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ANKARA: Turkey and EU: One More Push!

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  • ANKARA: Turkey and EU: One More Push!

    Zaman, Turkey
    Oct 2 2005

    Turkey and EU: One More Push!
    View: Selcuk GULTASLI

    The rule that "every draft the EU prepares about Turkey does not get
    its final form without getting toughened' did not change. Where did
    the Cyprus declaration begin, and where did it end? The EU virtually
    said to the Greek Cypriots "Write it down, we will put a signature on
    it."

    The declaration for which the Greek Cypriots, with the support of the
    French, took EU as hostage turned out to be a legally binding paper
    despite the British rhetoric that "it is not a legally binding
    document and will be forgotten within six months, why give a damn?"
    Moreover, even if the EU does ever forget something, it will be
    decisions for the benefit of Turkey. The commitment givenby Greece
    back in 1981 that she would not interfere in Turkey-EU relations, the
    declaration from France, Germany, Netherlands and Italy in 1998
    declaring that "the Greek Cypriots will not become a member of the EU
    before a solution is reached in Cyprus", the Council's decisions that
    will bring an end to the isolation of the Turkish Cypriots in 2004
    were all too easily forgotten.

    The framework document is also becoming more stringent. It has not
    yet been approved, and it probably won't be until the last days and
    many elements -excluding the privileged partnership that Turkey
    cannot accept- will be introduced into this document.

    The situation is as follows: Those who had been promised for 46 years
    will announce their engagement on October 3. The EU part does all it
    can to ensure that the engagement will not end up with a marriage. It
    will sit at the table of engagement, just because it promised once,
    but it prepares many pretexts in order to toss the ring away just
    after the engagement. Turkey, too, is not happy as it sits at the
    table, she is convinced that the EU is unwillingly sitting at the
    table. In this case, almost everybody foresees that the negotiations
    will fail to continue even if they do start on October 3 and that
    this will halt, anyway, in 2006 when the additional protocol is
    revised.

    The EU made the negotiations "unsustainable" with the declaration of
    Cyprus, and allowed the UN ground for a possible solution to erode
    and most importantly confirmed that it now sees the issue from a
    Greek Cypriot view. From now on, in the Cyprus issue the EU cannot go
    beyond the parameters cited in the declaration. The Greek Cypriots
    will get what they want unless the political atmosphere in Europe
    goes through a radical change-which is impossible in the short term.

    The next crisis pending between the EU and Turkey is the additional
    protocol waiting to be approved in the Assembly. As the screening
    process will start on October 3, negotiations will most probably
    start at the end of the term presidency of the UK, namely in
    December.

    And in the worst case scenario, the start of negotiations will take
    place following the scanning process and this will happen in the term
    presidency of Austria. There is no need to offer any detailed
    explanation of how Austria, which has the hysteria that the Turks
    besieged Vienna for the third time, will approach the negotiations.
    As the Greek Cypriots will ask the additional protocol to be approved
    and implemented immediately after October 3, Turkey will face a
    serious dilemma before it can even start the real negotiations.

    As the opponents in Europe have plenty of supporters in Turkey,
    sabotaging the negotiations will become easier. The guardians of the
    established system whose entire comfort will be overwhelmed with the
    start of negotiations will clearly show their European allies that
    "Turkey has not changed" with a few provocations just as happened at
    the Armenian conference. And in the words of Fuat Pasha that are even
    more relevant today, `They from the outside, we from the inside,
    together' will obstruct the start of negotiations! Come on guys!
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