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  • Turkey's dream of EU meets with hesitancy

    The Washington Times
    March 29, 2006 Wednesday

    Turkey's dream of EU meets with hesitancy;
    Conflicting Muslim roots, quest for modernity trouble some

    By Andrew Borowiec, THE WASHINGTON TIMES


    Turkey's search for a new European identity casts a long shadow over
    eastern Mediterranean countries, where there is considerable
    confusion as to Ankara's intentions. Until now, Turkey has rarely
    bothered to explain to the international community the reasons for
    its decisions, thus causing misunderstandings.

    For Europeans, Turkey's traditional Islamic roots and its quest for a
    modern outlook contradict each other. On this divided island, a third
    of which is patrolled by Turkish troops, Ankara's hopes to join the
    European Union are viewed with misgivings.

    Equally concerned is Greece, the motherland of Greek Cypriots, which
    feels that Turkey's foreign policy, its contested European
    credentials and the slow pace of its reforms do not bode well.

    This month, diplomatic alarms rang in Athens again as Turkey repeated
    the threat of war if Greece extended its territorial waters in the
    Aegean Sea. The nuances of that controversy often confuse most
    Europeans.

    "Threats don't help Turkey come closer to Europe, which it has said
    is its main goal," said Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis.

    Six months after Turkey was invited to begin membership negotiations
    with the EU, worries surfaced in several capitals that the talks
    could collapse unless Turkey conforms totally to the union's
    requirements. These include the demand that it open its ports and air
    space to Cypriot ships and aircraft and that it recognizes the
    island's Greek-Cypriot government. So far, Turkey has refused both
    demands.

    U.S. sees Ankara as ally

    Olli Rehn, the EU enlargement commissioner, warned of negative
    consequences for Turkey's uncompromising attitude. "We have kept our
    word and opened up accession negotiations. Now we expect Turkey to
    keep its word," he said.

    Despite rising anti-Americanism and Turkish criticism of the U.S.-led
    war in Iraq, Washington regards Ankara as an important ally in a
    turbulent part of the world, and has supported its EU candidacy. The
    EU is deeply divided on the admission of 71 million Muslim Turks into
    the European "Christian club."

    Several European leaders have challenged Turkey's European
    qualifications. Only 5 percent of Turkey's 297,000 square miles lies
    on the European side of the Bosporus strait.

    The recent warning came from Vice Chancellor Hubert Gorbach of
    Austria, who currently holds the EU's rotating presidency. "If we
    pretend we are ready to take on a member country like Turkey, we are
    ignoring reality," he said.

    The EU expects negotiations to last 10 years or more as Turkey
    complies with all requirements. The Turks regard this as excessive
    procrastination, and many have lost interest in "becoming Europeans."
    Some are tempted by closer links to the Middle East instead.

    According to a recent opinion poll, 40 percent of Turks - 30 million
    people - oppose EU membership at this stage. Turkish media are
    becoming increasingly critical of Europe's attitude toward their
    country, frequently considering it as demeaning.

    Commented Mehmet Dulger, a major figure in the governing Justice and
    Development Party, which is known by its Turkish acronym, AKP, "For a
    long time I have been a partisan of the EU, but my patience has its
    limits ... If the EU restricts itself to Eastern Europe and the West,
    then it will die."

    There is little doubt that educated Turks want to belong to Europe,
    and in fact consider themselves Europeans already, despite their
    rejection by much of Europe. Turkey's connection with the Middle East
    is tenuous, mainly because of centuries of Ottoman domination of that
    region, rarely benign and remembered for its cruelty.

    Most EU governments support the idea of expansion to include Turkey;
    opposition to Turkish membership comes at the grass-roots level. The
    most outspoken signal was the rejection by French and Dutch voters in
    separate referendums last year of the proposed European Constitution,
    partly for fear it would speed Turkey's accession.

    A stark reflection of this feeling was a statement by former French
    President Valery Giscard d'Estaing, one of the authors of the
    defeated constitution, who said; "The question is whether Turkey is
    or is not a European country. History and geography say no."

    A wave of nationalism

    The obvious European procrastination with Turkey's candidacy has
    spurred already intense nationalism in a country where soldiers on
    parade roar "one Turk is worth the whole world," and where children
    begin the school day by reciting "Lucky is the man who was born a
    Turk" - a saying coined by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the
    Turkish republic.

    Lately, the intensity of Turkish nationalism has been reflected in
    its arts and literature.

    "The Third World War," a novel in which the Turkish army defeats the
    EU and establishes a "new world order," was an instant best-seller,
    as was "Metal Storm," which tells the story of an imaginary U.S.
    invasion of Turkey and the destruction of Washington by a Turkish
    atomic bomb.

    Equally popular, if not more so, was this year's film "The Valley of
    Wolves: Iraq," featuring a Turkish "Rambo" who specializes in killing
    American invaders in Iraq. It was an unparalleled box-office success,
    applauded by audiences across Turkey.

    Apart from its limited European territory and Muslim religion, the
    list of other European objections is long. It includes the
    restriction of self-expression for the Kurdish minority and
    repression of Kurdish nationalist guerrillas with more than 35,000
    deaths; the influence of the military on Turkey's political life;
    punishment for any form of criticism of the state, and Ankara's
    refusal to admit the World War I massacre of its Armenian minority,
    considered by many in Europe as genocide.

    Then there is the problem of divided Cyprus, where Turkey landed an
    expeditionary corps in 1974 following a Greek coup intended to unite
    the island with Greece. The Turkish army is still firmly in control
    of northern Cyprus, now a state for the Turkish-Cypriot minority.

    The Turkish military considers its presence in Cyprus to be
    strategically important, and so far Ankara has refused to discuss the
    island's demilitarization. This has become a permanent irritant for
    international diplomacy and another hurdle for Turkey's EU
    aspirations.

    Europeans seem confused by Turkey's contradictions. It is a country
    where the army considers itself the republic's guardian, where women
    are not allowed to wear kerchiefs in government buildings because
    these are seen as an Islamic political statement, but where the prime
    minister's wife wears one at public functions.

    Erdogan seems ambiguous

    Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan tries on one hand to lead the
    country toward Europe, but on the other hand favors certain laws that
    reflects Islamic fundamentalism.

    Said Ankara commentator Burak Bekdil: "The government is accused of
    promoting Islamic issues, including building a mosque in an Istanbul
    park, banning alcoholic beverages by local authorities and setting
    new Islamic standards for food."

    Opined the Athens daily Kathimerini: "The Islamic rhetorical tone
    adopted lately by Turkey's prime minister is at odds with his EU
    ambitions." And the Istanbul mass-circulation daily Hurryiet
    commented that Mr. Erdogan's party "is slowly wrapping the Islamic
    blanket around us."

    Turkey's European partners have yet to be convinced of the Turkish
    army's avowed commitment to democracy. It is a force that overthrew
    the country's civilian governments in 1960 and 1980, but after
    forcing political changes, it returned to barracks. In 1997, the army
    forced the resignation of Necmettin Erbakan, Turkey's first Islamic
    prime minister.

    Thanks to EU pressure, an army general no longer presides over
    Turkey's powerful National Security Council, but other generals
    maintain a high public profile with the government's blessing. Thus,
    when a public prosecutor tried to investigate reports about a secret
    military unit set up by Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, head of Turkey's land
    forces, to fight Kurdish rebels, Mr. Erdogan quickly quashed the
    probe.

    "No one will gain anything by making the country's military weak,"
    the prime minister said. "The army is one of our most important
    institutions."

    Some commentators call the Turkish army - the second-largest in NATO
    - "a pressure group with heavy weapons." Others think its role is
    crucial in educating conscripts and instilling patriotism.
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