A new era in Turkish-EU ties

TDN editorial by Yusuf KANLI

Friday, June 16, 2006


We have to admit that we were so preoccupied with the attempt by the Greek Cypriot leadership to take Turkey's European Union accession drive hostage that we did a gross injustice to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül.
We concentrated only on the Cyprus dimension of the developments earlier this week and ignored a major development that was as important as this country getting a start date for EU talks on Dec. 17, 2004 and the actual start of accession talks on Oct. 3 of last year. That development was the start of detailed talks, or actual accession talks with the EU, on June 12 with the opening and closing of the science and technology chapter -- the first of 35 chapters we will have to complete before we come to the end of the “open ended” talks and to a decision on whether Turkey will be a full-fledged member of the European club of democracies.
The accession process will take years and, by the time we reach the closing of the last file and make an overall assessment on whether this country should be a member of the European Union, many of the “vital” or “crucial” issues of today will most likely have become irrelevant or not important at all in the future. Therefore, what's important should be keeping the process well and running so that it can play the role of a catalyst for change and transformation in this country, which otherwise would take much longer.
We know that it was very difficult for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Gul to make the decision for the participation of Gul and Turkey's chief EU negotiator, Economy Minister Ali Babacan, at the Association Council and Intergovernmental Conference in Luxembourg on June 12. We know that at one point of the telephone discussions between Erdogan and Gul and top advisors and relevant senior bureaucrats at the Foreign Ministry, the premier could not refrain from asking: “How long can we allow this to continue? What's the relevance of the Cyprus problem, the ports issue and recognition of the Greek Cypriot administration by Turkey, to the science and technology chapter? Haven't we told the Europeans that if talks will be suspended because of Cyprus, then let them be suspended?”
Anyhow, after intense discussions and only after Turkey was assured in writing that it would not be forced to compromise on any of its fundamental positions for the time being, Gul and Babacan were dispatched to Luxembourg.
The end result of the Luxembourg meetings, for us and for many other commentators in Turkey, was that we successfully avoided a Greek Cypriot veto threat, but developments indicated that what we went through was just the beginning of a new and painful process during which we will always have the Greek Cypriot veto threat hanging over our heads.
Indeed, we still maintain that view but must concede at the same time that it will not be at all easy for the Greek Cypriots to sustain that veto threat on the Turkish accession process as long as it maintains its current adamant position, which is incompatible with the international community's wish to resolve the Cyprus problem. More and more, the Greek Cypriot leadership will be isolated in the EU and eventually will not only be haunted with its own “Turkish enmity” card but will as well start seeing that the international community has started developing a perception that the de facto two-state situation in Cyprus, partition, might indeed be the resolution itself.
According to Turkish officials, excluding the customs union chapter, the issue of implementing the additional protocol to the customs union deal between Turkey and the EU, the opening of Turkish ports and airports to the Greek Cypriot side -- which would mean de facto Turkish recognition of the Greek Cypriot state -- should not be on the agenda. Even then, while Turkish businessmen are still struggling to obtain visas from EU countries, how can Turkey be expected to compromise and allow the Greek Cypriots to benefit from services -- port and airport access -- that are indeed outside the scope of the customs union deal?
It is clear, as we have been saying, that, as long as it could not be resolved or a process for its resolution not be implemented, the Cyprus issue will continue to haunt Turkey's EU process. Still, we have to underline as well that as of June 12, although with a Cyprus sword dangling over our head, we entered a new era in our EU ties.