Why Turkey?

By Abdülhamit Bilici

In this book, political and opinion leaders from Turkey, Europe, America and Asia discussed the ‘pros’ and ‘cons’ of Turkey’s accession to the EU . Some of these very important names are: Abdullah Gül, Jack Straw, Gunter Verheugen, Javier Solana, Ali Babacan, Tariq Ramadan, Fethullah Gülen, Joschka Fischer, Graham Watson, Hans-Gert Poettering, Işık Birgen, Angela Merkel, Ahmad Mahir,

• Language: English
• Publisher: Zaman Kitap
• Release date: Dec 6, 2010
• ISBN: 9786055799229

Book preview

Why Turkey?

Abdülhamit Bilici

Published by Zaman Kitap at Smashwords

Zaman Kitap, http://www.zamankitap.com/

Fevzi Cakmak Mah. Ahmet Taner Kışlalı Cad. No: 6 34194 Yenibosna / İstanbul

Tel:[phone]

Copyright © 2001, Zaman Kitap

ISBN: 978-605-5799-22-9

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

Preface

We were having a hot debate about the enigmatic negotiation process with a European ambassador who was paying a visit to Zaman’s headquarters in Istanbul. Though the ambassador drew attention to positive developments in recent years, he portrayed a rather gloomy picture on the whole. He said it was implausible to sue journalists or writers for their opinions in a country that has just started the long-waited and long-envied accession talks with the EU. His remarks were striking: There is an atmosphere as if Turkey’s eventual target is not full membership. The fact that it has started negotiations on October 3, 2005 is regarded as the realization of the target, whereas the most tedious stage has just begun.

Probably, we have just started to forget that before October 3, life in Turkey was locked on to the date of December 17, the very date Europe would decide whether to start accession talks with Turkey or not.

Starting two years earlier, we, as a nation, were obsessed with this magical date. From cafes to diplomatic circles, the topic of the ‘day’ was the same thing: We would either be the luckiest or the loser. And the day almost lasted for two years. The long-awaited day came at last and a conditional date was set for Turkey. European leaders would examine the Progress Report that was to be prepared by the Commission and the negotiations would start without delay if they were convinced Turkey had fulfilled the Copenhagen Criteria. Finally, as expected, EU leaders decided to start talks on October 3.

However, Turkey has faced a different treatment during the whole process. While the approval of candidate status has put an end to all relevant debates for the others, that was not the case for Turkey. The debate whether Turkey can be a full member did not end with the approval of its candidacy in 1999 in Helsinki, with the decision to start negotiations in 2002 in Copenhagen and even after setting the date to start negotiations in 2004 in Brussels. As a matter of fact, even at the meeting on October 3 that assumed to be a mere formality to kick-start the talks, certain members raised the so- called privileged membership option, namely Austria. The heated marathon discussions which lasted more that 36 hours would almost turn into a calamity with Turkey leaving the table and putting an end, at least temporarily, its long march towards EU membership. Luckily, that did not happen!

Can we now conclude that the ‘existential’ debate about Turkey’s possible membership is over? Won’t we hear similar objections again? It is not easy to answer yes. It seems that same debate will continue even until the completion of talks. It is going to be a wise man reaction to foresee similar discussions during the approval of Turkey’s accession treaty at the members’ national parliaments if ever Turkey can reach that stage. Turkey will certainly be one of the hottest topics in 2007 French presidential elections just as Turkey’s possible EU membership was one of the wildly contested topics during the EU Constitution referendum back in May 2005.

For this very reason, the EU special report Why Turkey? which we prepared before December 17, with exclusive articles and interviews of prominent political leaders and intellectuals is still up to date. It was not intended to be a Turkish propaganda for Turks. We did our best to present an objective debate on Turkey’s prospects as a EU member.

The views of opponents and proponents of Turkish membership both in Turkey and in Europe were dealt in the same objective manner. Zaman’s Brussels correspondent Selçuk Gültaşlı brought the idea of a special report and worked hard for its realization. Ali H. Aslan in the US, Ali İhsan Aydın in Paris and Salih Boztaş in Ankara were the regional coordinators of the project. Osman Turhan and Cem Kızıltuğ added color to the project with their original illustrations.

Exclusive articles were requested from all political group leaders in the European Parliament and from top EU figures such as the former enlargement commissioner and the current vice-president of the European Commission Günter Verheugen and High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union Javier Solana. We organized a debate with two European academics having opposing views on Turkey at the prestigious Catholic Leuven University in Belgium. Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstad gave an exclusive interview.

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, German former Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer expressed their views in exclusive articles. The leader of the Christian Democrats Angela Merkel, who is German chancellor today, wrote an article defending her views on privileged partnership. Interviews were held with Mehmet Altan who strongly supports the EU process and Durmuş Hocaoğlu who ardently opposes the membership. Tariq Ramadan, the grandson of Hassan al-Banna (founder of Muslim Brothers movement in Egypt) reflected European Muslims’ perspective and Morton Abramowitz, the former US ambassador to Turkey, expressed the US view. Cumali Önal, Zaman’s reporter in Cairo got an article from former Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Mahir to represent Arab world’s view on the topic. Malaysian intellectual Chandra Muzaffar reflected his views from his part of the world.

A prominent opinion leader Fethullah Gülen agreed that his views regarding the EU appear in the project with his own signature. Retired Vice Admiral Işık Biren handled the security dimension of the issue, while Elif Şafak contributed with her lucid literary style as a renowned novelist.

The end product was titled Why Turkey? and put on the desks of eminent figures in Turkey and around the globe before December 17. It was also communicated on-line to the whole world via Zaman’s English Internet edition. The study was also translated into Turkish and published in Zaman.

This book in your hands was the idea of Zaman Kitap Publishing. As there is no immediate end in sight to the EU debate, wouldn’t it be appropriate to turn this special report into a book? they asked. The book would be published bilingually, both in English and in Turkish. Thus the product would become more permanent and reach various circles, libraries in particular.

The most important development in the post- December 17 period was, of course, the start of the screening process as a preparation for the actual negotiations and the appointment of Turkish State Minister Ali Babacan as the chief negotiator. Mr. Babacan, kindly, accepted our request to participate in this project with an article both to evaluate the new process and to update the project. His article demonstrates how the current Turkish government sees the negotiation process.

I would like to thank everyone who has taken part in this project and hope it will be a modest contribution to understanding Turkey’s EU process that constitutes the latest chapter in the long history of Turkish-European relations.

Turkey, a Great Chance for Europe

Ali Babacan

The EU membership is a historical target and an opportunity for Turkey. But

Europe's benefit will be much bigger.

As of October 3, 2005, Turkey began its accession process with the European Union (EU) and thus a historic landmark was achieved to improve the standards in our country in every field.

The screening process that first began on October 20, 2005 with the chapter on Science and Research is continuing under the framework of the schedule and targets determined. In 35 chapters, the introductory and detailed screening process will be completed in October 2006. As these activities are in progress, negotiations will begin on chapters that have already been screened. The screening process will give a clear picture of both parties in terms of determining Turkey's position in relation to the Acquis Communitaire and in terms of learning about the EU acquis. After that, Turkey will adopt the whole EU acquis in this long and difficult process ahead of us.

This reform period that will be sustained in almost every field from agriculture to science, from education to transportation, from health to energy, will be one that will make Turkey change rapidly and considerably, catch up with the EU standards and embrace a different and higher standard of living than that of today.

With this goal, the accession process stands before Turkey as a historic opportunity and we, as the government, are exerting efforts to benefit the best from it. We are working diligently, sincerely, and decisively not to cause any interruption in this opportunity that our country has obtained after long years of hardship and not to cause any disappointment in Turkey. For each chapter, we have built a flexible structure in which all the related parties will be able to display their efforts, accumulations, ideas and know-hows. We have provided an environment to include not only public institutions and organizations, but also non-governmental civil organizations, academics; in short, every social group and every single person who has something to say about the subject matter. From this perspective, in the chapters we have been working on so far, we have witnessed an achievement of coordination and adaptation that Turkey has never seen before. All the related parties delve right into the subject, bring forward joint projects and reflect Turkey's excitement in the most beautiful way, both in Ankara and in Brussels. The accession process has shown us the degree of synergy Turkey is able to produce when a certain target is set, and when it is motivated.

Undoubtedly, EU membership is a historical target and opportunity for Turkey. In the process, there are very important benefits Turkey will gain. However, when Turkey's EU accession is viewed from Europe, it can be seen that Europe's benefit from the membership will be much bigger.

Turkey which strongly advocates the thesis of the alliance of civilizations against the clash of civilizations has pivotal qualities for the West to understand the East better and vice versa. With its dynamic and young population, geostrategical location; historical, cultural and religious opulence, Turkey adds richness to Europe. Turkey has historical, cultural and religious ties with the Balkans, Caucasus, Central Asia, the Middle East and with vast parts of Asia and Africa. At the same time, for centuries Turkey geographically located in Europe and has been in a perennial dialogue with Europe. With these qualities, Turkey knows both the East and the West very well and possesses a peerless position to help both parties to meet at a common point and to understand each other in a healthy way.

In an environment, where the clash of civilization is fomented at every given opportunity, in which pretexts are generated