
    significance, the first that came across was related to an announcement
    I saw on Twitter yesterday (Feb 7), that against the backdrop of the
    expectations the Greek coalition government to finalise the text of an
    agreement with its creditors and the troika, Turkey had stopped the
    gas deliveries for Greece. The news is especially stressful because
    it is a signal that maybe Greece is no longer capable of paying
    even for its gas deliveries, which means that it is practically
    bankrupt. Besides, stopping the deliveries is happening at a time
    of one of the severest winters in Europe in general for decades. So,
    this question was important to be addressed - what were the reasons
    for halting deliveries, could the EU do something, etc. According to
    reports in the Turkish NTV, there were technical problems that caused
    the stop of gas deliveries from Azerbaijan to Turkey and Iran.

    The second question, of course, was related to Turkey's accession
    process, which has been practically stalled since 2010 when during
    the Spanish Presidency of the Council was the last time when a chapter
    in the negotiations was opened. Since then, the meetings with Turkish
    representatives have been growing more and more uncomfortable for the
    EU and reveal the growing self-confidence of Turkey as a self-reliant
    regional power, which no longer needs the EU but which the Union
    needs more and more.

    Naturally, the third issue was the Syria situation, against the
    backdrop of the Russian and then Chinese veto on a resolution in
    the UN Security Council, that caused a wave of disappointment and
    even bewilderment.

    Syria

    The news conference started with pointing out the friendly relations
    between Egemen Bagis and Martin Schulz, the purpose of which remained
    unclear. The European Parliament chief outlined as an especially
    important topic of his discussions with Bagis precisely Syria. "We,
    as Europeans, have to be very grateful to the position Turkey chose
    regarding Syria", he said, having in mind the support Turkey stated
    for the pro-democratic protests in the country, violently crushed
    by Bashar Assad's regime. And Mr Bagis for his part underlined that
    this was the right position, because innocent people were killed. It
    is time the international community to work to convince the Syrian
    leadership to implement the necessary reforms so that all in Syria
    live in prosperity and freedom, he added.

    The international community is at the moment with tied hands. The
    US has closed its embassy in Damascus, followed by several European
    countries. The only connection with Bashar al-Assad's government is
    being maintained by Russia. On February 7th, Sergey Lavrov, Russia's
    foreign minister, visited the country. A fact, which is obviously
    not to Turkey's liking. On Saturday, Turkish Foreign minister Ahmet
    Davutoglu said at the annual security conference in Munich that
    there was a great danger nuclei of confrontation to be created in the
    region. "We do not want the Cold War logic in our system", he said
    and called the Cold War structures in the region to be transformed.

    The role Turkey is playing in the region was an occasion Martin Schulz
    to say that, because of Syria, Turkey had again proven how important
    it was as a strategic partner of the EU "today and in the future".

    Armenia

    What caused my perplexity was Schulz's reaction to a question of
    a journalist, regarding an ongoing preliminary investigation in
    Switzerland, related to a remark Egemen Bagis made regarding the
    events of 1915, which Turkey denies were a genocide against the
    Armenian people. For unclear reasons this question evoked laughter
    with the European Parliament chief, who in the same time refused
    to comment on preliminary investigations. While Egemen Bagis was
    answering that question however, Martin Schulz continued to laugh,
    finding it hard to repress.

    The Turkish minister recalled that his country was ready to confront
    its history and to create a committee of international experts on the
    Armenian question and reminded about the letter of Premier Erdogan to
    the government of Armenia in 2005, in which he says that he is ready
    to confront his history and asks whether Armenia is ready to do the
    same. In fact, Mr Schulz did not leave the topic without a comment,
    saying that he wanted to make a recommendation in his capacity of
    a German and especially of a German president of a multinational
    European institution, who has to confront his country's past everyday.

    "The demons of our past haunt us even today and every day I face my
    country's past. Our generation is not guilty for crimes committed in
    the past but it is responsible to ensure that they do not repeat".

    Turkey and the EU

    Was it for the friendly relations with Egemen Bagis or for his
    personal convictions, but Martin Schulz called on the European
    Union to stick to its promises for Turkey and its membership to
    the EU. He recognised that this was a long and difficult way but
    that was a promise the EU made for Turkey. Schulz explained that
    both discussed the term "European perspective" which, in his words,
    was often used for candidate countries. In fact this term is used
    especially frequently for countries the membership of which seems
    too distant, like for example the Western Balkan nations. According
    to Schulz, the European Perspective is a geographic game. This term
    means to stick to the commitments Turkey to become a member of the
    EU. For his part Egemen Bagis explained that the European perspective
    meant that it was time "together to look into the problems, not only
    because we have common past and heritage but a common future".

    Cyprus

    With his words the Turkish minister for European affairs confirmed
    Turkey's pledge to ignore the EU Council Presidency of Cyprus,
    which starts on July 1, unless a solution is found by then to
    the Cyprus question. He announced that he and the president of the
    European Parliament had committed to assist the presidents of the two
    communities - the Turkish and the Greek - to shake hands in agreement
    before July, "so that this does not turn into an issue but into a
    solution and an opportunity for the EU-Turkey relations".

    For now it is not clear how Bagis's meeting with EU Enlargement
    Commissioner Stefan Fule went by but the video footage reveals very
    warm relations. As euinside wrote many times, for long it has been
    high time a brand new conversation between the EU and Turkey to take
    place on what the relations between them should be, especially against
    the background of the really impressing role the country is playing
    in the Middle East in a moment when Europe has its throat squeezed
    by severe fiscal and economic troubles. To which, by the way, Turkey
    also proposes a solution, articulated again by Egemen Bagis - remove
    the visas and thus you will boost your economy. Turkey is the only
    EU candidate country which is still under a visa regime with the EU.

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