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| Volume XII, Spring 2005, Number 1 |
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| EXCERPT: Turkey, the European Union and Paradigm Shifts |
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| Arthur Bonner |
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Mr. Bonner is a former foreign correspondent and television writer/ producer. He has published seven books, including three on Protestantism.
The wide and deep implications of
the European Union's decision to
begin membership negotiations
with Turkey are further evidence (if such be needed) that there is no end to history. In 1952, West Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy and Luxemburg, envisioning a postwar world of reconciliation and cooperation, formed the European Coal and Steel Union. It expanded to 12 members in 1957 and became the European Economic Community (EEC). Two years later, Turkey applied for membership, with no result. In 1992, the EEC metamorphosed into the 15-member European Union (EU), continuing a paradigm shift in the understanding of its cultures and societies. Now the shift is reaching a double fulfillment as leaders of the EU, grown to 25 members, open its door to a nation whose population is 98-percent Muslim.
It is a bold act of statesmanship. At a news conference at the end of the negotiations, French President Jacques Chirac, whose voters strongly oppose the union, said: "If we take Turkey's current history and culture as criteria, I believe that the Turkey-EU marriage will happen." But not soon; he added that membership was not possible before 2014, at the earliest, and could stretch for 15 years.
In Denmark, where a Gallup poll showed 49 percent of those questioned opposed the union, someone draped a black burqa, which some Muslim women use to cover themselves from head to foot, over the bronze statue of a naked mermaid sitting on a rock on the seafront in downtown Copenhagen and hung a sign over the base reading: "Turkey in the EU?"
During last-minute negotiations in Brussels, the EU leaders brushed aside a demand, strongly favored by Austria, for a "privileged" partnership, somewhat less than full membership but higher than just a partnership status. They also shelved proposals to impose permanent restrictions on Turkish laborers and agricultural products. But the talks almost failed when Cyprus, which has been divided between Turkish and Greek communities since 1974, threatened to vote against Turkey.
Last April, with the strong backing of Turkey, the Turkish Cypriots voted in favor of a UN blueprint aimed at reuniting the island under a federal umbrella. Greek Cypriots voted against it but nevertheless joined the EU in May. A negative vote by Cyprus would have amounted to a decisive veto. The position of the EU leadership was clear: Turkey could not be accepted if it did not recognize all existing members, including Cyprus. Turkey had refused, arguing that the Greek Cypriots must first accept some version of the UN blueprint. The talks, chaired by the EU's term president, Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, went on far into the next morning, with Balkenende insisting that Turkey accept the Cyprus Greeks. At one point, Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, raised his voice, saying to Balkenende: "You prefer 600,000 Greeks above 70 million Turks. You really do not understand us." He added, "We cannot go on negotiating under these conditions." He stood up and moved towards the door but was stopped by the arrival of Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul. In the lobby of the Conrad Hotel, where the Turkish delegation was staying, there were rumors among waiting news people that Erdogan might leave the table at any time and had asked aides to "prepare the plane."
His walkout threat had the desired effect. The EU delegation conferred, and Balkenende proposed that, sometime before the October 3 start of the membership negotiations, Turkey approve an enlarged customs-union agreement with the most recent ten members, one of which is Cyprus. This could be seen as either a tacit recognition of Cyprus (the Cyprus view) or a meaningless formality (the Turkish view.). The question of formal diplomatic recognition could be made part of the long years of membership negotiations. The Turks, mumbling about Cyprus blackmail, accepted the proposal and later returned to Ankara, where they were greeted with flowers and cheers by thousands of supporters of the ruling Justice and Development Party. |
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