-------------------
E Kathimerini
HRI Net Updates
Macedonian Press Agency
ANA - Athens News Agency
Other Greek Sources
 

---------------------
International Media Articles
Euractiv
EU Business
The EU
EuroNews
WebRadio/TV sources worldwide
United Nations
----------------------

Opinions/Comment/Weblogs
Other Media Links

----------------

Turkey warns EU against 'historic mistake' on its membership bid
12-05-2006, 14h07
ANKARA (AFP)

photo
Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, seen here on December 3, has urged EU leaders to avoid "a historic mistake" when they make a critical decision on Anakara's membership bid next week, as it lobbied for the backing of a reluctant Germany and a more supportive Sweden.
(AFP/File)

Turkey has urged EU leaders to avoid "a historic mistake" when they make a critical decision on Anakara's membership bid next week, as it lobbied for the backing of a reluctant Germany and a more supportive Sweden.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan appealed to the European Union Tuesday to avoid "putting obstacles on Turkey's road and trying to push it away" from accession negotiations a little more than a year after they began in October 2005.

He said he telephoned German Chancellor Angela Merkel hours before she was to meet French President Jacques Chirac to seek his backing for a German proposal to set a strict deadline for Turkey to grant trade priviliges to Cyprus, the core issue in the current turmoil.

"I reminded her what the costs of a wrong step could be," Erdogan told the parliamentary group of his Justice and Development Party.

"I told her that we hope such a historic mistake will not occur at the summit of EU leaders on December 14-15," he said.

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said the German proposal "would make things even worse," but played down its chances of winning support from all 25 bloc members.

Merkel wants the EU to give Turkey an 18-month deadline to comply with its obligations concerning Cyprus as a condition for resuming full membership talks.

EU foreign ministers meet in Brussels on December 11 to discuss a European Commission recommendation to partially freeze the accession talks because of Turkey's refusal to open its sea and air ports to Cypriot vessels under a customs union pact with the bloc.

If they fail to reach a unanimous decision, which experts agree is likely, the issue is expected to go on the agenda of an EU summit three days later.

Turkey says its ports will remain closed to Cyprus unless the EU keeps promises made in 2004 to ease the economic isolation of the divided island's breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, recognized only by Ankara.

"The EU must show it is serious about Turkey's membership and deliver on its promises," Erdogan said.

He described the mainly Muslim country's accession bid as "one of the most important projects of the century," aiming to bring East and West closer, and called on EU leaders to "not lose their global vision."

Ankara's appeal was echoed by visiting Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, whose country, along with Britain, argues that Turkey should not be estranged.

Speaking to reporters after talks with Gul, Bildt underscored the need to retain "the strategic perspective" for Turkey and the European Union.

Turkey, he said, is situated in "a far more volatile, strategic region" and has an influence on "the stability of the world that is adjacent to Europe."

Bildt agreed that Turkey had failed to fulfill its obligations on Cyprus, but said the EU too had failed to keep its promises to the Turkish Cypriots.

He warned that even if the current dispute is solved, the Cyprus conflict will continue to haunt Turkey-EU ties unless a political settlement is found to end the island's 32-year partition.

"That is really a political imperative for the EU, although it is the responsibility of the United Nations," he said.

The most recent peace plan for Cyprus failed in April 2004, when the Greek Cypriots voted down a UN-drafted blueprint for reunification, even though the Turkish Cypriots gave it overwhelming support.

Ankara accuses the Greek Cypriots, who represent the island's internationally recognized government, of using their EU membership as leverage to extract concessions from Turkey on Cyprus.
 

-----

http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=154131

Leave EU door open for Turkey: Italian PM
Published: 12/4/2006

ATHENS - Italy's Prime Minister Romano Prodi called on Monday for Europe to "leave the door open" for Turkey to join the EU despite the partial suspension of talks due to Turkey's refusal to open its ports to Cyprus.

Prodi was speaking in Athens after a meeting here with Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis.

Despite Prodi's appeal, the two leaders agreed that Turkey should respect the requirements that all countries have to fulfill in order to join the bloc.

"Turkey has not shown a willingness to meet European principles and values," Karamanlis said.

"It must understand that progress in the accession negotiations depends on progress in fulfilling the criteria and conditions agreed with the EU," he added.

Speaking later on Greek television, Prodi expressed backing for a proposal by France and Germany to fix a date for fresh talks with Turkey with a view to relaunching its membership negotiations.

Such a proposal "could be useful", Prodi said in comments translated on the private channel Mega, if a date is fixed far enough ahead to allow Turkey to get its planned November 2007 general election out of the way first.

Germany has raised the possibility of a meeting in 18 months to review the commission's decision to suspend the talks.

In his televised comments Prodi reiterated his opposition to the idea of adding extra conditions for Turkish entry.

The European Union's executive body, the European Commission, recommended last week that Turkey's talks be suspended because Ankara refuses to adopt customs norms with Cyprus, as it must do with all EU states in order to join.

Ankara has demanded that the EU first ease the economic isolation of the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, recognized only by Turkey which occupied the territory during a clash with Greece over the island in 1974.

The state of Cyprus, which occupies the southern half of the island, joined the EU in 2004.

Turkey's intransigence over the Cyprus issue led the commission to recommend the suspension of eight of the 35 "chapters" detailing the terms Turkey must meet in order to join the EU.

EU foreign ministers are due to meet on December 11 to decide whether to formally suspend the talks, which officially started in October 2005.

12/04/2006 21:29 GMT

--------------

http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=154130

EU risks 'strategic' error over Turkey: US official
Published: 12/4/2006

BRUSSELS - The European Union would be making a "major strategic miscalculation" in closing the door on accession negotiations with Turkey, a top official of the US State Department warned here Monday.

"The decision made some time ago by the EU to open the door to Turkey was a major strategic decision," Nicholas Burns, undersecretary of state for political affairs, told journalists.

"Now that it is in question and that leading European politicians are beginning to say 'close the door', it is our view that it would be a major strategic miscalculation," he added.

Burns was speaking on the fringes of a meeting of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

"If Europeans turn away, it would be a major miscalculation," he went on. "The EU cannot be complete without Turkey."

The EU's executive body, the European Commission, recommended last week that Turkey's talks be partially suspended because Ankara refuses to adopt customs norms with Cyprus, as it must do with all EU states in order to join.

Ankara has demanded that the EU first ease the economic isolation of the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, recognized only by Turkey which occupied the territory during a clash with Greece over the island in 1974.

Turkey's intransigence over the Cyprus issue led the commission to recommend the suspension of eight of the 35 "chapters" detailing the terms Turkey must meet in order to join the EU.

EU foreign ministers are due to meet on December 11 to decide whether to formally suspend the talks, which officially started in October 2005.

Burns stressed his country's support for Turkish accession to the 25-nation European bloc.

"Turkey has proven its democracy, its alliance with us for decades," he said.

"Historians will say it is one of these important decisions the Europeans made ... at the beginning of the 21st century, to open the EU up to this major Muslim secular democracy," he said.

12/04/2006 20:43 GMT

http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=154122

We Can Cope With 2007
Published: 12/4/2006

BY FERAI TINC

HURRIYET - We should ask ourselves what has happened since the European Union decided to start membership talks with Turkey. It was written and said that the Cyprus issue would obstruct the process and that the only solution to stop it would be accelerating reforms. This warning was ignored, no serious effort was made for Turkey’s domestic problems, and criticisms made by different sectors of the nation were passed over. However, politicians are responsible for finding a consensus which would relieve everybody, aren’t they? Yes, but the government chose to do nothing due to next year's elections. The problem with Article 301 came up because of the media, but the government only said that it would consider how the law is applied. The lack of a social democratic movement which would create a momentum for reform is more bad luck for us. Relations with the EU have already been frozen since June. The search for a way out is still ongoing, but the outcome of the leaders’ summit to be held on Dec. 14-15 won’t change this situation either. Greece, the Greek Cypriot administration and certain EU countries are even trying to toughen the commission’s suggestions. They want to give Turkey an ultimatum saying that if we don’t open our harbors and airports to the Greek Cypriot administration by a certain period of time, the entire process would be suspended.

Obviously, Turkey can’t and won’t take a step concerning the Cyprus issue. There’s a broad public consensus on this issue, and the Greek Cypriots have lost their European card. They can’t continue their policy of putting pressure on Turkey with the trump card of a process which has been halted. Things for the EU to do on Turkey next year have already been postponed, because such influential European countries as France and Germany aren’t in a good place for this. France is getting ready for the next year’s elections, Germany is preparing a new proposal for the EU constitution and Greece also has elections next year. The period until 2008 is a great opportunity for us to produce our own solutions. What’s happening in Canakkale is a good example of this. Although Canakkale is one of the most important cities which has left Turkey’s mark on world’s history, this city is reached only with great difficultly. It’s on the shores of an important strait which connects the cold sea to the warm one. It’s also one of the most important harbors of the northern Aegean, but it has yet to prove its value in the maritime business, trade or tourism. However, the first ro-ro (roll on, roll off) ship left for Italy yesterday from a harbor built in Kepez thanks to the efforts of non-governmental organizations, businessmen, universities and local leaders. In addition, domestic flights started to Canakkales. Canakkale is now opening to the world. This is a beginning and an important step for in the city’s history. This is an example which shows that the criteria of civilization can be reached through out own power and wide-ranging cooperation. We should use this example for 2007, put ourselves in order, and find solutions to our problems.

Financial markets' worst fears occur in Merkel-Chirac alliance
Tuesday, December 5, 2006
print this page mail to a friend

BUSINESS REPORT

All News »

» Financial markets' worst fears occur in Merkel-Chirac alliance
» Merkel-Chirac alliance takes financial markets close to worst case scenario
» Turkish inflation at 9.86 pct in Nov.
» Yılmaz warns against international debts in foreign currency
» Pfizer shares sink after world's biggest drugmaker ends
» TOBB reminds EU of ‘pacta sunt servanda’
» Dollar recovers from 20-mth lows, more weakness seen
» Doğan appears best placed in ProSiebenSAT1 sale
» Rolls-Royce to supply new Trent engine for Airbus A350
» Sarkozy reforms good for France but tough to apply
» MORE


EU recommendation priced in, say analysts


İREM KÖKER

ISTANBUL – TDN/Referans

It was more or less an �expected outcome� for financial markets when the European Commission decided to recommend last week not to start talks on eight chapters because of Turkey's refusal to open its ports to Greek Cypriot trade. However, when France backed a German proposal for an 18-month deadline, Turkey was dealt quite a demoralizing blow.

There was no market reaction to the announcement of the recommendation because it had already been forecast and priced in. But missing from the expected scenario was the recommendation of setting the opening of the ports as the closing criterion for other chapters and setting a deadline for compliance of 18 months.

Goldman Sachs Managing Director Ahmet Akarlı told Referans that this was a development not included in the prices. An executive of CA-IB Unicredit said although a review date places pressure on Turkey, a 2008 date would not be so negative for financial markets as it would allow for completion of the 2007 election year.
 

Merkel-Chirac alliance takes financial markets close to worst case scenario
Tuesday, December 5, 2006
print this page mail to a friend

BUSINESS REPORT


İREM KÖKER

ISTANBUL

While the European Commission's recommendation last week not to start talks on eight chapters because of Turkey's refusal to open its ports to Greek Cypriot trade is considered an �expected outcome,� France's backing of the German proposal to set an 18-month deadline struck a demoralizing blow to Turkey's EU ambitions.

There was no market reaction to the announcement of the recommendation because it had already been forecast and priced in. But missing from the expected scenario was the recommendation of setting the opening of the ports as the closing criteria for other chapters and setting a deadline of 18 months.

Goldman Sachs Managing Director Ahmet Akarlı told Referans that this was a development not included in the prices. According to Financial Times, French President Jacques Chirac will use a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel to back her proposal that would effectively set Turkey a new 18-month deadline to open its ports to Greek Cypriot vessels.

Akarlı comments: �It was already a bad surprise that closing of the chapters was connected to the ports issue. Moreover, setting a deadline of 18 months and a review clause added so that Turkey's progress can be reviewed in 18 months' time is a very negative event.�

The shift in the EU was not leaning in favor of Turkey, Akarlı believed. He cautioned that a Franco-German power axis could easily draw in countries that already dislike Turkey's EU membership, like Austria. While Britain does not possess its former power within the EU, it was becoming harder to balance a counter-group, Akarlı pointed out

The EU Council's decision could be tough and Turkey's reaction to it was significant, Akarlı noted.

�I believe that the government's initial reaction was quite reasonable. Turkey was clear in specifying its position by stating that the recommendation was �unacceptable' and that the reform process will continue. Turkey may have to be toughening its stance in case the decision is strengthened,� Akarlı said.



2008 could be better:

Merkel and Chirac are meeting today. An official in Chirac's office told the Financial Times that �France and Germany are on the same page with regard to Turkey.� Officials close to the French government said Chirac would endorse Merkel's stance at the bilateral summit near Saarbrücken, in Germany.

Finland, which holds the EU presidency until the end of the year, hopes an agreement can be reached at an EU foreign ministers' meeting on Dec. 11. But a spokeswoman for Merkel's office said that the chancellor �expects the review clause to be discussed� at the EU summit on Dec. 14-15.

But 2008 may be better than 2007, some think. CA-IB Unicredit EEMEA Research Director Simon Quijano-Evans said: �A review date some time in 2007 would have been the worst case scenario for Turkey, as it would have most likely meant a complete stop to accession talks because Turkey will not be in a position to open the ports ahead of the November elections. So, from that point of view, although a review date places pressure on Turkey, a 2008 date would not be so negative for financial markets as it would allow for a completion of the 2007 election year.

�What is not so positive though is that the European Commission is recommending not only a stop to eight of the most important chapters but also no closure of the other chapters until Turkish ports are opened to Greek Cypriot vessels. And, it seems clear that Cyprus is going to continue blocking the opening of chapters. What markets will continue to watch is what the individual EU members recommend,� said Quijano-Evans

He added: �There are two reform anchors, namely EU accession negotiations and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) program. A loosening of one anchor will make the other all the more important, and that means fiscal discipline in line with the IMF program, as the government is making very clear. Markets will be watching this very closely in the election year, especially given the risks on the current account.�

Anti-Turkey axis emerging in EU, US steps in to avoid crash
Tuesday, December 5, 2006
print this page mail to a friend
Anti-Turkey axis emerging in EU, US steps in to avoid crash

DIPLOMACY

ISTANBUL - Turkish Daily News

Germany and France have reportedly joined forces on a proposal to suspend Turkey's entry talks with the European Union, an alliance that could open the way for an anti-Turkey axis within the 25-nation bloc ahead of a key summit of leaders.

The German government officially announced yesterday that Chancellor Angela Merkel would seek French President Jacques Chirac's support for setting Turkey an 18-month deadline to open its ports and airports to traffic from EU member Greek Cyprus at a summit today. Talks would be suspended throughout this period and EU leaders would then have to make a unanimous decision for their resumption. �The [German] Chancellor [Angela Merkel]'s proposal is that the European Commission should set a deadline of 18 months to review this issue� before deciding whether to resume full membership talks with Turkey, deputy government spokesman Thomas Steg told reporters in Berlin.

France, a leading Turkey-skeptic within the EU, backs Merkel's proposal, the Financial Times reported. The newspaper quoted an official at Chirac's office as saying, �France and Germany are on the same page with regard to Turkey.�

Washington, a staunch supporter of Turkey's EU membership ambitions, is on a drive to prevent a train crash in Ankara's accession bid. Sources said U.S. officials are lobbying in EU capitals for Turkey's membership ahead of the summit of the bloc's leaders on Dec. 14-15.

Washington is also telling Ankara that a European Commission recommendation not to open talks on eight negotiation chapters was a reasonable proposal.

U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Ross Wilson had a closed-door meeting with Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül in Ankara yesterday.

US steps in to salvage Ankara's EU bid
Tuesday, December 5, 2006
print this page mail to a friend
US steps in to salvage Ankara's EU bid

DIPLOMACY

ISTANBUL - Turkish Daily News

The United States, an active supporter of Turkey's bid to join the European Union, is lobbying in the bloc's capitals to prevent a train crash in Ankara's membership bid over Cyprus, sources said.

Washington is also advising Ankara that the European Commission's recommendation to the bloc's leaders not to open accession talks with Turkey on eight of the 35 negotiating chapters was a reasonable one.

Germany, Greece and Greek Cyprus demand a deadline for Turkey to open its ports and airports to Greek Cypriot ships and airplanes. Germany is expected to get France's support for a proposal to suspend accession talks with Turkey for 18 months with resumption of the process then resting on an EU decision.

U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Ross Wilson met with Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül at the Prime Ministry yesterday.

Washington has been a supporter of Turkish membership in the EU and pushing European countries not to raise blocks on Turkey's path for membership in behind-the-scenes diplomacy. The United States recently said it did not consider a recent recommendation by the European Commission not to open accession talks with Ankara on eight out of the 35 chapters �a serious regression.�

Certain countries within the EU, such as Britain, Italy, Spain and Sweden, favor a smooth path for Turkey's membership, although they too want Turkey to open its ports and airports to traffic from Greek Cyprus.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt is expected to announce support for Turkish membership when he meets Turkish officials today in Ankara, but he will also urge the government to open at least one port to Greek Cypriot shipping as a good will gesture.

Sweden, like Britain, opposed a European Commission recommendation not to open talks with Turkey on eight chapters and insisted that the number of chapters to be frozen should not exceed three.

Diplomacy Newsline
Tuesday, December 5, 2006
print this page mail to a friend

DIPLOMACY

Prodi: EU's doors should remain open to Turkey:

ANK - Turkish Daily News

The common perspective among the European Union member countries regarding Turkey is �keeping doors open,� Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi said on Monday, the Anatolia news agency reported.

Prodi was on an official visit to Athens at the invitation of his Greek counterpart, Costas Karamanlis.

Speaking at a joint press conference following their meeting, Prodi also noted that the accession rules needed to be fulfilled were constant for all candidate countries, including Turkey.

The issue of the number of chapters to be opened or closed by the European Commission during Turkey's accession talks is �a technical matter on which the commission will make a decision,� Prodi said.

�I will not struggle for having one chapter more or less. The balance of the recommendation has priority for us,� he was quoted as saying, in apparent reference to the European Commission's recommendation last week not to open eight of 35 negotiating chapters between Turkey and the EU in order to punish Ankara for its refusal to open its ports and airports to EU-member Greek Cyprus.

Turkey was a few sizes too big for Europe
Tuesday, December 5, 2006
print this page mail to a friend

OPINIONS

An incredible bargaining session is taking place in Brussels. Those who want to bury the Turkey project and those who want to provide it with some breathing space are fighting. Let’s see who is on which side and what kind of suggestions are being made.

Mehmet Ali Birand

The European Union became uncomfortable with Turkey. It got frightened by its hugeness and its potential to create chaos, and suddenly there was an agreement among the members to slow down the negotiations.

Some, due to domestic political reasons, and others decided to take a �breather� even before the negotiations properly began. They needed an excuse to make this happen. The excuse had to be legitimate and acceptable to the international community. And they came up with Cyprus. Greek Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos was lucky. Without doing anything, he emerged as the victor. Those who champion his cause today will stab him in the back when the time comes. We only need some time.

I can summarize what has happened: �Turkey was a few sizes too big for Europe.�

Just like when one goes out shopping and realizes the shoe one is trying on is too big.

That's what we face right now.

What is happening has nothing to do with anti-Turkish or anti-Turkey sentiments. European politicians are no different from the ones we have. They live from day to day. They don't think in the long term. They lack vision. They don't bother what benefits their country may reap in 10 or 15 years' time. They, just like our politicians, think only of the next election. They don't care about Cyprus. You will witness them all selling out Papadopoulos and supporting Turkey in the future.

What we are going through is a typical international balances and bargaining game. Let's not take it personally. There is no need to see enemies around us.



Two opposing blocs:There are two opposing blocs in the EU.

The "No Front": This group, led by France, Germany, Austria, Holland, Denmark, Cyprus and Greece, want to make the European Commission recommendations harsher at the foreign ministers' meeting on Dec. 11 and 12.

They want the number of chapters suspended to be increased from eight to 10. They want to give Turkey 18 months to open its ports, and if the ports are not open by then, they want to increase the number of suspended chapters. They want the commission's recommendation to call for U.N. help for a solution on Cyprus to be ignored.

When one looks at these discussions, one sees that the commission's recommendations are not as bad or as broad as we first thought. That's why it is in Turkey's interest to do what it can to prevent a strengthening of the commission's recommendations. The government wants fewer chapters to be suspended. It will of course seek that, but we should know that the commission's recommendations are the best of the worst.

The "Yes Front": Another group, led by Britain, Spain and Italy, is working to lessen the punishment meted out to Turkey. Every decision at EU meetings needs to be endorsed by all members. If a single member says no, a decision cannot be taken. This is the biggest advantage of the yes group. They can block any negative decision, but the lack of any decision is not better for Turkey. Such a scenario will block everything on Cyprus and will result in the effective suspension of talks.

In summary, the No Front is doing everything it can to bury the negotiations with Turkey deep in the ground. They want to make sure they are not bothered with the Turkey issue for at least a few years. The Yes Front want to keep Turkey as close to Europe as possible.

However, Europe seems to be forgetting one simple fact. They are not the ones to decide on Turkey's Europeanness. That's for us to decide. They will not get rid of us so easily.



Timing of Iran visit was perfect:

There are some official visits where the visit itself, not what was discussed during it, is of paramount importance. Some get you in trouble just because it happened. (e.g., the leader of Hezbollah's visit to Ankara.) Some suddenly attract the entire world's attention. (e.g., the prime minister's visit to Tehran.)

The timing of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's trip to Iran was perfect.

Europe was especially interested in it.

No one was worried of Turkey's supposed shift towards Iran. The interest was generated only because the matter was directly linked to energy.

European stock markets are talking about Turkey becoming an alternative energy corridor. Europe is afraid of its dependence on Russia. It wants to have alternative energy channels. The potential of Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan-Iran natural gas coming to Europe through Turkey makes their mouths water.

Both the energy aspect and the crisis over the nuclear issue resulted in serious interest in Erdoğan's visit.

Europeans will rediscover Turkey's strategic value. You will see that Turkey's place in the world will improve significantly as a result.

Norway says some EU members unfair to Turkey
Tuesday, December 5, 2006
print this page mail to a friend

DIPLOMACY

ANKARA - Turkish Daily News

Norwegian Parliament Speaker Thorbjorn Jagland said yesterday that some European Union countries were not fair toward Turkey's bid to join the 25-nation bloc, warning that it would be a mistake if the EU suspended or froze membership negotiations with Ankara.

�Some EU countries did not assume a fair attitude toward Turkey's efforts,� Jagland told reporters here in Ankara after a meeting with Parliament Speaker Bülent Arınç.

�The halting or suspension of negotiations with Turkey would really be a mistake because Turkey is very important for Europe and the region and also fulfills a significant mission as a country that links the East and the West,� he added.

The EU's executive commission recommended last week that the leaders of the bloc not open talks with Ankara on eight of the 35 negotiating chapters after Turkey refused to open its ports and airports to traffic from member Greek Cyprus. But the commission said this did not mean there is a �train crash� in Turkey's accession process and stressed the EU sticks to its membership commitments to Ankara.

The visiting parliament speaker said Turkey and Norway had several common interests, recalling that both countries were members of NATO, but not members of the EU.

Jagland later met with President Ahmet Necdet Sezer at the Presidential Palace. The talks were closed to the press.

EU heavyweights united to suspend Turkey’s talks
Tuesday, December 5, 2006
print this page mail to a friend

DIPLOMACY

European Union heavyweights Germany and France have reportedly found common ground in demanding an 18-month suspension of Ankara's EU accession talks, a move likely to open the way for an anti-Turkey axis within the 25-nation bloc ahead of a key summit.

A German government spokesman officially announced yesterday that Berlin would seek Paris' support for setting Turkey an 18-month deadline to open its ports and airports to traffic from EU member Greek Cyprus. Talks would be suspended throughout this period and EU leaders would then have to make a unanimous decision for their resumption.

�The [German] Chancellor [Angela Merkel]'s proposal is that the European Commission should set a deadline of 18 months to review this issue,� before deciding whether to resume full membership talks with Turkey, deputy government spokesman Thomas Steg told reporters in Berlin.

This proposal goes well beyond a recommendation from the European Commission last week, which called on EU leaders not to open entry talks on eight of the 35 negotiating chapters over Turkey's refusal to open its ports and airports to traffic from Greek Cyprus.

The EU leaders will meet on Dec. 14-15 for a summit and observers say Merkel's proposal is likely to be an item on the agenda.

Steg said that the proposal, which had been mooted at the recent NATO summit in Riga, would be discussed by Merkel and French President Jacques Chirac when they meet in Mettlach in western Germany on Tuesday in a three-way summit with Polish President Lech Kaczynski. Merkel and Chirac were to meet for their customary two-monthly informal talks later yesterday.

France, a leading Turkey-skeptic within the EU, is expected to support Merkel's proposal. The Financial Times quoted an official at Chirac's office as saying: �France and Germany are on the same page with regard to Turkey.�

A Franco-German axis has the potential of unifying other Turkey skeptics, including Greece and Greek Cyprus. Greece has already come up with a proposal for a �timetable� for reviewing Turkey's progress on the ports issue.

�Greece thinks there should be a time schedule for reviewing [Turkey's] progress as a whole for a simple reason. Because such a timeframe would enable us to evaluate [Turkey's] real intentions and see the real progress that would be achieved,� Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis told Greek Flash radio late on Sunday.



Ankara: EU credibility at stake:

An EU decision to suspend the membership process for 18 months and then make a decision for resumption of the talks is likely to alienate Turkey.

�What is at stake is the EU's credibility, not only in Turkey but also in Turkey's region and in across the Muslim world,� said a Turkish official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Further underlining the disappointment with the EU, the same official said the bloc's leaders were likely to come up with new �excuses� to halt Turkey's negotiation process even if Ankara opened its ports and airports to traffic from Greek Cyprus.

Turkish Press Yesterday
Tuesday, December 5, 2006
print this page mail to a friend

PRESS SCANNER

ANKARA - Turkish Daily News



No support from the pope:

Cumhuriyet reported that the Vatican had finally clarified its stance on Turkish membership in the European Union. The report noted that following a brief meeting with the pope last week at Ankara's Esenboğa Airport, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had told reporters Pope Benedict XVI had stated support for Turkey's EU bid.

A Vatican cardinal who recently replied to a press question on whether or not Benedict was lending support to Turkey's EU membership said: �The Holy See has neither the power nor the specific task of intervening on the precise point of Turkey's entry in the European Union. It is not its responsibility.� Cardinal Walter Kasper added, �The figure of the pope has become a likable one for Turkish Muslims, and that is a very important fact.�



Bullying in, science out:

The resignation of Professor Kadir Cangızbay, a professor at Gazi University, was covered in Radikal. He recently announced that he would be quitting because he was �afraid of this terror,� after he was threatened by ultranationalist students offended by his support of True Path Party (DYP) leader Mehmet Ağar, who recently said that Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) terrorists should be encouraged to engage in formal politics rather than continuing to fight.

Cangızbay told reporters that some students had slashed his car's tires. �This is terror. I had to give up classes in the communications department. The Dean's Office tried to protect me, but there is little it can do.�



Turkey will use pope in tourism ads:

The decision by the Culture and Tourism Ministry to make references to Pope Benedict XVI and his recent visit to Turkey in its tourism brochures received coverage in yesterday's Zaman.

A Mass he held at the House of the Virgin Mary in the western part of the country and his waving a Turkish flag at the same spot will be used as part of the campaign materials. Images of the pope visiting Hagia Sophia and the Sultanahmet Mosque will be broadcast on European TV stations.



Insulting cheating husband is free:

Akşam reported on a controversial ruling by the supreme court of appeals in a divorce case.

In a local court hearing it was ruled that both sides in a marriage had been equally wrong after the husband, who had cheated on his wife, testified that his wife had used obscene language to insult him. The supreme court of appeals overruled the court's decision and explained: �The act of cheating is heavier than the act of cursing. Those words were uttered as a reaction.�

Akşam said the husband would now have to pay YTL 400 monthly in alimony and YTL 30,000 compensation for emotional damage caused his wife.



Four-way talks not one-on-one:

Prime Minister Erdoğan's visit to Tehran was covered in Sabah. According to the report, Erdoğan requested a one-on-one meeting with Iranian leader Ayatollah Khamenei, but Khamanei preferred otherwise. Thus, Iran's Iran First Vice President Parviz Davudi and Erdoğan's aide Ahmet Davutoğlu also attended the meeting.

During the meeting on Sunday, Khamanei underlined his belief that it was essential that the Islamic world utilize all its potential and further activate the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) and the D8 to resolve Islamic countries' problems. Commenting on Iraq, Khamanei said, �The only solution to the current situation in Iraq is strengthening the popular government.�

The two leaders stated that the partition of Iraq would pose a great threat to the entire region. Khamanei expressed his belief that U.S. and Israeli intelligence services were playing a key role in fomenting insecurity among the people and in the continuation of massacres of innocents in Iraq.

�The longer the Americans stay in Iraq, the further they will sink into this quagmire. If the current U.S. president does not withdraw U.S. military forces from Iraq, the next U.S. president will definitely be forced to withdraw them in a debacle like the Vietnam War,� he added.

Erdoğan said that Ankara places priority on the promotion of ties with Tehran, especially with regards to the economy, the petrochemical industry and refinery construction. Iran-Turkey trade trade currently stand at $6 billion annually, he said, adding that Ankara is interested in increasing it to $10 billion.

He also stressed that Islamic countries should increase their cooperation to help resolve the Iraq, Lebanon and Palestinian crises.

In a separate meeting with Erdoğan on Sunday, Expediency Council Chairman Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said that international measures must be taken to resolve the Iraq problem. �The IOC is an appropriate place to hold consultations and present proposals to restore security and tranquility to Iraq,� Rafsanjani added.



US troops should stay out of the north:

Yeni Şafak yesterday also covered the prime minister's Iranian visit. The daily headlined a view on U.S. plans to deploy troops in northern Iraq stated by the prime minister during his flight to Iran: �There are no troubles there. They should keep their troops where there is trouble.�

Speaking to journalists on the plane, Erdoğan said it would be wrong for the United States to station troops in the north of Iraq. The prime minister also shared his opinion on recent developments in relations with the European Union saying, �There is nothing to cause anxiety there.�

The prime minister also warned that if Christians in Lebanon withdrew their ministers from the government the country would turn into a �second Iraq.�

Turkish Press Yesterday
Tuesday, December 5, 2006
print this page mail to a friend

PRESS SCANNER

ANKARA - Turkish Daily News



No support from the pope:

Cumhuriyet reported that the Vatican had finally clarified its stance on Turkish membership in the European Union. The report noted that following a brief meeting with the pope last week at Ankara's Esenboğa Airport, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had told reporters Pope Benedict XVI had stated support for Turkey's EU bid.

A Vatican cardinal who recently replied to a press question on whether or not Benedict was lending support to Turkey's EU membership said: �The Holy See has neither the power nor the specific task of intervening on the precise point of Turkey's entry in the European Union. It is not its responsibility.� Cardinal Walter Kasper added, �The figure of the pope has become a likable one for Turkish Muslims, and that is a very important fact.�



Bullying in, science out:

The resignation of Professor Kadir Cangızbay, a professor at Gazi University, was covered in Radikal. He recently announced that he would be quitting because he was �afraid of this terror,� after he was threatened by ultranationalist students offended by his support of True Path Party (DYP) leader Mehmet Ağar, who recently said that Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) terrorists should be encouraged to engage in formal politics rather than continuing to fight.

Cangızbay told reporters that some students had slashed his car's tires. �This is terror. I had to give up classes in the communications department. The Dean's Office tried to protect me, but there is little it can do.�



Turkey will use pope in tourism ads:

The decision by the Culture and Tourism Ministry to make references to Pope Benedict XVI and his recent visit to Turkey in its tourism brochures received coverage in yesterday's Zaman.

A Mass he held at the House of the Virgin Mary in the western part of the country and his waving a Turkish flag at the same spot will be used as part of the campaign materials. Images of the pope visiting Hagia Sophia and the Sultanahmet Mosque will be broadcast on European TV stations.



Insulting cheating husband is free:

Akşam reported on a controversial ruling by the supreme court of appeals in a divorce case.

In a local court hearing it was ruled that both sides in a marriage had been equally wrong after the husband, who had cheated on his wife, testified that his wife had used obscene language to insult him. The supreme court of appeals overruled the court's decision and explained: �The act of cheating is heavier than the act of cursing. Those words were uttered as a reaction.�

Akşam said the husband would now have to pay YTL 400 monthly in alimony and YTL 30,000 compensation for emotional damage caused his wife.



Four-way talks not one-on-one:

Prime Minister Erdoğan's visit to Tehran was covered in Sabah. According to the report, Erdoğan requested a one-on-one meeting with Iranian leader Ayatollah Khamenei, but Khamanei preferred otherwise. Thus, Iran's Iran First Vice President Parviz Davudi and Erdoğan's aide Ahmet Davutoğlu also attended the meeting.

During the meeting on Sunday, Khamanei underlined his belief that it was essential that the Islamic world utilize all its potential and further activate the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) and the D8 to resolve Islamic countries' problems. Commenting on Iraq, Khamanei said, �The only solution to the current situation in Iraq is strengthening the popular government.�

The two leaders stated that the partition of Iraq would pose a great threat to the entire region. Khamanei expressed his belief that U.S. and Israeli intelligence services were playing a key role in fomenting insecurity among the people and in the continuation of massacres of innocents in Iraq.

�The longer the Americans stay in Iraq, the further they will sink into this quagmire. If the current U.S. president does not withdraw U.S. military forces from Iraq, the next U.S. president will definitely be forced to withdraw them in a debacle like the Vietnam War,� he added.

Erdoğan said that Ankara places priority on the promotion of ties with Tehran, especially with regards to the economy, the petrochemical industry and refinery construction. Iran-Turkey trade trade currently stand at $6 billion annually, he said, adding that Ankara is interested in increasing it to $10 billion.

He also stressed that Islamic countries should increase their cooperation to help resolve the Iraq, Lebanon and Palestinian crises.

In a separate meeting with Erdoğan on Sunday, Expediency Council Chairman Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said that international measures must be taken to resolve the Iraq problem. �The IOC is an appropriate place to hold consultations and present proposals to restore security and tranquility to Iraq,� Rafsanjani added.



US troops should stay out of the north:

Yeni Şafak yesterday also covered the prime minister's Iranian visit. The daily headlined a view on U.S. plans to deploy troops in northern Iraq stated by the prime minister during his flight to Iran: �There are no troubles there. They should keep their troops where there is trouble.�

Speaking to journalists on the plane, Erdoğan said it would be wrong for the United States to station troops in the north of Iraq. The prime minister also shared his opinion on recent developments in relations with the European Union saying, �There is nothing to cause anxiety there.�

The prime minister also warned that if Christians in Lebanon withdrew their ministers from the government the country would turn into a �second Iraq.�

Time is running out
Tuesday, December 5, 2006
print this page mail to a friend

OPINIONS

All News »

» Time is running out
(Yusuf KANLI)
» A genius move between Istanbul and Çanakkale
(AYŞE ÖZGÜN)
» Papal miracle
(Cengiz Aktar)
» The process (3)
(Gündüz Aktan)
» Turkish economy in 2007
(CÜNEYT ÜLSEVER)
» Turkey was a few sizes too big for Europe
(Mehmet Ali Birand)
» MORE

TDN editorial by Yusuf KANLI
We have to diagnose accurately what we are facing now rather than wasting time on whether or not the military is meddling in Parliament and in the civilian administration’s policy-making duties.

Yusuf KANLI

We may soon start hearing complaints from our European friends as well as from some prominent intellectuals in our own society that the Turkish military, almost as if it wants to challenge calls from the European Union for the consolidation of civilian governance and a reduction of the military's role in policy making, has once again indulged in dictating to the government what Turkey's Cyprus policy ought to be.

On the other hand, there will be people strongly defending the military expressing its opinions through the proper channels, as defined in the Constitution and laws of this country, and thus contributing to the development of healthier policy decisions on key �national� issues, such as Cyprus.

�Talking Turkey� is definitely a goal to be achieved and it must definitely include all sectors of our society, including the military. We should not fear the free expression of opinions, even though the ideas expressed may not be to our liking. Furthermore, the military expressing its opinions at the National Security Council (MGK) or in the form of assessment papers submitted to the ministries is nothing to be afraid of and definitely should not be considered as the military getting involved in the country's policy making, provided that the civilian government is aware of its responsibilities and there is no power vacuum.

Even before the MGK was reformed and its powers limited with its conversion into a fully consultative body, there was a discussion on whether the Cyprus peace plan -- submitted at by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan -- should be endorsed by Turkey. What happened? The MGK came up with a �recommendation� outlining Turkey's old Cyprus policy, which amounted to a rejection of the Annan plan. However, despite the MGK's then powers, the government, which was very new in office and thus much more fragile than it is today, made a historic declaration stressing that as the government it was its responsibility to make political decisions for the country and that it therefore accepted the U.N. plan.

What happened then? There was no power vacuum in Ankara. Some people, including some top commanders, expressed discomfort with the development, but eventually the government's decision, for which it assumed political responsibility, became Turkey's new policy. The end result, the �no settlement is itself a settlement� policy was replaced with a �pro-settlement approach� based on a commitment -- as explained by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the time -- to be a step ahead of Greece and Greek Cypriots in Cyprus peacemaking efforts.

Thus, rather than what the military or other power centers in Turkey say, our concern should be what the government does and to what extent it assumes political responsibility of governance.

At this critical stage, we have to understand that if on Dec. 15 the EU Council comes up with a statement suspending a certain number of negotiation chapters and imposes the precondition of Turkey's abidance with the Ankara Protocol -- i.e., opening its ports and airports to Greek Cypriots -- for the closure of the remaining chapters, not only will the accession talks process be slowed down, but settlement of the Cyprus problem will become a direct criterion for Turkey's open-ended EU accession process.

The failure of diagnosis makes the treatment of an illness impossible. We have to diagnose accurately what we are facing now rather than wasting time on whether or not the military is meddling in Parliament and in the civilian administration's policy-making duties. Turkey's EU accession process is entering a new and very dangerous phase that has to be avoided if we have the intention of ever succeeding, regardless of our doubts as to whether or not the Europeans have any intention of letting us complete the full course of this trip without a train wreck.

Irrespective of whether we are opportunists lending support to this process because of the role of catalyst it plays for the advancement of individual rights and minority rights, the supremacy of law and democracy or are really committed to joining the EU, we have to understand that we must support the government's assuming its policy making duty and avoid the bizarre situation we are heading toward in our EU bid.

What the military or civilian bureaucracy said or may say are totally irrelevant. After all, whatever is said or might be said can go no further than contributing to the government making a policy decision. We want to hear what the government will do to steer Turkey away from the coming mishap. The government must assume its administrative responsibility. Time is running out

Merkel seeks 'privileged' pause
Monday, December 4, 2006
print this page mail to a friend

DIPLOMACY


Ankara says honesty may be breached


FATMA DEMİRELLİ & FULYA ÖZERKAN

ISTANBUL /ANKARA - Turkish Daily News

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's reported move to get Turkey's accession talks with the European Union suspended for up to 18 months appears to be a maneuver to open the way for a rethinking of Turkey's full membership prospects, analysts say.

Merkel, according to German weekly Der Spiegel, wants an EU review at the end of the suspension period, which means all members would have to vote for resumption of the talks.

Merkel has long promoted the idea of �privileged partnership� for Turkey but after coming to power she pledged to abide by commitments Germany had made for Turkish membership.

�Merkel and her Christian Democrats seem to be fed up with Turkey's EU membership being a matter on the EU agenda and want to open to debate another alternative, which is privileged partnership,� said Suat Kınıklıoğlu of the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

A Turkish official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said such an attempt would not bode well for �honesty,� since the EU leaders have committed themselves to full membership with Turkey.

'Unforgettable trip' could lead to dialogue, says pope
Monday, December 4, 2006
print this page mail to a friend
'Unforgettable trip' could lead to dialogue, says pope

DOMESTIC

All News »

In his first Sunday sermon since his four-day visit to Turkey, Benedict says he hopes his trip will produce positive results for a useful dialogue with Muslims but notes that conditions for Christians in Turkey are not easy

VATICAN CITY - The Associated Press

Pope Benedict XVI said on Sunday that his recent visit to Turkey was an "unforgettable experience" that he hoped would be useful for dialogue with Muslims and cooperation with the Orthodox Church.

During his four-day fence-mending visit, the pope had called Islam a peaceful faith and voiced his support for Ankara's bid to join the European Union.

The gestures seem to have persuaded the Turks to move beyond the tension following the pope's recent speech quoting a Byzantine emperor calling Islam violent.

"I hope that there will be born positive fruits ... for a useful dialogue with Muslim believers," the pope said, addressing the crowd gathered in St. Peter's Square.

About 30,000 of Turkey's 100,000 Christians are Roman Catholics, mostly living in Istanbul and Izmir. The pope acknowledged the difficulties they face. "I was able to meet and celebrate Holy Mass together with our brothers and sisters (in Turkey), who find themselves in conditions that are frequently not easy," the pope said.



�Turkey's entry into EU would benefit bloc:

Meanwhile, a senior Portuguese Roman Catholic Church official told a newspaper over the weekend that Turkey's entry into the European Union could help form a bridge between Muslim countries and Europe. "If Europe has an identity it can integrate the differences and could be very useful in the future to its relationship with the rest of the world to have Turkey in the union," Patriarch of Lisbon Jose da Cruz Policarpo told daily newspaper Publico.

A master class in religious diplomacy
Monday, December 4, 2006
print this page mail to a friend

OPINIONS

He shocked everybody with his unique ability to reverse an enraged public feeling against him and against the Western Christian world into a feeling of trust. He acted as an ingenious politician and diplomat in his contacts with the Turkish leadership. He conducted several peace Masses as a religious leader opening the way to reconciliation with other doctrines. He called Islam a religion of peace at a moment when international politics is governed by bloody confrontations centered on a violent interpretation of Islam.

Ariana Ferentinou

He shocked everybody with his unique ability to reverse an enraged public feeling against him and against the Western Christian world into a feeling of trust. He acted as an ingenious politician and diplomat in his contacts with the Turkish leadership. He conducted several peace Masses as a religious leader opening the way to reconciliation with other doctrines. He called Islam a religion of peace at a moment when international politics is governed by bloody confrontations centered on a violent interpretation of Islam. As a diplomat and a political leader, he pleased the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara by �spiritually� supporting the Turkish quest to join the European Union but hinted eloquently that Turkey can be integrated to Europe only if it incorporates the fundamental European values of freedom, human rights and democracy into its system. But even conditional support was enough for Erdogan to boost his electoral image at a crucial moment when Europeans are putting the squeeze on Turkey, a few days before the Brussels summit. With one stroke, he weakened the position of government opposition, whether in the secularist or the extra parliamentarian Islamist front, and their anti-European, xenophobic arguments with which they had filled their campaigns.

In Ankara, where his visit started, he set his conciliatory tone. He developed it further with his pilgrimage to the House of the Virgin Mary at Ephesus with a carefully choreographed gesture of holding the Turkish flag. But it was in Istanbul that his religious diplomacy was at its peak. His visit to the Orthodox Patriarchate was a central piece of his presence in the ancient city. He took part in the �Mass of the throne� in the memory of the founder of the Church of Constantinople, Saint Andrew -- the most important day on the Istanbul Orthodox Church calendar. The Orthodox Patriarchate -- and some eminent Turkish analysts -- insisted that the main purpose of the pope's visit to Istanbul was the visit to the Patriarchate. They claimed that what he really wanted was to show Patriarch Bartolomeos as his equal against the repeated denial by Ankara -- and the Russian Patriarchate -- to accept the �ecumenicity� of the Istanbul Patriarchate. Certainly he gave a good helpful hand to a frustrated Patriarch Bartolomeos by issuing with him a �Joint Declaration� underlining their support of the European Union, but stressing that in every step towards enlargement -- read Turkey -- all member states should respect human rights and religious freedom. The second part of their declaration had to do with in-house business: how should these two major doctrines of Christianity, Roman Catholicism and Greek Orthodoxy, after a bitter and detrimental split in 1054, continue with their efforts to maintain the intra-religious dialogue in order, at some stage in the future, to reconcile their deep differences so that the two supreme leaders of Christianity can conduct the eucharistic Mass together by �drinking from the same holy grail� during holy communion.

Now the wise men from both sides of the Christian faith, in Istanbul and in Rome, will have to study carefully the text, the statements and the symbolisms that certainly made the visit of the pope a historic event in the ecclesiastical history of Istanbul and Rome. But this dialogue is long and difficult and has taken centuries to heal the old wounds of the Schism. The primacy and the infallibility of the pope are still major obstacles for reaching the ultimate goal of the unity of the two churches. In a disarmingly open comment, Patriarch Bartolomeos is quoted saying to a Greek journalist: �The pope came here and saw for himself the problems of the Patriarchate. The rapprochement that has been achieved through this visit between the two churches is important for the promotion of theological dialogue. With regards the union of the churches, we still have a long way to go. We will not be alive to see it, but maybe other generations will.�

Ironically, building a bridge of peace with Islam proved easier. The pope carefully orchestrated a double visit to the Hagia Sophia Museum -- where he did not pray -- and to the historic Blue Mosque -- where he did pray -- much to the astonishment and satisfaction of his Muslim audience. The image of a praying pope with his eyes closed, standing next to the grand mutfi of Istanbul, with his hands positioned piously in a perfect Islamic way, had a more positive effect on the Turkish Muslim public and on the rest of the Muslim world than any world political leader's peace message for the alliance of civilizations.

Leaving Istanbul, the city of cultural and religious bridges, Pope Benedict said that he left a piece of his heart here. Whether he took a piece of the heart of the indigenous citizens of Istanbul remains to be seen.

From the columns
Monday, December 4, 2006
print this page mail to a friend

PRESS SCANNER

ANKARA - Turkish Daily News

Tension with Europe:

Taha Akyol, Milliyet:

I wanted to interview Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül on CNN-Türk. He said he couldn't fit it in his schedule. However, my timing in terms of journalism was perfect. The EU Commission had made a �recommendatory� resolution involving severe disadvantages for Turkey. Countries such as England, Spain and Italy found this too harsh, while the Greek administration believed the resolution would not be enough to make Turkey �tow the line� and pushed for stronger measures against Turkey. These are topics for headlines! This is exactly why Gül did not want an interview. He believes: �This is an ongoing process, contacts are being made in Europe where there are different views over the issue. It won't be right to create any polemical rhetoric until Dec. 14.� This is how diplomacy works. Things uttered in the backroom of politics are not publicly displayed. In reality, backroom talk is even very different from speeches made during public appearances. From Turkey's perspective, France, Austria, Denmark and Holland are �categorically� against Turkey's membership. The Greeks and Greek Cypriots are only concerned about Cyprus, and this is why they are flirting with the four states above in order to trick Turkey into taking a back step on Cyprus. The other ones are all about making Turkey give up on its EU bid, pushing it into exhaustion. England, Spain and Italy support Turkish membership. So is the German state, but Merkel's Germany is at least against �cutting off� the process. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Namık Tan both criticized Europe and sent messages giving the upper hand to states supporting Turkey. Indeed, if the Greeks go for a general �veto� in the future, one of the European states should be able to tell them, �All right. We are starting commercial flights to Ercan Airport tomorrow.� Turkey should have close and warm relations with some states. The EU summit on Dec. 14 will see a fierce battle of diplomacy. The commission's resolution to freeze negotiations on eight chapters is unfair and uncalled for. However, even such a severe punishment is not forcing Turkey into compromising on Cyprus. What needs to be done is to remove the isolation imposed on the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) and then demand Turkey opens its ports to Greek Cypriots. A second point that should be understood by all is that even such a harsh punishment has not negatively affected Turkey's economy, proof that it has become much stronger than everyone assumed. Turkey will not change its goal; it will continue with more self confidence. For being �on the road� is fruitful for Turkey. Whether it will end up in membership is the next step, after 10 or 15 years.

Vision of the future:

Mahir Kaynak, Star

In recent days, uncontrolled urban development in Istanbul and the reasons behind that have come under discussion. Some people are making a lot of money exploiting legal loopholes and are turning the city into a pile of stones. Let's take a different look at this situation and suppose that everything is being done in compliance with the law. Would we have a better Istanbul than what we have now? We can't say �yes� to this because there is no vision of an Istanbul in anybody's mind. Authorities are starting projects without even asking the question �Will this city be an industrial center or will all production facilities be dispersed in Anatolia in order to turn Istanbul into a culture, arts, education and tourism center?� and we decide that the consequences are always wrong.

Indeed, Istanbul is a region where big and easy profits can be made. Most of us think that production here is the backbone of the city's riches, but indeed easy made money is the most important instrument of building wealth in Istanbul. For example, most petro-dollars fall into this category. A barrel of petrol costing $15 after production can be sold at $70. This is not profit but easy made money since price of oil is not decided by free market rules but rather is under the control of certain powers. If you turn a region into a center of easy profit, the requirements of politics would decide the fate of that area.

Our administrators never had a vision of Istanbul, for they never had a vision of Turkey. Some thought of a Westernized country while some had a religious country in mind, but nobody had the vision of a country with a unique worldview with its production and wealth distribution models clearly laid out.

If we had built on what we had, we would have had a very beautiful and strong country. We tried to look like others. It didn't fit well, and we turned into some sort of freak. Istanbul is a summary of Turkey, and it stands as testimony to our lack of vision.

Headscarf:

Şakir Süter, Akşam

As all the controversy on whether women should wear headscarves or not, my uncle yesterday called me and told of an incident where my aunt took her headscarf at a dinner to mark a national day at a time when my uncle was the mayor of Bergama. I bow with respect in front of the honorable memory my aunt Melahat who put her headscarf back on after my uncle's term in the mayor's office and his membership in Parliament were over.

Is Borat funny?Nur Çintay A., Radikal

Humor is a strange thing. There is no rule that when we find something funny, everybody else will burst into laughter. Conversely, if we don't laugh at something this doesn't necessarily mean that it is bad humor. Perhaps the only conclusion we can make that there is a fellowship of mentality and viewpoint among people who find the same things funny.

Honestly, I was afraid of seeing Borat, thinking I wouldn't find this one funny, either. For I can really relate to my father, who says, �I don't understand anything from this Cem� when people are laughing at Cem Yılmaz' Mike and Peluş. I haven't been able to laugh at Ferhan Şensoy in the past 20 years. Then who will I find funny? Moralists and conservatives as well as politically correct friends of ours will not have a good time watching Borat, that's for sure. Cohen and his team slam the plague of �political correctness.� I am grateful to Sacha Baron Cohen for alleviating my worries. Borat is the funniest thing I've seen in years. A majority of our population might not think so. Likewise, moralist and conservative friends will not have a good time watching Borat.

Cyprus talks to gather speed
Monday, December 4, 2006
print this page mail to a friend

DIPLOMACY

ANKARA - Turkish Daily News

After the failure of a Finnish plan to resolve a dispute over Turkey's refusal to open up its ports to traffic from Greek Cyprus, Ankara is preparing to host Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, while Turkish Cypriot President Mehmet Ali Talat will pay visits to European countries and meet with EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn for talks over the deep-seated Cyprus problem.

Bildt, whose country backs Ankara's bid to join the 25-nation bloc, will talk with Turkish officials over Turkey's membership process today. Talat will be heading to the Netherlands and Belgium, where he will have talks with Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot and Rehn.

Talat will meet with Bot on Thursday in The Hague at the latter's invitation, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) presidential office said over the weekend.

Talat's next stop on the old continent will be Brussels on Friday, where he will speak with Rehn of the European Commission, which on Wednesday recommended that Turkey's EU talks should not be opened on eight chapters that are related to its customs union obligations. Ankara refuses to open its ports and airports to traffic from Greek Cyprus, saying the EU should take steps to ease the isolation of the Turkish Cypriots as well.

Finland's efforts to reach a deal on the ports dispute failed when Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja announced after separate talks with Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül and Greek Cypriot Foreign Minister George Lillikas last week in Tampere that there was no possibility for a quick agreement.

The EU Commission came up with its recommendations after the failure of the Finnish-brokered talks to resolve the deadlock. EU foreign ministers will decide on Dec. 11 whether to back the recommendation. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Thursday he expected the ministers to endorse the proposal.

Like Ankara, Talat also displayed a reaction against the recommendation, which he described as �unjust.�

�Unfortunately, it [the European Commission] has shown us once again that it is very much under the influence of, or even enslaved by, the Greek Cypriot side,� Talat said in a statement, while also bringing to mind the fact that it was the EU who at the time had pledged to ease the international isolation of the Turkish Cypriots.

The commission, instead of fulfilling its pledge, has come up with a recommendation filled with prerequisites, Talat added. �It is unbelievable but Turkey's EU bid has unfortunately been built on satisfying the Greek Cypriot side. And this shows that the EU has become their slave,� he said, expressing hope that the commission would in the coming days make �a healthier evaluation and distance itself from this attitude imposed on it by the Greek Cypriots.�

Moment of truth in our EU bid
Monday, December 4, 2006
print this page mail to a friend

OPINIONS

TDN editorial by Yusuf KANLI
The Turkish government, for a change, must stop behaving according to that Pollyanna mentality, accept the bitter reality and be truthful with our people before we see the door closed in our face.

Yusuf KANLI

Some people can be fooled some of the time, but definitely all the people cannot be fooled all of the time. Perhaps someone should remind our prime minister of this fact. He has been trying to fool the entire Turkish nation into believing that the European Commission has decided to recommend that the EU Council slow down accession talks with Turkey when it has, in reality, recommended a partial suspension.

Looking into the eyes of our countrymen through the television cameras, the premier stressed that the government would do everything in its power to get a better decision on Turkey from the General Affairs Council (foreign ministers' meeting) and that everyone must know that �we know well when to be very tough.�

Senior government members, on the other hand, are talking with some senior media people and trying to convince them that Turkey's EU membership was expected to take some 10-15 years anyhow and if the process slows down because of Cyprus, it will only prolong the accession period by a few more years.

We are not in any way trying to suggest that the prime minister and the government act tough, burn all bridges with the EU and bury this country's accession aspirations in the quicksand of anger. However, our people deserve to be told about the bitter realities irrespective of how annoying or painful they might be.

The Turkish-EU vocation has been a trip that we are continuing despite the EU itself. More than 43 years have passed since the Sept. 12, 1963 signing of the Ankara Agreement between Turkey and the forerunner of today's EU. There is no other similar case between any country and the EU. From the number of EU member countries to the concept of the EU itself, everything has changed since then except the fact that Turkey is a country still trying to become eligible for accession one day.

When the late President Turgut Özal, while he was prime minister, dispatched Ali Bozer, the foreign minister of the time, to officially apply for accession, it did not take long for us receive a rather impolite �no� as an answer, which was softened with a �but you are eligible for membership one day� explanation. Even that has changed in time, and today we are officially in an accession talks process. The EU is now telling the Turks that the process is �open ended� and that even if it is completed successfully, some member nations may decide the fate of our bid through referenda.

Furthermore, a new and rather complicated condition is becoming a criterion for Turkey: a settlement to the Cyprus problem. If the EU Council takes a decision along the lines of the commission's recommendation or, as France, Germany, southern Cyprus and some other member countries are demanding, it makes a decision to add a �review� clause to the recommendation of the commission, settlement of the Cyprus problem will become an official criterion for Turkish accession. This criterion will, unfortunately, be to the liking of the Greek Cypriots and Greece

Our government, for a change, must stop behaving according to that Pollyanna mentality, accept the bitter reality and be truthful with our people before we see the door closed in our face. We must as well make it clear that the situation we have today is not a result of the mistakes of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government alone. Of course, they have a share -- a big share -- in the unfortunate situation we are in, but all the Turkish governments that did not realize Cyprus was becoming a condition for Turkey in the EU ever since Greece joined the bloc and which did not take measures accordingly are partners in this big strategic failure. Why did the Turkish government, for example, close Turkish ports and airports to the Greek Cypriot side in 1997? How did we not see that Europeans indeed meant it when they said to our faces that with or without a settlement Greek Cypriots would be allowed to join, representing the entire island? How did we not realize that our rejection of the U.N. peace plan during the Copenhagen summit in December 2002 would give Greek Cypriots a visa for unilateral EU accession? How did we not see what would happen to Turkey's EU accession process if a Greek-Cypriot administered Cyprus was granted unilateral admission because of our mistakes?

On the other hand, irrespective of whether we eventually achieve membership or not, the EU process has helped our country transform into a better democracy, particularly in recent years. Many of our people who otherwise may object to joining the EU are supporting this process because of the role of catalyst that it has played in broadening democracy, individual rights, minority rights, the concepts of supremacy of law and transparency in administration in our country.

Now we have to make a decision. Despite the fact that it is open ended, do we want the EU process to continue? If our answer is yes, then we should all realize that we should waste no time and concentrate on one issue: a negotiated compromise settlement on Cyprus under U.N. auspices. We should not waste any time; we should stop talking and engage in actions that will force the Greek Cypriots to return to the negotiations.

WEEK IN REVIEW
Sunday, December 3, 2006
print this page mail to a friend

PRESS SCANNER

Huge crowds protested on the streets of Istanbul on Sunday against the upcoming trip to Turkey by Pope Benedict XVI.The Saadet (Happiness or Contentment) Party (SP) had initially predicted up to 100,000 people might participate in the protest, but in the end only about 20,000 turned up in the central district of Şişli. Around 4,000 Turkish police stood on guard as the crowd marched from Çağlayan Square. The government is keen to avoid any incidents ahead of Benedict's planned arrival in Ankara on Tuesday, when he is scheduled to meet with President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and also with Ali Bardakoğlu, the head of Turkey's Religious Affairs Directorate. Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, who serves as Vatican foreign minister, said that he was certain the Turks would give a warm welcome to the pontiff, according to Avvenire, a daily newspaper of the Italian Bishops Conference. �As far as I know the Holy Father Benedict XVI never showed second thoughts over his decision to travel to Turkey and is happy he can do so in a few days,� Mamberti was quoted as saying in an interview published Sunday, excerpts of which were released Saturday. More police will protect Pope Benedict XVI when he visits Turkey next week than were deployed to protect U.S. President George W. Bush, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül announced on Sunday.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) today begins its first summit on former Soviet soil, thus declaring its intention to �reach Russia's doorstep� will not be changed by voices of discomfort from Moscow. But the West is not united; either on enlargement towards Russia, or other issues to be debated on the Riga summit. The �transatlantic stalemate�, which deepened with the 2003 invasion of Iraq, shows no sign of healing as Washington pushes for a "more aggressive" role for NATO. At the summit the �global NATO� will be discussed, as the US is planning to �create a web of security partnerships" stretching from Scandinavia to Asia. But European members strongly disagree.

In its final push to break a deadlock over the deep-seated Cyprus problem, European Union term president Finland's efforts to achieve a breakthrough collapsed yesterday, raising uncertainty over the fate of Turkey's EU accession negotiations, opened last year.

�At this stage circumstances do not permit that an agreement can be reached,� Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja was quoted as saying, following separate talks with the foreign ministers of Turkey and Greek Cyprus in Tampere, southern Finland.

He said the EU would have to decide where this left Turkey's membership bid. �There will be consequences,� he said. �Business as usual cannot continue.�

The Finnish term presidency of the EU said in a statement it would �immediately� begin discussions with the bloc's executive commission on whether to suspend Ankara's entry talks. EU foreign ministers are expected to make a decision on the matter when they convene on Dec. 11.

The European Commission voiced disappointment over the failure of the talks without suggesting that either side was at fault.Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told his deputies on Tuesday any division of Iraq into factions would only result in the escalation of violence.Speaking at the Justice and Development Party (AKP) parliamentary group meeting on Tuesday, Erdoğan said everyone should work to ensure peace was established in the region. �I am calling on regional and global players to stop this feud. I am warning you now. If this fire is not stopped soon, it will consume us all. Peace in the Middle East is key to global peace.� Erdoğan also said that while there are some who ignore the fact that Turkey had historical responsibilities in the region, time will make them understand the truth.On the first day of a historic visit by Pope Benedict XVI to the Turkish capital, the pontiff and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan traded conciliatory gestures as both of them sought to calm the storm unleashed when the pontiff appeared to link Islam to violence.

Erdoğan, who was accused for weeks of snubbing the pope for refusing until the last minute to meet with him during his four-day visit to Turkey, personally greeted the pontiff as he stepped off his airplane at Ankara's Esenboğa Airport -- a kind of greeting that was interpreted as a major diplomatic gesture and an unusual break with protocol.

he pope's reply was timely when he for the first time expressed support for Turkey's bid to join the European Union, which he had strongly opposed as �a grave error� when still Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger.

�I asked for his support on the road to EU membership. He said, �We are not political, but we wish for Turkey to join the EU',� Erdoğan told reporters after a 20-minute meeting with the pope. Following his meeting with Erdoğan at the airport, the pope visited the mausoleum of the modern Turkish Republic's founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

Later, he met with President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, who chose to implement a simple state protocol for the pope. The pontiff later visited Ali Bardakoğlu, the head of Turkey's Religious Affairs Directorate, who had harsh words for him after his Sept. 12 remarks on Islam in Regensburg, Germany. The visit took place at Bardakoğlu's office, in line with the Turkish side's preference instead of a meeting at the Vatican Embassy in Ankara.

NATO leaders yesterday declared the new NATO Response Force (NRF) fully operational. The 25,000-strong force is to be sent to the world's hot spots on short notice. Turkey was among the countries that offered concrete support to the force with 300 soldiers and helicopters. But the country, acting in concert with most European members at the Riga summit, offered no extra troops for Afghanistan. Turkish troops will continue to serve in the capital of Kabul. With similar stances from France, Germany and Italy, the U.S. push for �more NATO troops from allies� and �a more aggressive role for the troops in Afghanistan� appeared to be unsuccessful. NATO members also launched partnership ties with Serbia, Bosnia and Montenegro. The three countries were invited to join NATO's Partnership for Peace (PfP) program.Meanwhile, Russia's foreign minister warned the West against discussing ways to reduce energy dependence on Russia. �Energy security is a subject that concerns everybody, and it should be discussed taking into account the interests of all key players," said Sergei Lavrov. Pope Benedict's conciliatory tone during his visit to Turkey and his apparent new support for Ankara's bid to join the European Union provided a boost to his image in the largely Muslim country as he was celebrating Mass at a shrine in western Turkey where legend has it that the Virgin Mary lived out her last days.As Benedict continued his four-day visit, Turkey focused on his gestures upon arrival on Tuesday: his apparent support for Ankara's bid to join the European Union and praise for Islam after a recent speech Muslims found insulting.Benedict said in his sermon: "From here in Ephesus, a city blessed by the presence of Mary Most Holy -- who we know is loved and venerated also by Muslims -- let us lift up to the Lord a special prayer for peace between peoples."The rough stone house where she is said to have died stands amid olive and pine trees outside the ancient Greek city of Ephesus, now a collection of ruins known in Turkish as Efes.Meanwhile, Iraq's al-Qaeda wing on Wednesday condemned Pope Benedict's visit to Turkey as part of a crusade against Islam aimed at pulling Turkey away from the Muslim world, according to Reuters."The visit of the Pope in reality is meant to add momentum to the crusader campaign on the land of Islam after the failures of crusader leaders," the al-Qaeda-led "Islamic State in Iraq" said in a statement posted on the Internet.It said his visit to the predominantly Muslim country was "an attempt to extinguish the flame of Islam among our Muslim brothers in Turkey and to wipe out their Islamic heritage ... and to guarantee that they stay in the quagmire of secularism established by ... (Kemal) Ataturk."The Council of Europe's anti-corruption group issued a report yesterday highlighting the extensive corruption widespread throughout Turkey and its public institutions, including the judiciary.

The report addressed 21 recommendations to Ankara to improve the implementation of recently passed laws to fight corruption and nepotism. It also called on Turkey to �further enhance� the independence of the judiciary, to reduce political influence over judges.

Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen is coming to Turkey on Friday to discuss Turkey's European Union negotiations, with his talks to be followed by a visit by Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt on Dec. 4, as diplomacy gains momentum again after the failure of a Finnish plan to resolve a dispute over Turkey's refusal to open its ports and airports to traffic from Greek Cyprus.Kim Darroch, British Prime Minister Tony Blair's European affairs advisor, is also scheduled to visit Ankara today and have talks at the Foreign Ministry. In Riga, where leaders of NATO countries are meeting for a summit, Blair is expected to meet with Erdoğan for talks on how to tackle the Cyprus dispute.Sources told the Turkish Daily News that Vanhanen's visit is meant to �take Ankara's pulse� rather than to seek a new compromise formula on Cyprus.Finland's efforts to reach a deal on the ports dispute this year failed when Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja announced after separate talks with Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül and Greek Cypriot Foreign Minister George Lillikas in Tampere on Monday that there was no possibility for a quick agreement.Erdoğan, speaking before heading to Riga for the NATO summit, said Finland's efforts had not been a waste. �I do not share the view that the Finnish plan was without any results,� he said. �We will continue our journey [towards EU membership] under any conditions. We will do whatever falls on our shoulders.�He also said there would be no �train crash� over Cyprus, deriving support for his optimism from EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn, who said talks with Turkey will not be frozen but instead will proceed more slowly. The report was drawn up by a team of the Council of Europe's Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) evaluators following a one-week on-site visit to Turkey during which the team held thorough discussions with officials and civil society representatives.A federal judge struck a blow to U.S. President George W. Bush's authority to designate groups as terrorist, saying his post-Sept. 11 executive order was unconstitutionally vague, according to a ruling released on Tuesday.

A senior political scientist has ruled out certain interpretations linking the legal status of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the recent ruling.

The judge found that part of the law violated the Constitution because it put no apparent limit on the president's powers to place groups on that list. However, �the ruling by no means spells legalizing the PKK in the United States, as it is actually about balance within the U.S. constitutional system,� said Dr. Sedat Laçiner.

The Greek Cypriots have pulled out the veto card again to toughen a European Union decision on Turkey's accession negotiations and said they would block the negotiation process if the 25-nation bloc calls for a resumption of talks for a comprehensive settlement in Cyprus.The European Commission recommended that leaders call for a resumption of Cyprus talks under U.N. auspices. It also said accession talks with Turkey should be suspended on eight chapters because Ankara refuses to open its ports and airports to traffic from Greek Cyprus.At a closed-door meeting of representatives of EU states after the commission's recommendation was announced on Wednesday, the Greek Cypriot envoy insisted that the EU should give a deadline to Turkey to open its ports and airports, a demand supported by France.Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen is to have talks in Ankara today to discuss the situation ahead of a Dec. 11 meeting that will decide on Turkey's entry talks. Finland said the commission's recommendation was likely to change at the meeting.Calls from some politicians and columnists for members of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to ask their wives to uncover their heads sparked a furious response on Friday from Parliament Speaker Bülent Arınç, who said women were not slaves who obeyed their husband's every command. Some had suggested that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan persuade his wife to uncover her head to decrease the tension linked to claims that Erdoğan wants to run for president. Some say it would be unacceptable to some secularists if Erdoğan's wife, Emine Erdoğan, lived at Çankaya Palace while still wearing a headscarf. Speaking at a press conference in Parliament, Arınç said some people from time to time try to tell men how to manage their relationships with their wives, adding: �Do you think our wives are slaves? Do you think our wives cover up because we say so and would uncover their heads if we ordered otherwise?� "Is this matter that simple? Do you have the right to tell people how to dress if they do so based on their free will?� he added.Pope Benedict XVI left Turkey on Friday after a momentous visit in which he reached out to Muslims and Orthodox Christians while standing firm on key issues such as papal authority and Europe's Christian roots.Friday morning, the pontiff entered the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit for a mass at the end of a journey that had both eased Muslim discontent in Turkey and raised some red flags in this secular country. He caused minor political whiplash among Turkish leaders Thursday when his comments about religious freedom seemed to undercut his unexpected support for Turkey's European Union upon landing here two days earlier. Minutes before boarding a special Turkish Airlines plane for Rome at the end of his first visit to a Muslim country, the pope told Istanbul Governor Muammer Güler that he was �leaving part of my heart in Istanbul.� Adding drama to diplomacy, the 79-year-old pope made a stunning conciliatory gesture on Thursday when he assumed an attitude of Muslim prayer while facing Mecca in Istanbul's Blue Mosque.The 79-year-old pointiff said before his departure that he hoped his visit would contribute to a "better understanding" between religions.The visit saw unprecedented security measures -- even tighter than those laid on for US President George W. Bush in 2004 -- with large swathes of Istanbul closed down as the routes taken by the pope's motorcade were kept secret.The pope had also used the journey to diminish outrage in the Muslim world caused by a September speech he made that included references to Islam which were widely viewed as incendiary.

ECHR Prepares for Critical Cyprus Ruling
By Emre Demir
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
zaman.com

On Dec. 7, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) will announce its final ruling on the critical issue of Greek Cypriot property cases.

The ECHR will declare its final decision regarding the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus (TRNC) Compensation Commission set up to handle Greek Cypriot applications.

The Strasbourg-based court had previously ruled that the nearly 2,400 Greek Cypriots who claimed ownership of properties abandoned in the northern part of the island following the 1974 Turkish military operation should apply to TRNC Courts, and also declared that it would make its final decision after a six-month review period.

In the Arestis-Ksenides case, the court’s ruling released on Dec. 22, 2005, the ECHR ruled that Turkey had violated the plaintiff’s “peaceful enjoyment of property and right to home.”

The ECHR will soon announce its decision on compensation, a critical precedent for Turkey. Seeking to avoid the existing 1,400 files as well as the 1,000 pending applications because of its heavy caseload, the ECHR had previously postponed the decision on compensation. The ECHR ruled last December that a compensation commission would be set up in accordance with ECHR criteria in the TRNC by June 2006.

The ECHR, which reviewed the decisions that the TRNC Compensation Commission has made so far, will announce its final decision Thursday.

If the court decides the commission is properly functioning, Turkey will not be required to pay compensations expected to cost nearly $40 billion. Moreover, recognition will be a diplomatic success for Turkey.

Speaking to Zaman on the issue, Council of Europe sources stressed that the way the ECHR would describe the compensation commission was very important, and stated that even though Turkey seemed to be the main party in the case, the ECHR’s recognition of a judicial organ set up by the TRNC would have serious repercussions.

In the past, the ECHR had made a similar judgment in cases filed by Polish citizens. In its decision on the cases regarding private properties expropriated by the public authority during the communist regime, the ECHR ruled that the compensation commission set up by Poland would be authorized to decide on the matter.

Judgments Made on 10 Applications out of 80

Eighty Greek Cypriots, who have property in TRNC territory, have applied to the TRNC compensation commission so far. In seven cases, the commission ruled for financial compensation and for the return of the property in three cases.

So far, three plaintiffs have been paid for their properties. Since the payments, Greek Cypriots have reportedly shown an overwhelming interest in the commission, despite pressure from the government which accused Greek Cypriots who applied to the commission of treason.
 

MUSTAFA UNAL
12.04.2006 Wednesday - ISTANBUL 04:11


Speed of EU train

It was European Union (EU) Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn who likened Turkey’s European Union adventure to a train journey and said, “If Turkey doesn’t fulfill its obligations by the end of 2006, a train wreck could happen.” It cannot be said that we took a liking to the train wreck comparison; but it’s obvious that it has really caught on. Now every single development with regards to the EU is being explained through a train-wreck metaphor.

Just as it is obvious in the most recent EU Commission decision on Cyprus… This is not a final decision, it’s a recommendation… It will take its final shape at the foreign ministers meeting and the leaders summit that will be held in 10 days’ time. The point we have arrived at is no surprise, in fact, it was already being anticipated. It was being expressed within government circles in Ankara that a total breakdown was not possible but rather it would be a transition to a more stationary period; and so it happened…

If we are to dwell on the train-wreck metaphor; the train has not gone off the rails, but it has slowed down and 8 of the wagons have been shelved… But it hasn’t changed its course towards another direction by switching rails. At least, this is the approach adopted by both Turkey and Europe. Turkey’s EU journey is continuing even though it is presently going through a troublesome process. The current route leads to the EU, but it is still unknown just when the train will make it to the destination, especially after this slowing down. But what matters is being on the road…

The problem is evident; it is Cyprus. And what is demanded of Turkey is also evident; opening air and sea ports to Greek Cyprus. And strangely enough, this was not a criterion imposed on us initially; we confronted it later on the road and it has turned into a criterion. Turkey has fulfilled all its EU obligations in the last 3-4 years with great success and has always opted for a conciliatory and constructive approach to the Cyprus issue. Both the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) and Turkey have played major roles in order to achieve a lasting solution.

It is Greek Cyprus which said “no” to the Annan plan… Therefore, it is the party that did not want to be part of a possible solution, and hasn’t paid the price up till now. In this respect, using Cyprus as a pretext to suspend Turkey’s accession talks is neither just nor moral… In the meantime, this stance taken by Europe has negatively affected the way Turkish people view the European Union. Support for EU membership is on the decline, according to public opinion polls. Greek Cyprus is not only threatening Turkey’s EU perspective but also its unity and future. The inability of the European Union to distance itself from the orbit of Greek Cyprus, which has a population of only 600,000, would pave the way for its own demise.

Without counteraction on the part of the EU in Turkey’s favor, it is utterly futile to expect Turkey to embark upon any unilateral action and open its air and sea ports to Greek Cypriots. The Turkish society is extremely sensitive over Cyprus. Hence, the maneuver area of the political will is very limited. The Justice and Development Party (AKP) government has stated many times that it is impossible to take any further steps on the ports’ issue unless the isolation imposed on Turkish Cyprus is lifted, and that Ankara should not be expected to mellow its stance.

What will happen now? This is what we are going to vehemently discuss for 10 days. This will naturally be between those who say “Turkey should now abandon its EU dream” and those who say it should continue, nevertheless. I wonder whether the Commission will change its advisory decision. Turkey undoubtedly will continue to be engaged in intense diplomacy and a change is possible even if not be on a wide scale; or at least the overall stance could be softened. There are signs pointing to this. Erkki Tuomioja, the foreign minister of EU Term Presidency Finland, said on Thursday that the recommendation decision may likely change.

The EU train has slowed down and should not be expected to change gear in the near future. It is also possible that this process of frozen chapters may take longer than expected. It has always been obvious that the EU journey would not be fast-paced and such decelerating stops were being anticipated. The only problem is not the malfunction of the locomotive, but the passengers on the train are getting confused as well. Some were even forced to board the train. In my opinion, what matters is the EU train staying on the rails despite all the odds and moving towards its destination no matter how slow the journey; because the alternative is not better than this.

12.04.2006


e-mail:m.unal@zaman.com.tr
 

Listen to Pace report (Real Audio)

Dispute Over Cyprus Latest Hurdle in Turkey's EU Accession Bid
By Sonja Pace
Istanbul
05 December 2006

Pace report (Real Audio) - Download 692k audio clip
Listen to Pace report (Real Audio) audio clip

European Union foreign ministers meet next week in Brussels to discuss possible punitive measures against Turkey for its failure to open its airports and harbors to EU-member Cyprus, whose Greek Cypriot government is not recognized by Turkey. VOA's Sonja Pace reports from Istanbul, the dispute is the latest in a series of hurdles in Turkey's long-standing bid for EU membership.

Flags of Turkey, (l), and the European Union fly over dome of a mosque in Istanbul (file photo)
Flags of Turkey, (l), and the European Union fly over dome of a mosque in Istanbul (file photo)
The EU executive body, the European Commission, has already decided to recommend a partial suspension of negotiations with Turkey. Germany and France are calling for a review of Turkey's progress on the Cyprus issue in 18 months time and several other members also favor a review deadline.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has said any suspension of talks would be a major mistake and the EU Commissioner for enlargement, Olli Rehn, told the Reuters news agency, deadlines will not produce good results. Instead, he called for the Cyprus dispute to be resolved through the United Nations.

Starting in the early 1970s now retired Ambassador Temil Iskit was deeply involved in Turkey's negotiations for EU membership. Speaking to VOA at his home in Istanbul, Iskit acknowledges that Turkey has not fulfilled its signed pledge to open up its airports and harbors to the Greek Cypriots. But he says the EU has also not lived up to its verbal promises to lift the economic embargo on Turkish northern Cyprus.

"What we say is - you have made a promise concerning northern Cyprus," he said. "We have signed this protocol on the other hand. So, this is a quid pro quo - lift the embargo, we'll open our ports."

Iskit says the EU cannot fulfill its promise because of Greek Cypriot opposition.

Some liken that to blackmail and many Turks feel betrayed by the EU, especially after Turkish Cypriots, with Ankara's backing, voted for a U.N. plan to resolve the Cyprus issue and reunite the divided island in 2004. Greek Cypriots voted against the plan and were nonetheless admitted to the EU Many Turks say that has given the Greek Cypriot government veto power over Turkey's accession bid.

There is also a widespread feeling in Turkey that this latest dispute over Cyprus is just another excuse to keep Turkey out.

Ambassador Iskit says there is great anxiety within the EU over Turkey's membership.

"Turkey is a very big country. Turkey is a Muslim country," he said. "So, there are cultural misgivings or prejudices. Cyprus has become a pretext which hides these prejudices and the fact that when Turkey enters [the EU] it will change the EU very much."

But, such change need not be negative, says political sociologist Dogu Ergil of Ankara University. After all, he says, Europe's long-term prospects are not that strong.

"Europe is an economical giant, but politically a mediocre power center, and militarily, it's a dwarf," he said.

Ergil sees Europe as trying to move away from NATO as its sole source of protection and he says Turkey with its large, well trained military and its economic potential could be a definite bonus.

"They need Turkey for the defense of Europe," he said. "Secondly, Turkey is a big market and it has a vital population. The population of Europe is aging and dwindling. So, I think Turkey will provide the manpower and economic dynamism that the West needs."

Ergil says Turkey is not yet ready for such a role. It needs to continue its political and economic reforms before it is ready for EU membership. Estimates are that membership negotiations will last over a decade. Still, Turkish analysts say the process itself has been good for Turkey in providing a vital incentive to modernize and liberalize both its political and economic systems.

But not all Turks favor joining the EU Political analyst Hasan Unal of Ankara's Bilkent University is among the euro-skeptics. He cites the differences between Turkey and other EU members and says, contrary to the general belief, Turkey does not stand to benefit much from joining and instead should take care of its own development.

"It is not European Union money that is going to make us prosperous," he said. "Plus, the European Union 'honey-pot' [source of wealth] is empty now. What we need to understand is that the European Union membership is not as beneficial for the acceding countries as it used to be in the 1960's, 70's and 80's."

Unal favors a special partnership agreement between Turkey and the EU, but not full membership.

Ambassador Temel Iskit disagrees. He says both Turkey and the EU will benefit from Turkey's full membership although he acknowledges that Turkey's entry will signal, what he calls, a complete "transformation" fo the EU.

And Iskit says that despite the current dispute over the Cyprus issue, negotiations will continue.

"The train continues its journey, it will continue its journey because we have common interests," he said.

Iskit says Turkey made a strategic decision long ago that its interests lay westward and he says day to day politics will not interfere in that long-term goal.
emailme.gif
 

 Turkish failure to open ports to Cyprus jeopardises EU hopes
By Stephen Castle, Europe Correspondent
Published: 30 November 2006

Turkey's hopes of joining the European Union have suffered a blow after a large chunk of its membership negotiations were suspended.

The European Commission proposed freezing eight of the 35 policy areas into which accession talks are divided, because of Turkey's failure to open its ports to Cyprus, which joined the EU in 2004.

The move divided Europe, with Tony Blair, a strong ally of Ankara, arguing that the EU should not send a negative signal to Turkey as this could be "a serious mistake for Europe long-term". President Jacques Chirac said France "was in line with Germany and other partners" that the EU "has no other choice".

The European enlargement commissioner, Olli Rehn, said that the negotiations "must continue at a slower pace", adding: "There will be no train crash. There is a slowing down because of works further down the tracks."

The list of talks to be frozen - which include free movement of goods, agriculture, fisheries, transport policy and customs - was longer than expected by Turkish diplomats but fell well short of the total suspension demanded by some critics of Ankara.

So far, Turkey has provisionally concluded just one chapter, covering science and research, since it began talks in October last year.

Turkish television quoted Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan as having described the recommendation as "unacceptable" in a private conversation with the Italian premier, Romano Prodi - though the words were denied by Mr Erdogan's spokesman.

Turkey had been told to open its ports to Cypriot shipping. Ankara has said that it will only do so if the EU ends the isolation of northern Cyprus.

Turkey's hopes of joining the European Union have suffered a blow after a large chunk of its membership negotiations were suspended.

The European Commission proposed freezing eight of the 35 policy areas into which accession talks are divided, because of Turkey's failure to open its ports to Cyprus, which joined the EU in 2004.

The move divided Europe, with Tony Blair, a strong ally of Ankara, arguing that the EU should not send a negative signal to Turkey as this could be "a serious mistake for Europe long-term". President Jacques Chirac said France "was in line with Germany and other partners" that the EU "has no other choice".

The European enlargement commissioner, Olli Rehn, said that the negotiations "must continue at a slower pace", adding: "There will be no train crash. There is a slowing down because of works further down the tracks."

The list of talks to be frozen - which include free movement of goods, agriculture, fisheries, transport policy and customs - was longer than expected by Turkish diplomats but fell well short of the total suspension demanded by some critics of Ankara.

So far, Turkey has provisionally concluded just one chapter, covering science and research, since it began talks in October last year.

Turkish television quoted Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan as having described the recommendation as "unacceptable" in a private conversation with the Italian premier, Romano Prodi - though the words were denied by Mr Erdogan's spokesman.

Turkey had been told to open its ports to Cypriot shipping. Ankara has said that it will only do so if the EU ends the isolation of northern Cyprus.
 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2478757,00.html

Europe

The Times November 30, 2006
+ Post a Comment

Blame game is a dangerous one to play
Bronwen Maddox: World Briefing
Who is most to blame for the sudden deadlock between Turkey and the European Union?

Turkey, by a small margin, if you have to make that call, in that it has not complied with its promise to the EU to open its ports. It knew it had a year or so to do it, and it did nothing. That was reflected in the severity of the European Commission’s verdict yesterday.

But the stalemate would not have arisen without egregious stubbornness of Greece and Cyprus, urged on by France and Germany, who have made no bones about their coolness towards the entire notion of Turkish membership.

At this point, the European Commission has to decide whether it wants to encourage Turkey, never mind who is most in the wrong.

The message yesterday was that it doesn’t — and that it doesn’t want the talks to stall. It can’t have it both ways; that dangerous game will end in Turkey’s angry exit.

Yesterday’s report by the Commission dealt a harsher blow than expected to Turkish hopes: suspension of eight “chapters” for discussion in accession talks. They are not the three that Britain had lobbied for, nor the six for which Turkey had been braced. More damaging, perhaps, was the recommendation that no chapter of talks be closed until the question of Cyprus and access to Turkish ports is settled. So far, Turkey and the Commission have agreed only one of the 35 — on science.

Some reprimand was in order. Turkey had promised the EU under the “Ankara protocol” that it would open its sea and air ports to vessels from Cyprus, which it does not recognise. In the end, Turkey refused.

Brussels’ reaction could have been worse. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Prime Minister, called the recommendation unacceptable, but Turkey is well aware that the Commission could have frozen talks, or set a new deadline for opening the ports. On the other hand, Turkey has a point, too. The EU promised to ease the economic isolation of northern Cyprus (recognised by Turkey) when it, but not the south, voted for reunification in 2004.

The Cypriot Government in Nicosia, which joined the EU in 2004 and is recognised internationally, has blocked these.

Yesterday Egeman Bagis, a foreign policy adviser to Erdogan, said that the EU should continue the talks to promote reform in Turkey, and not link them to solving the Cyprus problem, which it did not apply to Cyprus’s accession.

He is right. To drive head-on for the most difficult issue, without more common ground established, is to end the talks under the guise of diplomacy.

The Pope’s support for Turkey was helpful to its cause, despite the uncertainty about whether he really gave the wholehearted endorsement of Turkish membership that Ankara claimed.

A spokesman clarified the Pope’s remarks, saying that he had told Erdogan that although the Vatican did not have the power or competence to intervene, it “viewed positively and encouraged” the process of entry “on the basis of common values and principles”.

This is nuanced, but it is still a shift towards the principle of Turkish membership. It is not one that members of the EU have made together. If they want to keep the option of Turkish membership open, at this fragile point in relations, they need to be prepared to overlook some provocation to keep the talks on the rails.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/11/29/news/web.1129blair.php

Blair warns of sending wrong signal to Turkey on EU bid
The Associated Press
Published: November 29, 2006

RIGA, Latvia: Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain said Wednesday that it would be a "serious mistake" to send Turkey a negative message on its bid to join the European Union.

His remarks were prompted by the expected decision by the European Commission to recommend partially suspending Turkey's entry talks.

Blair told reporters after meeting with his Turkish counterpart, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, that though the country's entry into the EU may require "compromises all around," failure was not acceptable.

"We have got to make sure we allow Turkey's accession to proceed," he said. "Just at the moment, to send an adverse signal to Turkey - I think would be a serious mistake for Europe long-term."
Related Articles
Pope supports Turkey's entry into European Union
Only 250 attend Pope's mass in Turkey
Today in Europe
Zapatero's 'softness' has a backbone
Russians are playing it tough in poisoned-spy inquiry
Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich of Ukraine meets Cheney and Rice
Click here to find out more!

The European Commission had ordered Ankara to extend a customs pact to Cyprus, an EU member since 2004 that remains divided between the Turkish Cypriot north and the internationally recognized Greek Cypriot south.

Officials in Brussels said Ankara has refused to open its ports to Cyprus, making it likely the commission will issue an early recommendation that EU leaders partially suspend membership talks with Turkey when they meet at a mid-December summit.

Blair said he promised Erdogan Britain's support and said he would rally other nations to do the same at the EU summit.

"In Europe, we face a division today between short-term political considerations ... and the long-term strategic interests in Europe and the wider world, which is to have Turkey inside the European Union," he said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6194492.stm

EU urged to freeze Turkey talks
Flags of EU and Turkey outside an Istanbul mosque
Turkey's bid has polarised opinion in Europe
The European Commission has recommended that some elements of talks with Turkey about its hopes of joining the EU should be frozen.

The recommendations follow the breakdown of talks over the divided island of Cyprus.

Turkey's refusal to recognise the Cypriot government has become an obstacle to Turkey's membership hopes.

Turkish television channels quoted Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan as saying the recommendation was "unacceptable".

After Finland said on Monday that talks over the Cyprus issue were deadlocked, the European Commission brought forward an announcement it was due to make next week.

It said eight of the 35 areas of negotiation between the EU and Turkey should be suspended.

It also said no area of negotiation should be declared complete until the Cyprus situation is resolved.

This was a much tougher conclusion than was expected and could act as a major disincentive for Turkey to resume any negotiations, says the BBC's Jonny Dymond in Brussels.

Final decision awaited

"There is a unanimous decision by the member states to conduct accession negotiations with Turkey... Turkey has undoubtedly made progress. But it has still not implemented all obligations it has agreed to," EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said in a statement.

The EU insists that Turkey fulfils its commitment to open its ports to traffic from Cyprus, but Turkey says it will not do so until the EU eases its embargo on Turkish-controlled northern Cyprus.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkish troops invaded to counter a Greek Cypriot coup backed by the military junta ruling Greece at the time.

The final decision on whether to suspend negotiations will be made by EU foreign ministers, or by heads of government when they meet in mid-December.

Some countries want to go further than the European Commission recommends and suspend negotiations in more areas, says our correspondent in Brussels.

Suspending some chapters would not mean Turkey's application would be halted altogether, but could make it difficult to get full negotiations back on track, he adds.

Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen will visit Turkey on Friday to meet his Turkish counterpart Mr Erdogan, in a last-ditch effort to reach a breakthrough.

http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=12/6/2006&Cat=2&Num=4

Germany, France avoid hard EU deadline for Turkey


METTLACH, Germany (Reuters) - Germany and France stepped back on Tuesday from demanding the EU issue a clear ultimatum linking Turkey's membership talks to a deadline for opening of its ports and airports to EU member Cyprus.

But German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Jacques Chirac said they wanted Brussels to report back later on whether Ankara had met treaty obligations to open the ports -- a source of deep-seated tension between Nicosia and Ankara.

Ankara does not recognise the Greek Cypriot government and argues the EU should first end the economic isolation of breakaway Turkish northern Cyprus, recognised only by Ankara.

EU foreign ministers are due to decide on Monday what sanctions to impose on Ankara for failure to open the ports. The European Commission has recommended a partial freeze in talks.

"Our goal is that the Ankara Protocol (on regular trade with the 10 new EU members) will be implemented," Merkel told a news conference with Chirac and Polish president Lech Kaczynski.

"We don't want to set any kind of ultimatum," she said.

Merkel said she would lobby for the Commission to report on Turkish compliance in the period between Turkish elections next autumn and no later than the European elections in 2009.

"The position of France is exactly that which the Chancellor has just described and I believe that Poland's position is not very far away from ours," Chirac said.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn voiced relief that the three leaders had avoided demanding a hard deadline for Turkey.

"I appreciated that the leaders of Germany, France and Poland did not set an ultimatum for Turkey and hope the decision paves the way for a compromise at the foreign ministers' meeting next Monday," Rehn told reporters in Helsinki.

He had appealed to Merkel and Chirac in a Reuters interview on Monday not to push Ankara's back to the wall, arguing that deadlines did not produce results and the Cyprus problem was best left to U.N. mediation.

A source in Chirac's office had said on Monday that Merkel and Chirac wanted a "rendezvous clause" that would effectively set a deadline for Turkey to comply with EU demands.

But Merkel, under pressure from EU countries that oppose the idea, avoided any mention of hard deadlines for Turkey.

Cypriot Foreign Minister Georgios Lillikas said he did not support ending talks with Turkey but urged the Union to be firm.

"If we want Turkey to be reformed we should take serious sanctions," he told Reuters in Brussels.

Cyprus has been partitioned since Turkish troops invaded in 1974, reacting to a coup by Greek Cypriot militants seeking union with Greece. A U.N.-backed settlement proposal failed in 2004, when Turkish Cypriots endorsed it in a referendum, but Greek Cypriots rejected it.

After an informal bilateral meeting, Merkel and Chirac were joined by Kaczynski to discuss Turkey and another of the 25-nation EU's most complicated and divisive issues -- relations with Russia, the bloc's single biggest oil and gas supplier.

The meeting came less than two weeks after Poland blocked the launch of talks on a new wide-ranging partnership pact between the EU and Russia, saying it wanted Moscow first to lift its ban on Polish meat imports.

Kaczynski had hoped to use the meeting to win Franco-German support in the dispute, while Paris and Berlin had hoped to persuade him to relent on the EU-Russia negotiations.

But there was no sign that either side had changed the other's mind. A joint communique after the meeting spoke only of the "importance of Russia as a strategic partner" for the EU.

Kaczynski told the news conference France and Germany had expressed solidarity with Poland, but he gave no indication that Warsaw was ready to withdraw its veto of the EU-Russia talks.

Germany takes over the EU's rotating presidency from Finland in January and has vowed to rescue the Union's constitution from limbo and reach out to Russia.

But Merkel's plans are doomed without the support of Poland, which is suspicious of Russia and has had problems with Berlin.
 

France and Germany back partial suspension of EU membership talks with Turkey
By Katrin Bennhold
Published: December 5, 2006
E-Mail Article
Listen to Article
Printer-Friendly
3-Column Format
Translate
Share Article
Add to Clippings
Text Size
Click here to find out more!

PARIS: In the latest sign that Turkey is losing ground in its struggle to keep negotiations to join the European Union on track, Germany and France on Tuesday threw their weight behind a call to partly suspend the talks because of a continuing dispute over Cyprus.

Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Jacques Chirac also urged the European Commission to report back to EU leaders with a review of Turkish compliance in 18 months, an idea that was backed by Cyprus.

The commission's proposal last week to halt negotiations on 8 of 35 points was a "good basis" for discussion, Merkel said after meeting with Chirac and the Polish president, Lech Kaczynski, in Germany. Chirac said Paris had the "same position" and Finland, which holds the European Union's rotating presidency, echoed the comments.

"We don't want to set any kind of ultimatums," Merkel said during a news conference in the southwestern town of Mettlach. But she said the commission should tell EU leaders "what has been achieved and how we can proceed."
Video
A preview of the global political landscape this week.
» View
Today in Europe
Zapatero's 'softness' has a backbone
Russians are playing it tough in poisoned-spy inquiry
Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich of Ukraine meets Cheney and Rice
Click here to find out more!

She insisted that the move did not constitute a "sharpening" of the German position, but said: "Something that we expected didn't happen. It must have certain consequences."

"We have the same position, French and Germans, on this problem," Chirac said.

Ankara began its membership talks with the Union in October last year but has faced criticism for failing to make progress on human rights and religious freedom. Politicians in some member countries have grown increasingly skeptical about the economic and political costs of integrating a large and predominantly Muslim country into the bloc.

But the most intractable issue has been the status of Cyprus, one of the EU's 25 member states. Turkey does not recognize the Greek Cypriot government of the divided Mediterranean island and instead - alone in the international community - backs the Turkish Cypriot government in the north of the island.

The European Commission made its recommendation for a partial suspension last week after Turkey had again refused to open its sea ports and airports to Cyprus, demanding that the Union first lift its embargo on the Turkish part of the island.

The EU foreign ministers are to meet Monday to decide what sanctions to impose on Turkey, and EU leaders will take up the issue at a summit meeting Dec. 14 and 15.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey urged his European counterparts Tuesday not to make a "historic mistake" at the summit meeting next week.

He warned the Union that the bloc would push his country away from membership talks at its own peril.

"Membership is part of a global vision, it is the most important project of the 21st Century," Erdogan said. "It is an issue that cannot be sacrificed to small calculations and mundane issues."

"To distance Turkey from the negotiating table would be a grave mistake," he said. "Turkey has nothing to lose. If anyone will lose, it will be the EU."

Some member states appear to agree with him. Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain last week called on fellow leaders to send "positive signals" to Turkey. The Swedish foreign minister, Carl Bildt, traveled to Ankara this week to pledge his support for Turkey's European ambitions.

"We are both convinced of the need to retain the strategic perspective for Turkey and the EU," Bildt said. "Whatever happens we must have a continuation of the negotiating process."

Tension increased last week after Turkey rejected a compromise proposal by Finland that offered to relax the embargo on the Turkish part of Cyprus in return for an opening of Turkish sea ports and airports to Greek Cypriot ships and planes.

Greece on Monday appeared to lobby to give Turkey a deadline for opening its borders to trade with Cyprus.

Merkel, who will take over the EU presidency on Jan. 1, did not go that far. But she said she would ask the European Commission, the EU executive body, to issue a report on Turkey's membership bid sometime between next autumn, when Turkey holds national elections, and European elections in early 2009.

Germany, France avoid hard EU deadline for Turkey


METTLACH, Germany (Reuters) - Germany and France stepped back on Tuesday from demanding the EU issue a clear ultimatum linking Turkey's membership talks to a deadline for opening of its ports and airports to EU member Cyprus.

But German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Jacques Chirac said they wanted Brussels to report back later on whether Ankara had met treaty obligations to open the ports -- a source of deep-seated tension between Nicosia and Ankara.

Ankara does not recognise the Greek Cypriot government and argues the EU should first end the economic isolation of breakaway Turkish northern Cyprus, recognised only by Ankara.

EU foreign ministers are due to decide on Monday what sanctions to impose on Ankara for failure to open the ports. The European Commission has recommended a partial freeze in talks.

"Our goal is that the Ankara Protocol (on regular trade with the 10 new EU members) will be implemented," Merkel told a news conference with Chirac and Polish president Lech Kaczynski.

"We don't want to set any kind of ultimatum," she said.

Merkel said she would lobby for the Commission to report on Turkish compliance in the period between Turkish elections next autumn and no later than the European elections in 2009.

"The position of France is exactly that which the Chancellor has just described and I believe that Poland's position is not very far away from ours," Chirac said.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn voiced relief that the three leaders had avoided demanding a hard deadline for Turkey.

"I appreciated that the leaders of Germany, France and Poland did not set an ultimatum for Turkey and hope the decision paves the way for a compromise at the foreign ministers' meeting next Monday," Rehn told reporters in Helsinki.

He had appealed to Merkel and Chirac in a Reuters interview on Monday not to push Ankara's back to the wall, arguing that deadlines did not produce results and the Cyprus problem was best left to U.N. mediation.

A source in Chirac's office had said on Monday that Merkel and Chirac wanted a "rendezvous clause" that would effectively set a deadline for Turkey to comply with EU demands.

But Merkel, under pressure from EU countries that oppose the idea, avoided any mention of hard deadlines for Turkey.

Cypriot Foreign Minister Georgios Lillikas said he did not support ending talks with Turkey but urged the Union to be firm.

"If we want Turkey to be reformed we should take serious sanctions," he told Reuters in Brussels.

Cyprus has been partitioned since Turkish troops invaded in 1974, reacting to a coup by Greek Cypriot militants seeking union with Greece. A U.N.-backed settlement proposal failed in 2004, when Turkish Cypriots endorsed it in a referendum, but Greek Cypriots rejected it.

After an informal bilateral meeting, Merkel and Chirac were joined by Kaczynski to discuss Turkey and another of the 25-nation EU's most complicated and divisive issues -- relations with Russia, the bloc's single biggest oil and gas supplier.

The meeting came less than two weeks after Poland blocked the launch of talks on a new wide-ranging partnership pact between the EU and Russia, saying it wanted Moscow first to lift its ban on Polish meat imports.

Kaczynski had hoped to use the meeting to win Franco-German support in the dispute, while Paris and Berlin had hoped to persuade him to relent on the EU-Russia negotiations.

But there was no sign that either side had changed the other's mind. A joint communique after the meeting spoke only of the "importance of Russia as a strategic partner" for the EU.

Kaczynski told the news conference France and Germany had expressed solidarity with Poland, but he gave no indication that Warsaw was ready to withdraw its veto of the EU-Russia talks.

Germany takes over the EU's rotating presidency from Finland in January and has vowed to rescue the Union's constitution from limbo and reach out to Russia.

But Merkel's plans are doomed without the support of Poland, which is suspicious of Russia and has had problems with Berlin.
 

France and Germany back partial suspension of EU membership talks with Turkey
By Katrin Bennhold
Published: December 5, 2006
E-Mail Article
Listen to Article
Printer-Friendly
3-Column Format
Translate
Share Article
Add to Clippings
Text Size
Click here to find out more!

PARIS: In the latest sign that Turkey is losing ground in its struggle to keep negotiations to join the European Union on track, Germany and France on Tuesday threw their weight behind a call to partly suspend the talks because of a continuing dispute over Cyprus.

Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Jacques Chirac also urged the European Commission to report back to EU leaders with a review of Turkish compliance in 18 months, an idea that was backed by Cyprus.

The commission's proposal last week to halt negotiations on 8 of 35 points was a "good basis" for discussion, Merkel said after meeting with Chirac and the Polish president, Lech Kaczynski, in Germany. Chirac said Paris had the "same position" and Finland, which holds the European Union's rotating presidency, echoed the comments.

"We don't want to set any kind of ultimatums," Merkel said during a news conference in the southwestern town of Mettlach. But she said the commission should tell EU leaders "what has been achieved and how we can proceed."
Video
A preview of the global political landscape this week.
» View
Today in Europe
Zapatero's 'softness' has a backbone
Russians are playing it tough in poisoned-spy inquiry
Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich of Ukraine meets Cheney and Rice
Click here to find out more!

She insisted that the move did not constitute a "sharpening" of the German position, but said: "Something that we expected didn't happen. It must have certain consequences."

"We have the same position, French and Germans, on this problem," Chirac said.

Ankara began its membership talks with the Union in October last year but has faced criticism for failing to make progress on human rights and religious freedom. Politicians in some member countries have grown increasingly skeptical about the economic and political costs of integrating a large and predominantly Muslim country into the bloc.

But the most intractable issue has been the status of Cyprus, one of the EU's 25 member states. Turkey does not recognize the Greek Cypriot government of the divided Mediterranean island and instead - alone in the international community - backs the Turkish Cypriot government in the north of the island.

The European Commission made its recommendation for a partial suspension last week after Turkey had again refused to open its sea ports and airports to Cyprus, demanding that the Union first lift its embargo on the Turkish part of the island.

The EU foreign ministers are to meet Monday to decide what sanctions to impose on Turkey, and EU leaders will take up the issue at a summit meeting Dec. 14 and 15.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey urged his European counterparts Tuesday not to make a "historic mistake" at the summit meeting next week.

He warned the Union that the bloc would push his country away from membership talks at its own peril.

"Membership is part of a global vision, it is the most important project of the 21st Century," Erdogan said. "It is an issue that cannot be sacrificed to small calculations and mundane issues."

"To distance Turkey from the negotiating table would be a grave mistake," he said. "Turkey has nothing to lose. If anyone will lose, it will be the EU."

Some member states appear to agree with him. Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain last week called on fellow leaders to send "positive signals" to Turkey. The Swedish foreign minister, Carl Bildt, traveled to Ankara this week to pledge his support for Turkey's European ambitions.

"We are both convinced of the need to retain the strategic perspective for Turkey and the EU," Bildt said. "Whatever happens we must have a continuation of the negotiating process."

Tension increased last week after Turkey rejected a compromise proposal by Finland that offered to relax the embargo on the Turkish part of Cyprus in return for an opening of Turkish sea ports and airports to Greek Cypriot ships and planes.

Greece on Monday appeared to lobby to give Turkey a deadline for opening its borders to trade with Cyprus.

Merkel, who will take over the EU presidency on Jan. 1, did not go that far. But she said she would ask the European Commission, the EU executive body, to issue a report on Turkey's membership bid sometime between next autumn, when Turkey holds national elections, and European elections in early 2009.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?
edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=77442

Germany, France back partial freeze on Turkey's EU entry talks


Compiled by Daily Star staff
Wednesday, December 06, 2006

The leaders of Germany and France underlined their support Tuesday for the partial suspension of Turkey's EU membership negotiations over its refusal open up to trade with Cyprus. Shortly ahead of the statement, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan appealed to the European Union to avoid "putting obstacles on Turkey's road and trying to push it away" from accession negotiations.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged the EU to impose another hurdle on Turkey - a review of its entry negotiations after 18 months. That proposal was quickly backed by Cyprus.

A proposal from the EU commission to suspend eight of 35 areas in Turkey's membership talks is a "good basis" for discussions, Merkel said after talks with French President Jacques Chirac and Polish President Lech Kaczynski.

Merkel also called for the commission to report back to EU leaders between Turkish elections next fall and European polls in early 2009 for a review of the state of Ankara's entry bid.

"We don't want to set any kind of ultimatums, but we want ... the commission to say to us what has been achieved and how we could proceed," Merkel said.

"I hope the Turkish side also sees there can be no talk of a sharpening here, but that we say that something we expected didn't happen. It must have certain consequences," she added.

"We have the same position, French and Germans, on this problem. And I think I understand correctly that the Polish position is not very far from ours," said Chirac. But Poland's president was more guarded.

"Poland remains a supporter of Turkey's accession," Kaczynski said. "At the same time, Poland is a nation that intends to strictly respect all sorts of standards linked to the EU and also the standards that are related to or at least should be related to various partners of the EU."
http://www.dailystar.com.lb

Erdogan said he telephoned Merkel hours before she was to meet Chirac.

"I reminded her what the costs of a wrong step could be," Erdogan told the parliamentary group of his Justice and Development Party. "I told her we hope such a historic mistake will not occur at the summit of EU leaders on December 14-15."

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said the German proposal "would make things even worse," but played down its chances of winning support from all 25 bloc members.

"The EU must show it is serious about Turkey's membership and deliver on its promises," Erdogan said.

He described the country's entry bid as "one of the most important projects of the century," aiming to bring East and West closer, and called on EU leaders to "not lose their global vision." Ankara's appeal was echoed by visiting Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, whose country, along with Britain, argues that Turkey should not be estranged.

Speaking to reporters after talks with Gul, Bildt underscored the need to retain "the strategic perspective" for Turkey and the European Union.

Turkey, he said, is situated in "a far more volatile, strategic region" and has an influence on "the stability of the world that is adjacent to Europe." - AP, AFP

Finnish PM: EU backs plan on Turkey

The Associated Press

(Updated Tuesday, December 5, 2006, 8:19 AM)
Advertisements

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - The European Union presidency on Tuesday backed a proposal to partially suspend EU membership talks with Turkey because of Ankara's refusal to open up to trade with Cyprus.

Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen, who holds the EU's rotating presidency, said the recommendation to suspend some parts of the negotiations "provides a good basis for a decision" on Turkey when EU foreign ministers meet next Monday.

The European Commission last week recommended that negotiations on eight of 35 policy areas - mainly relating to trade - should be halted because of Turkey's refusal to allow Greek Cypriot ships and planes to use its ports and airports.

Vanhanen said EU foreign ministers should decide on whether to adopt that recommendation at their meeting Monday, because he did not intend to take the issue to a summit meeting later next week.

Although he acknowledged that the negotiations were in "a difficult situation," Vanhanen told a meeting of EU legislators that the plan to bring Turkey into the Union should go ahead.

"The train has slowed down but the destination is still the same," he said.

Cyprus government says it supports proposal giving Turkey more time to meet its EU obligations
The Associated Press
Published: December 5, 2006
E-Mail Article
Listen to Article
Printer-Friendly
3-Column Format
Translate
Share Article
Add to Clippings
Text Size
Click here to find out more!

NICOSIA, Cyprus: Cyprus' government expressed support Tuesday for a proposal that would apparently give Turkey more time to fulfill its obligation to the European Union as part of its membership talks.

Although details of the proposal were not made public, it appears to include a review of steps taken by Turkey to fulfill its obligations after 18 months.

"We fully support this proposal to set a clear timeframe for Turkey to fulfill its obligations toward the Republic of Cyprus," government spokesman Christodoulos Pashiardis told reporters.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Jacques Chirac met in Germany on Tuesday, along with Polish President Lech Kaczynski, where they discussed Turkey's membership negotiations.
Today in Europe
Zapatero's 'softness' has a backbone
Russians are playing it tough in poisoned-spy inquiry
Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich of Ukraine meets Cheney and Rice
Click here to find out more!

Turkish elections are expected late next year and the 18-month timeframe gives Turkey time to meet its obligations after the vote, Pashiardis said.

His comments came less than one week after Cyprus threatened to block Turkey's EU membership talks unless Ankara commits to opening its ports and airports to Cyprus. Ankara insists that trade restrictions be lifted on a breakaway Turkish Cypriot state in the north of the island.

Turkish presidential elections are to take place in May 2007 and general elections must take place before November of next year. An exact date has not yet been fixed.

Earlier, Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis urged the EU to impose an 18-month deadline on Turkey to open trade with Cyprus. It was unclear if her comments were related to the proposal announced in Germany.

If there is no progress over Cyprus "we should have a serious and responsible re-evaluation of the situation in 18 months," she said on Monday.

Bakoyannis said she had discussed the EU-Turkey impasse with Cypriot Foreign Minister George Lilikas and U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns at a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

"Some policy areas in (Turkey's membership) negotiations have been put in the 'freezer.' Others will open but will not be concluded, so that the process moves forward," she said. "Eighteen months is a logical period, so that after (general) elections, Turkey's new government can finally say whether it wants to proceed or not."

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded the island following a short-lived coup staged by supporters of union with Greece.

Turkey and the EU
The New York Times
Published: December 3, 2006
E-Mail Article
Listen to Article
Printer-Friendly
3-Column Format
Translate
Share Article
Add to Clippings
Text Size

The strained relationship between Europe and Turkey took two steps forward last week and, we fear, at least that many backward.

On the plus side, the visit to Turkey by Pope Benedict XVI helped soothe relations, especially after Benedict backed off his opposition to Turkey's application to join the European Union. The pope - who infuriated Muslims a few months ago with a tone-deaf speech criticizing Islam - may have done even more good with his visit to the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, where he prayed facing Mecca.

But those efforts at conciliation may be undercut if the European Union follows through on a recommendation by its enlargement commissioner, Olli Rehn, to freeze part of the negotiating program for Turkey's membership unless Turkey opens its ports to shipping from Cyprus. To many in Turkey - and to us as well - that looked like another ploy to keep Turkey out of the Union. Some members are pressing for the EU to suspend the talks altogether.

There is no question that Turkey has to open its ports, the sooner the better. But the EU also needs to do a lot more to help end the division of Cyprus - rather than just hitting Turkey over the head with it.
Today in Opinion
Losing the good war
Mr. Bolton resigns
Collapse of a cholesterol drug
Click here to find out more!

In 2004, Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, courageously changed his country's longstanding policy and persuaded Turkish Cypriots to vote in favor of a UN settlement plan. But the Greek Cypriots - assured by the EU of membership no matter what they did - rejected the plan. If the Union is serious about bringing in Turkey - and it should be - it needs to press the Greek Cypriots to settle.

It is obvious why Turkey would want to join Europe's wealthy club. But Europe and all of the West have a lot to gain as well. The prospect of membership is already encouraging Ankara to make needed political and economic reforms, although a lot more needs to be done. Turkey's admission would be a strong sign that the West truly believes its claims of tolerance and respect for all religions.

As he left Istanbul, the pope said he hoped his visit would bring "civilizations progressively closer." The European Union should listen.
 

EU’s Turkey Exercise in Dishonesty and Perfidy
Martin Kettle, The Guardian


Today, as in the past, Turkey embodies transcendent political questions. Can West and East live in harmony? How can secular and religious values best coexist? Are minorities and human rights properly respected? This week Pope Benedict trod a more exemplary path through these difficult issues than some had expected. Now the European Union must do the same if it is to avoid becoming a protectionist irrelevance and, perhaps, if it is to survive at all.

In spite of all its problems, the mutual embrace between the West and Turkey is a great project of civilization and law. Yet events are pushing both sides toward an epochal confrontation at this month’s EU summit. We are a mere two weeks away from an existential explosion which could end with Europe defining itself as a place in which Muslims are not welcome, and with modern Turkey turning away from the Westernizing path that has been fundamental to its whole existence. We would be crazy to allow either thing to happen.

It is futile to deny that Turkey is in its own distinct but deep sense a part of Europe. Like Britain, it is a nation of the periphery, but there is no European network of importance — from the Champions League and the Eurovision Song Contest to NATO and the Council of Europe — of which Turkey is not a part. The sole exception is the EU.

Turkey first applied for associate membership as long ago as 1959. It has been an associate since 1963. It asked for full membership in 1987. Accession negotiations finally began in 2005. Even optimists think it unlikely Turkey will join the EU before 2015, and then only with significant transitional arrangements. So what is this latest crisis really about? Turkey has been consistent, patient and obliging in its pro-European policy. Yet since 1959 it has been leapfrogged by 21 new member states — and may yet be beaten to membership by five others from the Balkans (two of which have large Muslim populations). If Europe now spurns Turkey, it will deservedly stand accused of historic dishonesty and perfidy.

None of this is to deny the challenges. Turkey would be physically the largest nation in the EU (it is more than twice the size of Germany). Its membership would propel the union’s borders from the Danube almost to the Euphrates. Within a few years, Turkey would have more people than any other EU member. Yet Turks would be among the poorest and least skilled EU citizens. In the UN Development Project’s human development index, Turkey ranks 92nd, well below every other European nation, including Albania. Corruption remains a nationwide blight. Measured in this way, Turkey is more a Middle Eastern nation than a European one.

Nor can we dismiss Turkey’s mistreatment of minorities and abuses of human rights. It is in denial about Armenia, has fought a brutal war against the Kurds and remains reluctant to acknowledge its Greek and Orthodox traditions. Last year it put the most famous Turk of our era, the Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk, on trial merely for criticizing the taboo on discussing these events. Ten days ago the Gazi University professor Atilla Yayla was dismissed for questioning the cult of Kemal Ataturk. This week Turkey’s ardently Kemalist president, Ahmet Necdet Sezer, vetoed a new religious freedom law.

Yet Turkey is unquestionably changing. The economy has grown by a third in the past five years. Growth this year is at 8 percent. Urbanization is rapid, especially in Anatolia, parts of which have gone from being like Kosovo to being like Ireland in under a generation. In October the OECD praised Turkey for adopting far-reaching structural reforms. The prospect of EU membership has been a catalyst for reform across Turkish governance. Under the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan — who owes his power in large part to the emerging Anatolian middle class — Turkey has taken what the BBC correspondent Chris Morris describes as its great leap forward. In 2004, an independent commission under Martti Ahtisaari, of the UN, concluded that reform was being carried through with “unprecedented determination and efficiency”. Ahtisaari spoke of a “silent revolution”. Under Erdogan, modern Turkey is one of the healthier men of Europe.

It may seem incredible that this sweeping transformation and radical possibility are held hostage by the Greek Cypriot regime in Nicosia, which uses its veto to block almost all aspects of Turkish EU entry. Yet on one level that is why Turkey’s bid may founder in Brussels in two weeks.

Granted, Turkey is not without blame for the impasse — it could call Nicosia’s bluff. And its pace of reform has slowed since the disastrous decision to admit Nicosia to the EU in 2004 without a solution of the Cyprus conflict. Even so, common sense says something more important is in play here.

That something is political and public opinion in the many parts of the EU that oppose Turkish membership, yet prefer to hide behind the Cyprus dispute. Public opinion is against Turkish entry in 15 of the EU’s 25 states. In Austria, still affecting to be traumatized by the siege of Vienna in 1683 and where a referendum has been promised, opinion is six-to-one against. In France, where there will also be a vote, opponents lead by 15 percent. The real problem about any coming together, in other words, does not lie in Turkey but in the EU.

The West has always been prejudiced against the Turks, said Ataturk, adding that the Turks have always moved toward the West. Perhaps the imminent danger to the Turkish bid is merely another swing in a ceaseless cycle. Yet we must be clear what message the derailing of the talks would send and what the consequences would be. As the newly published Cambridge history of the later Ottoman Empire reminds us, the defeat of 1683 cost the grand vizier his life and the sultan his throne. Having staked so much on Europe, the Erdogan government would risk being swept aside by resurgent Kemalism or resurgent Islamism, or perhaps both. At best, Turkish reformers would fall victim to the melancholy “huzun” of which Pamuk writes. At worst, the country could become fratricidally ungovernable and might look to Iran or Russia for support.

The cost on the wider stage might even be greater. The impact in the Muslim world — and among Europe’s own Muslims — of Europe’s symbolic renunciation of tolerance and pluralism is hard to quantify. But we can be sure of one thing: Al-Qaeda would be laughing all the way to the terrorist training camp.

Annan regrets 10 years of U.N. stalemate on Cyprus
Fri Dec 1, 2006 8:19pm ET145
advertisement
Email This Article | Print This Article | Reprints
[-] Text [+]

By Irwin Arieff

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Kofi Annan expressed regret on Friday over his failure to end a decades-long dispute over divided Cyprus during his 10 years as U.N. secretary-general and blamed both sides for the impasse.

"Despite a decade of almost continuous U.N. efforts, an agreement on a comprehensive settlement did not prove possible," Annan said.

Having dealt with Cyprus throughout his two five-year terms as U.N. leader, "I cannot but regret the continued stalemate in the political process and the missed opportunities," he said in his final report to the U.N. Security Council on Cyprus before stepping down at year's end.

Reuters Pictures
Photo

Editors Choice: Best pictures
from the last 24 hours.
View Slideshow

The Mediterranean island has been split into a Turkish Cypriot north, recognized solely by Turkey, and an internationally recognized Greek Cypriot south since Turkish troops invaded the north in 1974 to foil an Athens-backed Greek Cypriot coup seeking to unite the island with Greece.

U.N. peacekeepers have been on Cyprus since 1964, with 910 troops and police now patrolling the 110-mile "green line" separating the north and south.

With the peacekeepers' mandate expiring December 15, Annan said that, absent a comprehensive settlement of the dispute, the council should authorize the force to remain on the job for another six months, until June 15, 2007.

While U.N. efforts have set the stage for "positive forward movement," both sides must "show the necessary good will and determination to overcome their apparent deep mutual distrust and suspicion of each other's true motives," Annan said.

He also called for an end to the "blame game" carried out "relentlessly and unhelpfully by officials and the press of both sides."

U.N.-backed efforts to unify the island came close to success in 2004 but fell short after Greek Cypriots rejected a peace plan drafted by Annan while Turkish Cypriots voted to accept the plan.

The situation has since been further complicated by the government in the south joining the European Union in 2004 while Turkey is still seeking EU membership.

 

Osama Bin Laden 'war' on Pope

Pope ... threatened by Al-Qaeda, which is led by Bin Laden, inset

Pope ... threatened by Al-Qaeda, which is led by Bin Laden, inset


RELATED STORIES
• Pope meets Turkish PM
• Police hold Pope protestor
• Pope's Muslim plea in Turkey

FULL NEWS INDEX ››
TOP NEWS DISCUSSIONS
Stepping up Sarah's Law

No 'I Do' Till Gays Can Do It Too!

Should we keep our nuclear arsenal?

Paltrow: UK vs US

Time to give pensioners a break

SEE ALL DISCUSSIONS
By TOM WELLS
NOVEMBER 30, 2006

ADD COMMENT


AL-QAEDA last night issued a chilling warning to the Pope — branding his visit to Turkey part of “the crusader campaign against the lands of Islam”.

In an internet statement, the terror group — led by Osama Bin Laden — boasted it was “confident in the defeat of Rome in all parts of the Islamic world”.

The Vatican said it showed the need for faiths to fight “violence in the name of God”.

Al-Qaeda also claimed that the visit of Pope Benedict XVI was designed to push Turkey into the EU to “stop the spread of Islam”.

Its warning read: “The Pope’s visit is to consolidate the crusader campaign against the lands of Islam after the failure of crusader leaders (in Iraq and Afghanistan) and an attempt to extinguish the burning ember of Islam inside our Turkish brothers.”

A Vatican spokesman said: “This type of message shows the urgency of a common commitment of all forces against violence. It also shows the need of various faiths to say no to violence in the name of God.”
*
Click here to find out more!

Al-Qaeda’s threat came as Tony Blair attacked European leaders for threatening to suspend talks on Turkey’s admission to the EU following the breakdown of negotiations over the divided island of Cyprus.

He said at a Nato summit in Riga, Latvia: “To send an adverse signal to Turkey now would be a serious mistake.”

Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: “Such a decision is unacceptable. We will not allow anyone to trample on our rights.”

But he later promised to press ahead with reforms, adding: “We will continue on our path.”