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Sweet and sour climax to Turkey's long march

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  • Sweet and sour climax to Turkey's long march

    Sweet and sour climax to Turkey's long march

    - Austria backs down but leaves bad taste for talks
    - Deal reached after day of diplomatic brinkmanship

    Nicholas Watt in Luxembourg and Helena Smith in Istanbul
    Tuesday October 4, 2005
    The Guardian

    European leaders last night hailed the start of historic EU membership talks
    with Turkey, though Ankara's allies warned of a sour atmosphere after a
    failed attempt by Austria to downgrade the negotiations.

    Javier Solana, the EU's putative foreign minister, declared that Europe and
    the world would benefit from binding a country of 70 million Muslims into
    the union. "It is a good day," Mr Solana said. "I have no doubt that [the
    negotiations] will be beneficial for everyone. Everyone is a winner. Turkey
    is in a strategic region and in our neighbourhood."

    His remarks were echoed by Olli Rehn, Europe's enlargement commissioner, who
    played a crucial role in the talks. Mr Rehn, who told Austria in blunt terms
    that it could not downgrade Turkey's membership negotiations, said: "Europe
    will get a stable and prosperous Turkey."

    After a marathon two-day negotiating session, there was relief among
    Turkey's supporters that Britain had managed to clinch a deal. But there was
    strong criticism of Austria, which nearly threatened Turkey's 40-year EU
    dream by calling - unsuccessfully - for the EU to spell out "alternatives"
    to full membership.

    Richard Howitt, Labour's foreign affairs spokesman in the European
    parliament, who sits on a joint committee with the Turkish parliament, said:
    "I am delighted that Austria has been beaten into submission ... But I
    greatly sympathise with Turkish friends who, having met the conditions set
    last December, watch as Austria reneged and convened eleventh-hour
    negotiations that were never justified."

    Angered by Austria's hard stance, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime
    minister, took his time to agree to the EU invitation. He presided over a
    lengthy meeting of the ruling AK party before sending Abdullah Gul, his
    foreign minister, to Luxembourg for a signing ceremony in the early hours.
    "I am happy to say that common sense prevailed," Mr Erdogan said yesterday,
    but there had been some "dishonest" and "ugly" moments. "A common decision
    was taken in favour of the alliance of civilisations. Turkey has taken
    another giant step that is in line with its historic walk," he said. "This
    is Turkey's success: it is everyone's success."

    At least 30 senior cadres from Mr Erdogan's neo-Islamist Justice and
    Development party were said to be have attended the meeting as he attempted
    to achieve as much domestic consensus as possible. Mr Erdogan has staked his
    political career on Turkey joining the EU.

    Turkey and the EU finally launched the membership talks after gruelling
    negotiations which were called after Austria vetoed the proposed ground
    rules last week. At the start of the day officials from Britain, which is
    Turkey's greatest champions in the EU and which chaired the talks as EU
    president, were gloomy.

    With scores of Armenians demonstrating against Turkey outside the conference
    centre, Ursula Plassnik, Austria's foreign minister, stuck to her demand
    that the EU should drop its commitment to a "shared objective" that the
    talks would lead to full membership. She also wanted an explicit reference
    from the outset to a "alternatives" to full EU membership. This would have
    turned the talks on their head, because EU leaders agreed last year that
    this would be offered at the end if the talks failed. Vienna also wanted a
    stronger reference to the EU's "absorption capacity" - the declaration that
    the European commission will have to make at the end of the talks about
    whether it can fit Turkey in.

    "Austria was asking us to rewrite last December's agreement, signed by all
    EU leaders, and that was out of the question," one EU diplomat said.

    As the morning wore on, a deal started to take shape. A number of EU
    countries said they could offer Austria tougher language on "absorption
    capacity" on the grounds that the commission makes a ruling on this for
    every country that wants to join the European Union.

    As Vienna worked out its tactics, another factor came into play. As one of
    the most fervent supporters of Croatia, Austria was privately trying to
    arrange a deal whereby it would say yes to Turkey if Zagreb was given a
    starting date for membership talks. Britain, which chaired yesterday's talks
    in its role as EU president, insisted that no such deal would be done.

    Then Carla del Ponte, the chief prosecutor of the international war crimes
    tribunal, entered the fray. She gave private briefings to the Austrians on
    her trip to Croatia last week, which led her to conclude that the former
    Yugoslav republic was offering her full cooperation in trying to track down
    the indicted Croatian war criminal General Ante Gotovina.

    With Croatia now on track to start its EU talks, Austria told Britain that
    it would agree a deal. But Turkey raised objections when Britain presented
    it with the agreed EU ground rules. The main bone of contention lay in
    paragraph five of the draft text which required Turkey to abide by "common"
    EU policies.

    Turkey said this would force it to allow divided Cyprus, which it does not
    recognise, to join Nato. This was denied by Britain and by the US secretary
    of state, Condoleezza Rice, who telephoned Mr Erdogan to appease him.

    Turkey will face 10 to 15 years of grinding negotiations which may well end
    in failure. "The talks are really tough - it's like having someone going
    through your knicker drawer," one EU diplomat said.

    Turkish voices

    Ayhan Demetgul, 45. Tourism official, Istanbul
    "Europe is getting older and Turkey can provide it with necessary manpower
    ... Those countries that oppose Turkey's membership don't have any vision"

    Serap Yildirim, 20. Student, Istanbul
    "There does seem to be a misunderstanding, it's not us who will benefit as
    much from the EU, as Europe will from Turkey. Our country is very big and
    will automatically become a giant bazaar for European companies and exports"

    Havva Can, 55. Housewife, Cerkezkoy, Thrace
    "I don't follow politics too closely but it will be much better for Turks if
    we don't join ... European culture is too open and not good for our society
    ... I don't want to remove my headscarf. If we join they'll make me get rid
    of it"

    Huseyin Unlu, 55. Retired labourer, Izmir
    "If Europe lets us in as we are now then I support joining it. Too many
    conditions have been placed on us; next they'll be demanding I shave my
    moustache"

    Helena Smith
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/eu/story/0,7369,1584305,00.html
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