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NEITHER ERDOGAN NOR EU THE SAME AFTER FIVE YEARS
Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Jan 20 2014
MURAT YETKİN
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan is expected to leave Turkey on
Jan. 20 for Brussels to have high level contact there with European
Union officials.
This is going to be Erdoğan's first visit to Brussels for EU contacts
since January 2009. Then, Erdoğan had promised for more democratic
reforms in Turkey and urged the EU not to block the accession of
his country just because of the Greek Cypriot veto. Turkey would
contribute to the EU strategically, not only because of being an
exemplary democracy in the Islamic world, but also because of its
access to all Middle East countries, better than most Europeans.
Indeed, Turkey was then not only talking to all countries in the
region, from Israel to Iran, trying to develop relations with Armenia,
having joint cabinet meetings with many neighbors from Greece to
Iraq and Syria. Later that year, the new U.S. President Barack Obama
would choose Turkey as the first stop in his first overseas trip;
the country was a rising star.
Now, Erdoğan is going to Brussels as the prime minister of Turkey
who doesn't even have ambassadors in three of its region's important
capital; Cairo, Tel Aviv and Damascus. A negotiation chapter was opened
in November 2013 after a three-year freeze. Erdoğan had to sack the
former EU minister from the cabinet because of the allegations in
relation with a major graft probe in December 2013 and appointed
Mevlut Cavuşoğlu to that post.
Cavuşoğlu had to face strong criticism by European politicians during
his first visit to Strasbourg on Jan. 14, warning Erdoğan's Justice
and Development Party (AK Parti) government not to cover-up the
corruption allegations and try not to block the courts that want to
investigate them. Erdoğan refuted the criticisms and asked Turkey's
ambassadors abroad, in a yearly conference in Ankara last week that,
they should tell the world the graft probe was not real, but a cover
for a "coup attempt" against him by a "parallel" structure within
the government apparatus, run by the sympathizers of a U.S.-resident
moderate Islamist scholar Fethullah Gulen, once his closest ally.
There are European politicians who took the opportunity to call for
an immediate freeze of negotiations with Turkey. It was Turkey's main
opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıcdaroğlu
who wrote a letter to Martin Schulz, the President of the European
Parliament last week and said the Erdoğan government should be forced
to adopt EU standards more and that to cut EU links with Turkey would
be a mistake and "would only strengthen the hands of those who would
wish to steer Turkey away from its Euro-Atlantic moorings."
Schulz is among the top EU officials who are going to meet Erdoğan
in Brussels, along with Herman Van Rompuy, the President of the
European Council and Jose Manuel Barroso, the President of the
European Commission.
Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu called the EU on Jan. 19
and said Erdoğan was ready to discuss all issues, including the row
over government-judiciary crisis, but the EU should be patient for
some time more and stop discriminating against Turkey. This is rather
a defensive position for a visit after a five-year interval. That's
why Eroğan's patience while talking to EU officials is likely to play
a more determinative role in the near future of Turkish-EU relations.
January/20/2014
From: Baghdasarian
Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Jan 20 2014
MURAT YETKİN
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan is expected to leave Turkey on
Jan. 20 for Brussels to have high level contact there with European
Union officials.
This is going to be Erdoğan's first visit to Brussels for EU contacts
since January 2009. Then, Erdoğan had promised for more democratic
reforms in Turkey and urged the EU not to block the accession of
his country just because of the Greek Cypriot veto. Turkey would
contribute to the EU strategically, not only because of being an
exemplary democracy in the Islamic world, but also because of its
access to all Middle East countries, better than most Europeans.
Indeed, Turkey was then not only talking to all countries in the
region, from Israel to Iran, trying to develop relations with Armenia,
having joint cabinet meetings with many neighbors from Greece to
Iraq and Syria. Later that year, the new U.S. President Barack Obama
would choose Turkey as the first stop in his first overseas trip;
the country was a rising star.
Now, Erdoğan is going to Brussels as the prime minister of Turkey
who doesn't even have ambassadors in three of its region's important
capital; Cairo, Tel Aviv and Damascus. A negotiation chapter was opened
in November 2013 after a three-year freeze. Erdoğan had to sack the
former EU minister from the cabinet because of the allegations in
relation with a major graft probe in December 2013 and appointed
Mevlut Cavuşoğlu to that post.
Cavuşoğlu had to face strong criticism by European politicians during
his first visit to Strasbourg on Jan. 14, warning Erdoğan's Justice
and Development Party (AK Parti) government not to cover-up the
corruption allegations and try not to block the courts that want to
investigate them. Erdoğan refuted the criticisms and asked Turkey's
ambassadors abroad, in a yearly conference in Ankara last week that,
they should tell the world the graft probe was not real, but a cover
for a "coup attempt" against him by a "parallel" structure within
the government apparatus, run by the sympathizers of a U.S.-resident
moderate Islamist scholar Fethullah Gulen, once his closest ally.
There are European politicians who took the opportunity to call for
an immediate freeze of negotiations with Turkey. It was Turkey's main
opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıcdaroğlu
who wrote a letter to Martin Schulz, the President of the European
Parliament last week and said the Erdoğan government should be forced
to adopt EU standards more and that to cut EU links with Turkey would
be a mistake and "would only strengthen the hands of those who would
wish to steer Turkey away from its Euro-Atlantic moorings."
Schulz is among the top EU officials who are going to meet Erdoğan
in Brussels, along with Herman Van Rompuy, the President of the
European Council and Jose Manuel Barroso, the President of the
European Commission.
Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu called the EU on Jan. 19
and said Erdoğan was ready to discuss all issues, including the row
over government-judiciary crisis, but the EU should be patient for
some time more and stop discriminating against Turkey. This is rather
a defensive position for a visit after a five-year interval. That's
why Eroğan's patience while talking to EU officials is likely to play
a more determinative role in the near future of Turkish-EU relations.
January/20/2014
From: Baghdasarian