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Turkey faces bitter divide on EU entry
by Gareth Jenkins in Istanbul and Matthew Campbell in Paris
Sunday Times (London)
December 19, 2004, Sunday
FIXING a date for starting accession talks with the European Union
next year was hard enough but the toughest task for Turkey has yet
to come. Pressure was growing yesterday on the government of Recep
Tayyip Erdogan, not just to win hearts and minds in Europe, but to
convince his own people that he has struck a good deal.
He returned to Ankara yesterday to a hero's welcome from 2,000
supporters waving Turkish and EU flags.
Yet the agreement reached in Brussels on Friday after hours of
ill-tempered wrangling fell short of Erdogan's hopes and fuelled
unrest among nationalists and hardline Islamists in his Justice and
Development party.
One newspaper yesterday said Erdogan had "dishonoured" the country
with what EU diplomats saw as his tacit agreement to recognise the
divided island of Cyprus, which joined the EU in May.
Mehmet Agar, leader of the opposition True Path party, said: "The
government does not have the right to give away at the negotiating
table what the Turkish people won by sacrificing their lives."
Erdogan, whose government has bent over backwards to accommodate
Brussels' conditions, said the country would not sit back now the date
for the start of accession talks had been fixed as October 3, 2005.
"This result will not spoil us, will not relax us," he told the crowd
at the airport. "We will work harder until October 3." It still might
not be enough.
Some member states strongly oppose the idea of predominantly Muslim
Turkey entering the European fold: effectively, each EU country can
scupper Turkish membership by voting "no" in a referendum. The French
and Austrian leaders have promised their electorates a chance to do
so and others may follow suit.
President Jacques Chirac appeared to shift the goalposts after
Friday's agreement by announcing that Ankara would have to recognise
massacres of Armenians in the early 20th century if it wanted French
support. "The French people will have the last word," he said.
That spells a problem for Turkey. So does Austria, where a heated
public debate about letting in the Turks has included allusions to
the Ottoman siege of Vienna in 1683.
The British, meanwhile, were not alone in expressing anxiety about
an influx of migrants competing for jobs. There are also concerns
across the EU about the cost of Turkish accession.
Turkish nationalists say the government has already made too many
concessions.
Erdogan's promise to expand Turkey's customs union agreement to include
Cyprus and nine other EU members, although not constituting a legal
commitment, could prove the last straw for disenchanted supporters.
Erdogan's entourage includes figures fervently opposed to recognition
of the Greek-Cypriot government and they were growing restless even
before the Brussels summit.
They were exasperated at Erdogan's failure to reform the secular
tradition established by Mustafa Kemal, or Ataturk, the founder of
modern Turkey.
Some had been privately discussing jumping ship to the True Path
party in frustration at delays in implementing reforms that would
ease restrictions on Islamic schools and lift a ban on women wearing
headscarves in public institutions.
But tinkering with the secular code runs the risk of triggering a
reaction from the Turkish military, which forced the previous Islamic
government out of office in 1997 to safeguard Ataturk's vision.
Just as troublesome will be the question of the Kurds. The scheduling
of accession talks marks the beginning of a process of intense EU
scrutiny.
Erdogan's statement that Turkey was committed to EU values coincided
with one by his police chief at a press conference in Ankara: an
investigation had been launched into a group of Kurdish intellectuals
whose "crime" was to place an advert in a newspaper asking for
more rights.
Since Britain will hold the EU presidency in the second half of next
year, Tony Blair will chair the first talks. The prime minister has
championed Turkey's efforts to join the EU and hailed the agreement as
"an immensely significant day".
The agreement had almost fallen through as Erdogan haggled. On
top of being pressured on Cyprus, he was forced to accept that the
negotiations did not guarantee that Turkey would win full membership.
And even if Turkey joins the EU, it must accept restrictions on
migration of its citizens to other member states.
It will be hard for Erdogan to convince some Turks that this is not
an offer of membership in an EU "second division", a formula favoured
by French politicians.
He may feel like a mountaineer: he has climbed one summit, only to
see a new range of peaks rising before him.
Additional reporting:
Nicola Smith, Brussels
Beastly reasons to welcome Turks, Rod Liddle, page 14
by Gareth Jenkins in Istanbul and Matthew Campbell in Paris
Sunday Times (London)
December 19, 2004, Sunday
FIXING a date for starting accession talks with the European Union
next year was hard enough but the toughest task for Turkey has yet
to come. Pressure was growing yesterday on the government of Recep
Tayyip Erdogan, not just to win hearts and minds in Europe, but to
convince his own people that he has struck a good deal.
He returned to Ankara yesterday to a hero's welcome from 2,000
supporters waving Turkish and EU flags.
Yet the agreement reached in Brussels on Friday after hours of
ill-tempered wrangling fell short of Erdogan's hopes and fuelled
unrest among nationalists and hardline Islamists in his Justice and
Development party.
One newspaper yesterday said Erdogan had "dishonoured" the country
with what EU diplomats saw as his tacit agreement to recognise the
divided island of Cyprus, which joined the EU in May.
Mehmet Agar, leader of the opposition True Path party, said: "The
government does not have the right to give away at the negotiating
table what the Turkish people won by sacrificing their lives."
Erdogan, whose government has bent over backwards to accommodate
Brussels' conditions, said the country would not sit back now the date
for the start of accession talks had been fixed as October 3, 2005.
"This result will not spoil us, will not relax us," he told the crowd
at the airport. "We will work harder until October 3." It still might
not be enough.
Some member states strongly oppose the idea of predominantly Muslim
Turkey entering the European fold: effectively, each EU country can
scupper Turkish membership by voting "no" in a referendum. The French
and Austrian leaders have promised their electorates a chance to do
so and others may follow suit.
President Jacques Chirac appeared to shift the goalposts after
Friday's agreement by announcing that Ankara would have to recognise
massacres of Armenians in the early 20th century if it wanted French
support. "The French people will have the last word," he said.
That spells a problem for Turkey. So does Austria, where a heated
public debate about letting in the Turks has included allusions to
the Ottoman siege of Vienna in 1683.
The British, meanwhile, were not alone in expressing anxiety about
an influx of migrants competing for jobs. There are also concerns
across the EU about the cost of Turkish accession.
Turkish nationalists say the government has already made too many
concessions.
Erdogan's promise to expand Turkey's customs union agreement to include
Cyprus and nine other EU members, although not constituting a legal
commitment, could prove the last straw for disenchanted supporters.
Erdogan's entourage includes figures fervently opposed to recognition
of the Greek-Cypriot government and they were growing restless even
before the Brussels summit.
They were exasperated at Erdogan's failure to reform the secular
tradition established by Mustafa Kemal, or Ataturk, the founder of
modern Turkey.
Some had been privately discussing jumping ship to the True Path
party in frustration at delays in implementing reforms that would
ease restrictions on Islamic schools and lift a ban on women wearing
headscarves in public institutions.
But tinkering with the secular code runs the risk of triggering a
reaction from the Turkish military, which forced the previous Islamic
government out of office in 1997 to safeguard Ataturk's vision.
Just as troublesome will be the question of the Kurds. The scheduling
of accession talks marks the beginning of a process of intense EU
scrutiny.
Erdogan's statement that Turkey was committed to EU values coincided
with one by his police chief at a press conference in Ankara: an
investigation had been launched into a group of Kurdish intellectuals
whose "crime" was to place an advert in a newspaper asking for
more rights.
Since Britain will hold the EU presidency in the second half of next
year, Tony Blair will chair the first talks. The prime minister has
championed Turkey's efforts to join the EU and hailed the agreement as
"an immensely significant day".
The agreement had almost fallen through as Erdogan haggled. On
top of being pressured on Cyprus, he was forced to accept that the
negotiations did not guarantee that Turkey would win full membership.
And even if Turkey joins the EU, it must accept restrictions on
migration of its citizens to other member states.
It will be hard for Erdogan to convince some Turks that this is not
an offer of membership in an EU "second division", a formula favoured
by French politicians.
He may feel like a mountaineer: he has climbed one summit, only to
see a new range of peaks rising before him.
Additional reporting:
Nicola Smith, Brussels
Beastly reasons to welcome Turks, Rod Liddle, page 14