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Athens: At Turkey's heart, a major paradox

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  • Athens: At Turkey's heart, a major paradox

    Kathimerini, Greece
    Oct 1 2005

    At Turkey's heart, a major paradox


    A letter by Turkish Ambassador to Paris Uluc Ozulker that was
    published yesterday in the French daily Le Figaro in which he
    portrayed Greek Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios, who is
    based in Istanbul, as a local religious leader is one more piece of
    evidence that our eastern neighbor is far from ready to come under
    the European Union roof. Turkey has a long path to tread before
    reaching the EU's political and institutional standards. European
    political culture is even further away.

    The letter by the Turkish envoy pales in comparison to the legal suit
    against acclaimed novelist Orhan Pamuk (after his comments about
    Turkey's killing of Armenians and Kurds) and the court decision
    halting a conference on the Armenian massacre under Ottoman rule. But
    the political origins of the incidents are common - they are all
    products of Ankara's state ideology. Although clouds are gathering
    over Turkey's EU ambitions, Ankara continues to provoke people's
    democratic sensitivities. Sure, Turkey is not trying to put
    additional obstacles in its path; its reaction is in keeping with its
    character - and it is not willing to change mentality and practices.

    True, the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan has taken significant
    steps in introducing EU-minded legal reforms. But their
    implementation has been sorely lacking. Moreover, Ankara seems more
    interested in formalities than in real implementation. It all seems
    to boil down to the big paradox at the heart of the Turkish
    establishment: Ankara is, on the one hand, in favor of EU membership,
    but, on the other, it fears that European principles could also
    unmake Turkey.

    Caught up in this internal contradiction, Ankara wants membership
    without having to adapt. Above all, it insists on seeing itself as a
    fortress state. Its diplomatic maneuvering underscores a desire to
    join the bloc on its own terms. In short, Turkey wants the rights
    without the responsibilities, which demonstrates that the candidate
    country is a complete stranger to European political norms.

    There is no such thing as Europe a la carte. As time goes by, Turkey
    will be faced with an inescapable dilemma. It will either launch the
    process that will transform it for good or the enterprise of full
    membership will degenerate into a special partnership. Turkey has no
    place in the European house unless it remakes itself.
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