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'POSITIVE AGENDA' DIALOGUE KICKS OFF TO BRING NEW MOMENTUM TO TURKEY'S EU TALKS
Today's Zaman
May 18 2012
Turkey
The first talks of the EU Commission-launched "positive agenda" plan,
a framework for bringing new momentum to Turkey's stalled EU accession
process, commenced in Ankara on Thursday.
The start of the talks were marked by a press conference organized in
Turkey's EU Ministry in Ankara, where State Minister and Turkey's Chief
EU Negotiator Egemen Bag覺癬_ and EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan
Fule made a briefing on the new dialogue process. The "positive agenda"
foresees joint progress by the EU Commission and Turkey on the chapters
-- policy areas in which EU candidates must open talks -- that have
been blocked. Seventeen chapters have been blocked by the EU Council,
either due to the Cyprus dispute or EU member country opposition. The
new agenda will promote dialogue on how Turkey can make progress in
these chapters without affecting their status as blocked.
Eight working groups have been formed to work on these chapters. The
working groups aim to conduct examinations and deepen cooperation in
certain areas including energy, visa liberalization, human rights,
judicial reform, constitutional reform, trade ties, counterterrorism
cooperation and foreign policy. Should the EU Commission and Turkey
engage in successful negotiations over some points in these chapters,
the commission would try to persuade EU Council members, who have
the last say on enlargement and the opening of chapters, in favor of
letting Turkey open the blocked chapters.
While they remarked positively on the prospective reawakening of
Turkey-EU relations, with regard to several political obstacles to
Turkish membership, Bag覺癬_ and Fule underlined that the "positive
agenda" process would in no way be an alternative track to Turkey's
continuing negotiation process.
"It is not to replace, but to complement and support the accession
process," said Fule, who was the originator of the idea of starting
the "positive agenda" process, elaborating on the plan.
Bag覺癬_, quoting a phrase from Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi, stated that
"Problems are like the night, but there will always be a morning,"
anticipating that the process will be a fresh start for Turkey and
the EU to regenerate their relations.
Out of 35 chapters in the process, 13 have been opened, 17 are blocked,
four have not been opened yet and one is provisionally closed --
the science and research chapter. The new dialogue is intended to
breathe a fresh breath into Turkey's EU process amid recent political
developments in Europe which could be seen as benefiting Turkey. The
most important of these is the French presidential takeover of
Socialist Francois Hollande from Nicolas Sarkozy, who is a staunch
opponent of Turkish integration.
'EU obscures Turkish human rights improvements'
Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin, Bag覺癬_ and Fule also held their
first meeting with one of the working groups related to Article 23
of the acquis communautaire (the body of EU law), the Judiciary and
Fundamental Rights chapter, on Thursday.
"Turkey has fulfilled an important part of the criteria needed for
the opening of Article 23," Ergin said in a press conference held
in the Justice Ministry following the meeting. The justice minister
also noted that Turkey's lengthy trial processes would be addressed
and examinations to bring the Turkish judiciary to international
standards would be launched within the scope of the working group.
Meanwhile, Bag覺癬_ said during the conference that while most of
the criticisms Turkey has drawn related to its EU process come from
its inadequacies on citizen rights, the EU's failure to examine and
publicize improved Turkish credentials on this issue shows that the
organization has a double standard when it comes to Turkey.
"After 88 years, Turkey's Orthodox citizens now have a right to
pray in Sumela Monastery [in Trabzon] and our Armenian citizens can
pray in Akdamar Church in Van. TRT [Turkish Radio and Television]
now broadcasts in Kurdish, while people even feared to speak Kurdish
in public until 15 years ago," Bag覺癬_ said, enumerating Turkish
achievements on the issue. Saying that EU Commissioners have praised
those developments in their bilateral talks with Turkish officials,
Bag覺癬_ criticized EU governments for not exerting enough effort to
make these advances known to their citizens.
Turkey opened accession talks with the EU in 2005 but progress has
been slow due to the Cyprus dispute and opposition from some member
countries, including Germany and France. Since the beginning of the
negotiation process, no analytical examination on Turkey's judiciary
and fundamental rights credentials has been made by the EU, which
would set out the criteria needed for the opening of the chapter
related to Article 23.
Moreover, one of the most important implications on clearing the
cobwebs from Turkey-EU relations is the visa liberalization issue.
Legal circles in Turkey are asserting that being classified as a
country whose citizens need visas to enter the EU is in contradiction
to the Ankara Agreement, signed in 1963 between Turkey and the
European Economic Community (EEC), which later changed its name to
the EU. Turkey was defined as a country whose citizens didn't need
visas to enter the EU according to a protocol added to the Ankara
Agreement of November 1970.
Defining the EU's visa policy on Turkey as "irrational and illegal,"
Bag覺癬_ also anticipated that "the EU will pass the visa exam"
with the help of the newly launched dialogue.
During an exclusive interview with the Anatolia news agency, the
Turkish EU negotiator emphasized that Turkey's stance is obvious and
Turkish citizens will "sooner or later" win the right to travel to
EU member states without visas.
The launching of EU-Turkey talks on visa liberalization is conditional
on the signing of an agreement on the readmission into Turkey of
illegal immigrants caught transiting through Turkey to reach EU
destinations. But several EU countries are reluctant to agree to a
visa-free travel program with Turkey, fearing this would spark an
inflow of Turkish immigrants seeking jobs in the eurozone.
Today's Zaman
May 18 2012
Turkey
The first talks of the EU Commission-launched "positive agenda" plan,
a framework for bringing new momentum to Turkey's stalled EU accession
process, commenced in Ankara on Thursday.
The start of the talks were marked by a press conference organized in
Turkey's EU Ministry in Ankara, where State Minister and Turkey's Chief
EU Negotiator Egemen Bag覺癬_ and EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan
Fule made a briefing on the new dialogue process. The "positive agenda"
foresees joint progress by the EU Commission and Turkey on the chapters
-- policy areas in which EU candidates must open talks -- that have
been blocked. Seventeen chapters have been blocked by the EU Council,
either due to the Cyprus dispute or EU member country opposition. The
new agenda will promote dialogue on how Turkey can make progress in
these chapters without affecting their status as blocked.
Eight working groups have been formed to work on these chapters. The
working groups aim to conduct examinations and deepen cooperation in
certain areas including energy, visa liberalization, human rights,
judicial reform, constitutional reform, trade ties, counterterrorism
cooperation and foreign policy. Should the EU Commission and Turkey
engage in successful negotiations over some points in these chapters,
the commission would try to persuade EU Council members, who have
the last say on enlargement and the opening of chapters, in favor of
letting Turkey open the blocked chapters.
While they remarked positively on the prospective reawakening of
Turkey-EU relations, with regard to several political obstacles to
Turkish membership, Bag覺癬_ and Fule underlined that the "positive
agenda" process would in no way be an alternative track to Turkey's
continuing negotiation process.
"It is not to replace, but to complement and support the accession
process," said Fule, who was the originator of the idea of starting
the "positive agenda" process, elaborating on the plan.
Bag覺癬_, quoting a phrase from Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi, stated that
"Problems are like the night, but there will always be a morning,"
anticipating that the process will be a fresh start for Turkey and
the EU to regenerate their relations.
Out of 35 chapters in the process, 13 have been opened, 17 are blocked,
four have not been opened yet and one is provisionally closed --
the science and research chapter. The new dialogue is intended to
breathe a fresh breath into Turkey's EU process amid recent political
developments in Europe which could be seen as benefiting Turkey. The
most important of these is the French presidential takeover of
Socialist Francois Hollande from Nicolas Sarkozy, who is a staunch
opponent of Turkish integration.
'EU obscures Turkish human rights improvements'
Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin, Bag覺癬_ and Fule also held their
first meeting with one of the working groups related to Article 23
of the acquis communautaire (the body of EU law), the Judiciary and
Fundamental Rights chapter, on Thursday.
"Turkey has fulfilled an important part of the criteria needed for
the opening of Article 23," Ergin said in a press conference held
in the Justice Ministry following the meeting. The justice minister
also noted that Turkey's lengthy trial processes would be addressed
and examinations to bring the Turkish judiciary to international
standards would be launched within the scope of the working group.
Meanwhile, Bag覺癬_ said during the conference that while most of
the criticisms Turkey has drawn related to its EU process come from
its inadequacies on citizen rights, the EU's failure to examine and
publicize improved Turkish credentials on this issue shows that the
organization has a double standard when it comes to Turkey.
"After 88 years, Turkey's Orthodox citizens now have a right to
pray in Sumela Monastery [in Trabzon] and our Armenian citizens can
pray in Akdamar Church in Van. TRT [Turkish Radio and Television]
now broadcasts in Kurdish, while people even feared to speak Kurdish
in public until 15 years ago," Bag覺癬_ said, enumerating Turkish
achievements on the issue. Saying that EU Commissioners have praised
those developments in their bilateral talks with Turkish officials,
Bag覺癬_ criticized EU governments for not exerting enough effort to
make these advances known to their citizens.
Turkey opened accession talks with the EU in 2005 but progress has
been slow due to the Cyprus dispute and opposition from some member
countries, including Germany and France. Since the beginning of the
negotiation process, no analytical examination on Turkey's judiciary
and fundamental rights credentials has been made by the EU, which
would set out the criteria needed for the opening of the chapter
related to Article 23.
Moreover, one of the most important implications on clearing the
cobwebs from Turkey-EU relations is the visa liberalization issue.
Legal circles in Turkey are asserting that being classified as a
country whose citizens need visas to enter the EU is in contradiction
to the Ankara Agreement, signed in 1963 between Turkey and the
European Economic Community (EEC), which later changed its name to
the EU. Turkey was defined as a country whose citizens didn't need
visas to enter the EU according to a protocol added to the Ankara
Agreement of November 1970.
Defining the EU's visa policy on Turkey as "irrational and illegal,"
Bag覺癬_ also anticipated that "the EU will pass the visa exam"
with the help of the newly launched dialogue.
During an exclusive interview with the Anatolia news agency, the
Turkish EU negotiator emphasized that Turkey's stance is obvious and
Turkish citizens will "sooner or later" win the right to travel to
EU member states without visas.
The launching of EU-Turkey talks on visa liberalization is conditional
on the signing of an agreement on the readmission into Turkey of
illegal immigrants caught transiting through Turkey to reach EU
destinations. But several EU countries are reluctant to agree to a
visa-free travel program with Turkey, fearing this would spark an
inflow of Turkish immigrants seeking jobs in the eurozone.