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Viewpoint

Erdogan wants fair settlement, but what's fair?''

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the European Union this week of not treating the issue of Cyprus fairly. He explained what he considers as fair by adding that ``what we would like to see is that the Europeans treat Cyprus fairly. And the whole thing comes down to lifting the isolations and having trade with the north of the island.''

Put more simply, what Erdogan considers fair is in effect recognition of the breakaway Turkish-Cypriot statelet in the Turkish-occupied north of the island.

It is obvious that what Erdogan considers as fair is a complete rejection of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, and the numerous UN Security Council resolutions, that brand the breakaway state illegal and call on the rest of the world to have no dealings with it.

The Rights Court and the Security Council also demand the return of the ethnically cleansed Greek Cypriot refugees and the restoration of their usurped properties, something that Turkey refuses to do and wants accepted as part of what it considers a ``fair'' settlement.

What Erdogan says in effect is that he considers such a settlement completely unacceptable and the existing illegal situation as ``fair enough.'' Through his latest statement he adds for good measure ``if you don't like it lump it,'' since he so brazenly continues to treat the Rights Court with such utter contempt!

Taking it from there, what is most disheartening is the fact that the European Union ignores the contempt of its Court by Turkey and continues to treat Erdogan's illegal and thieving regime as a perfectly honourable one!

How's that for ``fair?''

****************************

Opinion

Financial Times’ bias

By Gene Rossides

The Financial Times (FT) editorial of December 1, 2006 titled “Turkey and EU held hostage by Cyprus” is (1) a blatantly biased editorial against the government of Cyprus and (2) demonstrates that the Financial Times is basically an arm of and a mouthpiece for the British Foreign Office.

It has been my contention for years that the British press on foreign policy issues is basically an arm of the British Foreign Office, particularly on secondary issues such as the Cyprus problem. There are exceptions, of course, but not many.

With the end of the Cold War in 1990, the British Foreign Office’s key concern in foreign affairs, on a par with national security, is the economic interests of Britain. That is a prime reason for Britain supporting Turkey’s accession to the EU regardless of whether Turkey meets (1) the EU’s requirements for accession, (2) its legal obligations under the Ankara Protocol and (3) its obligations under the UN Charter and Security Council and General Assembly resolutions.

The FT and the British press have consistently embraced the Foreign Office’s views. They basically disregard human rights and the rule of law in foreign affairs and particularly so regarding Cyprus. The British have always resented the Greek Cypriots anti-colonial actions in the 1950’s and deliberately courted Turkey to raise the 18% Turkish Cypriot minority as an obstacle to self-determination despite the fact that Turkey had renounced all rights to Cyprus in the Lausanne Treaty of 1923.

The FT’s December 1, 2006 editorial makes charges against Cyprus and assumptions with no backup. The EU’s report on Turkey was 78 pages of which Cyprus was only a few paragraphs. The Financial Times ignores the many reasons for the EU’s freezing 8 chapters of the 35 required.

Nonsense

The Financial Times in effect states that the prospect of EU membership is the only way to get Turkey to make progress towards democracy. That position is nonsense. There are a number of diplomatic and economic ways to apply pressure on Turkey to make reforms. Such pressure should be applied whether or not Turkey accedes to the EU.

The editorial’s statement that “The Cyprus issue can be resolved if member states are prepared to put the strategic interests of the Union above the narrow interests of the Nicosia government,” is obvious nonsense on its face. How can appeasing Turkey by removing the requirements for accession to the EU resolve the Cyprus issue?

The FT editorial is also a slap at the integrity of the EU. The FT is telling the 25 EU members, particularly France, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, that the EU acquis requirements are meaningless because it is in Britain’s economic interest to placate Turkey.

What are the “strategic interests of the Union” that the FT refers to? The FT does not describe them because they are not there-- they are illusory.

The FT editorial states: “Irrespective of whether it is any longer realistic to believe Turkey will one day join the EU, that would be a geopolitically catastrophic train wreck.” I state that this assertion by the FT is also nonsense. What does “a geopolitical catastrophic train wreck” mean besides hyperbole? Where is Turkey going to go?

During the Cold War, the West foolishly appeased Turkey regarding its aggression and occupation in Cyprus and its lack of democracy at home because of Turkey’s alleged value as a NATO ally against the Soviet Union. It was wrong to do so because there was little to no chance that Turkey would take military action against the U.S.S. R. in event of a clash with the West in central Europe.

The FT supports the discredited United Nations plan which it refers as “United Nations plan for a confederal system to reunite the island.”

That plan drafted primarily by David Hannay, the British Special Representative for Cyprus from 1996 to May 2003, and the British Foreign Office, would have created a new entity with two separate states and would have made Cyprus a protectorate of Turkey and Great Britain. It was a political and economic scandal.

That plan referred to by the FT as “confederal” is also contrary to numerous UN Security Council resolutions on a federal solution to the Cyprus problem.

Blunt

The EU report is 78 pages. As it relates to Cyprus, the report is very blunt regarding Turkey’s failure to implement its commitments towards Cyprus which she is obligated to do when she signed an “Additional Protocol [the Ankara Protocol] extending the EC-Turkey Association Agreement to the ten Member States that acceded on May 1, 2004 which it [Turkey] had signed in July 2005 and which enabled the accession negotiations to start.” (Emphasis added.)

While I would have preferred a stronger report from the EU, its report is adequate to put Turkey on notice that it must meet the EU accession criteria as all other applicants have had to do.

The FT editorial is right out of the British Foreign Office and expresses Britain’s imperial and colonial attitudes.

Then there is the spectacle of Prime Minister Tony Blair rushing to Turkey to reassure Turkey after the EU Summit of December 14-15, 2006 ratified the EU Ministers decision of December 11, 2006 to freeze 8 of the 35 chapters on Turkey.

Does the FT believe in the rule of law in international relation?

Does the FT believe in democratic government based on majority rule, the rule of law and protection of minority rights?

Or does the FT believe in Britain’s divide and rule colonial policy?

The reality is that the Cyprus problem was caused by British colonialism in the 1950’s and that a fair and workable settlement is being held hostage by Britain’s colonial attitude. But that is the theme of another article.

The US in its own best interests should not continue to follow British policy on the Cyprus problem.

**********

Gene Rossides is President of the American Hellenic Institute and former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury
 

Cool welcome to decision on Turkey from government
NICOSIA gave a tepid welcome to Monday’s EU Foreign Ministers decision to slow down Turkey’s accession talks because it is refusing to open its ports and airports to Cyprus.
Political parties took a more critical stand, with the EU decision prompting conflicting interpretations on whether the government had dropped demands the EU impose an 18-month deadline on Turkey to comply with its obligations.
There was disagreement too on whether the EU was trying to re-introduce its proposal for direct trade with the north through the back door.
The government indicated it was in-principle satisfied with Monday’s decision to freeze eight of the 35 policy chapters in Turkey’s accession talks.
"The conclusions of the (EU foreign ministers') council to a large degree meet those basic aims that we had set, " government spokesman Christodoulos Pashiardis told a news briefing.
He said the foreign ministers of Cyprus and Greece with help from other EU counterparts "fought a tough battle" to neutralise a bid by some bloc partners preferring a more lenient approach to Turkey.


Not gloating

"We are not gloating over this result. But we are neither underestimating its significance... We're not saying this document is having us quiver with emotion, but it certainly doesn't leave us disappointed."
The eight frozen chapters relate to trade and external relations, but the ministers also criticized Turkey's human rights record, especially on freedom of religion and women's and minority rights.
Any other policy chapters opened will not be concluded until Turkey fulfills its commitments, the foreign ministers also agreed.
So far just one chapter has been successfully opened and closed.
Ministers also reached a compromise formula underwhich the Commission would monitor Turkey’s progress in normalizing trade ties with Cyprus through its annual progress reports – particularly in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
Monday’s decision includes a separate statement by the Finnish EU presidency expressing support for UN efforts for a comprehensive solution to the problem of divided Cyprus.
Cyprus and Greece were the most vociferous in initially calling for harsher sanctions against Ankara but eventually fell in line.
"If we were alone to decide the EU position, we would have been tougher but we're not alone, " Foreign Minister George Lillikas told state television.

‘Abandoned’

Lillikas rebuffed suggestions the government was "abandoned" by likeminded EU allies, saying the deal is proof that Nicosia enjoyed widespread backing to hold Ankara accountable for its refusal to live up to its obligations.
"If Turkey doesn't comply, then it's logical that the EU would take harsher steps than it has already taken, " said Lillikas.
In an effort to avoid further angering Turkey, the ministers also agreed to discuss ending the isolation of northern Cyprus during ministerial talks next month.
This prompted a debate in Cyprus on whether Brussels was trying to introduce direct trade through the back door.
Nicosia has adamantly rejected the Commission’s proposal. It has counter-proposed the opening of Famagusta port under joint Greek and Turkish Cypriot management and the return of the fenced city to its Greek Cypriot inhabitants.
Pashiardes said foreign ministers had not agreed on direct trade, but to begin discussion on the issue in January.
“We are not against commercial activities by the Turkish Cypriots when these are conducted through legitimate procedures. Our positions on this matter are well-known and I do not have to repeat them,” he said.

‘Satisfactory’

Akel described the Monday’s conclusions as ‘satisfactory under the circumstances”.
It said that Turkey’s obligations had been disassociated from Ankara’s demands on the Cyprus issue. The opening of chapters in the negotiations would require unanimity, while none would close unless Turkey fulfils its obligations, Akel added.
Thirdly, the annual progress reports would monitor whether Ankara was complying.
regards trade with the Turkish Cypriots, Akel said it did not disagree with such transactions, provided they do not undermine the Cyprus republic or lead to the upgrading of the breakaway north, he added.
Diko spoke in a similar vein, saying that the compromise reached was acceptable and the document “balanced”.
Disy described Monday’s developments as a “painless compromise” for Turkey which has not complied with its obligations against EU Member States, including Cyprus.
The smaller parties were more critical. Government coalition partner Edek said EU Foreign Ministers had reached a compromise that did not satisfy the expectations of Cyprus.
Party president Yiannakis Omirou said the EU should have suspended Turkey’s accession talks altogether, until Ankara complied.
The review process in the next three years was not an effective measure as it did not provide for sanctions on Ankara if it continues not to comply, he added.
The Greens said the government had again found itself on the defensive, having to struggle to achieve the basics whereas it should have set much higher, goals and persevered to achieve them within the EU.

Veto

“The Cyprus government should have asked for a freeze on Turkey’s accession course until the latter fulfils it obligations vis a vis the EU,” Greens MP George Perdikis said.
European Democracy party urged the government to veto he opening of new chapters in Turkey’s accession negotiations until Ankara recognises the Republic of Cyprus and extends the customs union. He said that the EU should have punished Turkey and not reached another agreement which effectively lets Ankara off.
United Democrats leader Michalis Papapetrou said the government was failing to make its views understood in Europe.
“Based on the decision, the best we can hope for is a postponement until 2009. And even that is not certain,” he said.
Box
The Turkish-Cypriot leadership slammed the conclusions as unfair on Turkey. A spokesman for the Talat regime branded a “negative development” that Ankara’s EU talks had been slowed down.
“We are condemning the fact that the demands of the Greek-Cypriot side are being laid as a condition before Turkey,” the spokesman said.
But he said it was significant that the issue of direct trade was being discussed at the highest level within the EU.

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http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=29785&archive=1

Not much faith in Turkey’s EU course
(archive article - Thursday, December 21, 2006)

TWO OUT of ten Greek Cypriots favour Turkey's EU accession, according to the Eurobarometer report.

Although Greek Cypriots favour a further EU enlargement, only 19 per cent sees Turkey's accession to the EU as positive.

Greek Cypriots rank fourth in Europe with a negative stance on Turkey's EU accession.
Top of the list were the Austrians with 87 per cent , followed by Germany with 78 per cent Luxembourg with 77 per cent and Cyprus with 74 per cent. On average only 28 per cent of Europeans favoured Turkey’s accession.
Of those surveyed Turkish Cypriots most favoured Turkey's accession with at 78 per cent, followed by Turks themselves with 68 per cent.
 

http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=29786&archive=1

Annan: Cyprus no longer exclusively UN problem
By Jean Christou
(archive article - Thursday, December 21, 2006)

U.N. SECRETARY-general Kofi Annan said the Cyprus problem had become a problem for Europe and must be dealt with as quickly as possible.
Annan was speaking during his farewell press conference in New York late on Tuesday.
“The Cyprus issue is not an issue that affects only the two communities or Turkey and Greece, as today it has also become a European problem and it is something that we need to resolve as quickly as we can,” he said.

“I think it is important to find a way resolving this and I hope the UN will preside to deal with it.”

Annan, whose name has been immortalised on the UN’s failed reunification plan for Cyprus, said he did not think his successor Ban Ki Moon who assumes next month would change the UN’s approach to the Cyprus problem.

”I’m sure he will proceed along the same lines,'' Annan said ,adding that the UN was still engaged with the parties and that his Special Representative in Cyprus Michael Moller was working with them “to build confidence.”

”'We have certain specific activities that the two of them are engaged in and I have indicated to them at the appropriate time when we believe the time is right we will name a full time negotiator, mediator to work with them.”

The UN hopes to have preparations completed for the start of new Cyprus talks by the end of March. But he has repeatedly said the UN would not launch a new initiative unless the political will to see it through to a comprehensive settlement was shown by both sides.
The two sides are currently engaged in talks to set up working and technical committees to ease the path towards new talks.

http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=29799&archive=1

EU takes step forward in Turkey accession
By David Brunnstrom and Darren Ennis
(archive article - Thursday, December 21, 2006)

THE EUROPEAN Union took a step forward in accession talks with Turkey yesterday, just over a week after partially freezing negotiations due to Ankara's refusal to open ports to Cyprus.
EU ambassadors backed a "screening report" on how Turkey's enterprise and industry policies relate to EU requirements, after Cyprus, for the first time in months, did not obstruct a step in its rival's accession talks, officials said.

Approval of the screening report is an initial move towards launch of one of the chapters, or policy areas, into which EU accession talks are split. Turkey has completed just one of 35 chapters since beginning its accession talks in October 2005.

Turkey had expressed hope its EU membership bid would move forward more significantly before Brussels shuts down for the Christmas holidays, with the opening of several chapters.
However, EU officials said the move was a clear sign that Turkey's EU bid remained on track despite a December 11 decision to partially freeze membership talks to penalise Ankara for refusing to normalise trade with Cyprus.

On December 11, EU states suspended eight chapters with Turkey but said talks should move forward in other areas.

A spokeswoman for EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn welcomed yesterday’s move "as a step towards the implementation of the decision of December 11".
An EU official called it "a clear change in the situation".

"The problem before was that the talks were not officially stopped but practically they were blocked by Cyprus," he said. "Now we see a something concrete happening."
A Turkish diplomat said Ankara had hoped for the opening of four chapters before the year end, but it looked now as if it would be January before one could be opened.
"It is positive to see that a process had started for Turkey," he said. "But we need to see the results."

A Cypriot diplomat played down the significance.
"It's a good step but nothing special," the diplomat said, adding that the move could not have been blocked. He said the meeting had been calmer than earlier, tension-filled gatherings and set the scene for the German Presidency starting on January 1.
Current EU president Finland had hoped for approval of six screening reports before handing over to Germany.

Diplomats said the French, Dutch and Germans had joined Cyprus in opposing opening new chapters before the year-end as it would send a confusing message if the EU rewarded Turkey by starting a new round just after freezing parts of the talks.
Ankara has said it will only open its ports to Greek Cypriot traffic if the EU comes true on a promise to ease the isolation of northern Cyprus.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Tuesday he could envisage the opening of two to four policy chapters with Turkey, but did not say by when.
Turkey's EU bid was at least partially responsible for the rejection by French and Dutch voters of a constitutional treaty that would facilitate EU enlargement after Bulgaria and Romania bring the size of the bloc to 27 states on January 1. (R)

http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=29772&archive=1

Turkey sees some EU chapters opened before year-end
By Zerin Elci
(archive article - Wednesday, December 20, 2006)

TURKEY expects its troubled European Union membership talks to move forward before the end of the year with the opening of some policy chapters in negotiations, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said yesterday.

Last week the Union partially suspended Ankara's accession talks over the Muslim country's refusal to open its ports and airports to traffic from Cyprus.
But it was agreed that talks on policy areas not covered by the freeze should go ahead.
"We hope that the chapters which should be opened are opened in a short time. We expect some chapters to be opened speedily during the Finnish presidency," Gul told a news conference.
The Finnish EU presidency ends at the end of 2006.

"Everything is ready for opening of education and culture, financial control, enterprise and industrial policy, and economic and monetary policy chapters," Gul said.
Diplomats have said the French and Dutch were opposing opening new chapters before the year-end because it would send a confusing message to voters if the EU rewarded Turkey by starting a new round of negotiations at exactly the same time as the bloc was punishing it by freezing parts of the talks.

Cyprus has also voiced opposition.
However, EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn called last week for the bloc to open the next chapter, which would be on economic and monetary policy, to prove the process was not stalled.
Eight of 35 policy areas under negotiation were suspended by the European Union. It was the first time the Union had imposed such a sanction against a country seeking accession.
Gul again pledged to continue the reforms needed to qualify for EU membership. Brussels has criticised Ankara for slowing down its reform drive since last year.
"Turkey is committed to its full membership goal and slipping from this goal due to (the EU) decision is out of question," he said.
"The importance we attach to the reforms is not decreasing, on that contrary it is increasing," he added.

But Turkey's centre-right AK Party government, which has roots in political Islam, will be hard pressed to push through controversial reforms ahead of elections.
Turkey holds presidential and parliamentary elections next year and a wave of nationalist sentiment has limited the AK Party's room for manoeuvre on politically charged reforms such as trade with Cyprus.

Opinion polls show a sharp fall in support for Turkey's EU membership. Many Turks believe some EU countries, particularly France and Germany, are using Cyprus as an excuse to exclude the country from membership of the 25-member bloc. (R)

Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2006

http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=29751&archive=1

We don’t like church foreigners and gays
By Jean Christou
(archive article - Tuesday, December 19, 2006)

CYPRIOTS top the list of EU citizens who think justice is too lenient, too much importance is placed on religion in society and spare time is more important than work.
But Cyprus hits close to the bottom of the lists when it comes to approving of homosexual marriage, adoption by homosexual couples and the contribution of immigrants to society. Very few Cypriots would also approve of the legalisation of cannabis.

In the latest Eurobarometer, due to be announced today, 97 per cent of Cypriots think criminals need to be punished more severely because there is too much tolerance these days. The figure is 12 per cent higher than the EU average.

In a nominally strongly Orthodox country, it was also surprising that 81 per cent thought religion is too important in society, which is almost double the average. In Greece only 34 per cent thought so and in Catholic Ireland only 42 per cent believes so. The Finns and Estonians were least concerned with only one fifth believing religion was too important.

Despite Cypriots apparent problem with the extent of religious influence in society, 86 per cent opposed homosexual marriage and 90 per cent opposed adoption for homosexual couples. Views in Greece were similar but slightly more tolerant. The EU average for both was 56 per cent and 68 per cent per cent respectively.

On the other end of the scale the 82 per cent of Dutch people supported homosexual marriage and 69 per cent approved of adoption for homosexual couples. Sweden and Denmark also scored close to the Netherlands in the tolerance levels.

Cypriots also scored low on their attitudes to immigrants, although the 30 per cent who believed immigrants contribute a lot to the country, was higher than countries such as Malta and all almost all of the eastern European member states. However in Sweden eight out of ten people view immigrants in a favourable way.

When it comes to spare time vs work, Cypriots also top the list with 69 per cent thinking leisure time is more important than working. Less than 50 per cent of Europeans in general feel the same. In Germany less than a quarter would prefer leisure time than work. Up top with the Cypriots were Estonians, Greeks, Spanish, Hungarians and Maltese. On the other side of the EU average were the Poles, the French and the Dutch.

In the general poll on attitudes to the EU, less than half of Cypriots think membership of the EU is a good thing for the country compared to the average of 53 per cent. Ireland tops the list at 78 per cent. Oddly enough even less Finns and Austrians think membership is a good thing with only 39 per cent and 36 per cent respectively saying that it is.

Despite this the EU conjures up a positive image for 56 per cent of Cypriots compared to only 28 per cent in the UK and 34 per cent in Finland. Again most positive was Ireland with 73 per cent and Greece with 58 per cent. But on average only 46 per cent of Europeans see the EU in a positive light.

Less than half of Europeans in general trust the European Commission with the least amount being shown in the UK with only one quarter of people showing trust in the Commission. Germans, Austrians and the French also showed a low level of trust in the Commission but in Cyprus the trust level was 55 per cent.

Cyprus topped the list of countries supporting a common European defence policy, with 89 per cent saying they were for such a development, more than ten per cent of the EU average. The Irish were least in favour at only 52 [per cent.

Cyprus also scored high with the view that the EU should have a common foreign policy towards other countries with 78 per cent of Cypriots being in favour, topped only by Slovenia and Greece with 80 per cent who held the same view. The EU average was 68 per cent. Least in favour of a

http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=29756&archive=1

No losers in municipal elections
By By Constantine Markides
(archive article - Tuesday, December 19, 2006)

THE FIRST female mayor of the capital was elected on Sunday when Eleni Mavrou edged out DISY’s Anna Marangou and ousted former mayor Michalakis Zampelas in a hotly contested Nicosia municipal election.
Former Interior Minister Andreas Christou was elected mayor of Limassol, while former House Speaker Alexis Galanos knocked out Yiannakis Skordi to become the new Famagusta mayor.
Having secured their mayoral candidates in 18 of the 33 municipalities, the tripartite party collaboration of AKEL, DIKO, and EDEK maintained their dominance. But opposition DISY managed to stand its ground, demonstrating it remains a force to contend with after it won the largest number of candidates – 11 – of any one party.

Four of the elected mayors were independents, including Peyia Mayor Neophytos Akoursiotis, who was re-elected with the backing of the Greens.

The mayors of six municipalities – Morphou, Kythrea, Lysi, Lefkoniko, Karavas and Kato Polemidia – were elected unopposed.

The ruling coalition has pointed to its victories in Limassol, Nicosia, Paphos and Larnaca as illustrative of its primacy in Sunday’s elections.

AKEL secured seven of its 12 candidate mayors while DIKO secured all seven of its candidate mayors. But the other coalition member, EDEK, was seen as the loser of the elections, with only two of its six candidates winning.

DISY head Nicos Anastassiades yesterday proclaimed that the results were a triumph for his party and a vindication of its policies, claiming that not only did the party win a major victory in Famagusta, among other municipalities, but it also saw an increase in its percentage of municipal counsellors in office.

Even in municipalities where the DISY candidate did not win – such as in Nicosia and Limassol – the narrowness of the races demonstrated the rising strength of the opposition party.
For example in Limassol, DISY’s Eleni Theocharous surprised everyone by garnering 44.86 per cent of the vote, only around 10 percentage points short of that secured by the ruling coalition’s candidate Andreas Christou, a popular former minister whom most everyone regarded as an incontestable favourite.

And in Nicosia, DISY’s Anna Marangou secured 32.17 per cent of the vote, less than three percentage points behind the winner, Eleni Mavrou, who won 34.93 per cent. Outgoing mayor Michalakis Zampelas, who was supported by EVROKO, took 27.32 per cent of the vote, while independent Nicos Mesaritis secured 5.58 per cent.

In Larnaca, Andreas Moiseos of the ruling coalition was re-elected Mayor, securing 52.37 per cent of the vote, while his rival, DISY’s Nicos Themistocleous, garnered 47.63 per cent.
Despite significant victories, AKEL was dealt a major blow in the elections for Famagusta mayor. AKEL mayor Yiannakis Skordis garnered only 44.41 per cent of the vote while former House of Representatives President Alexis Galanos from opposition DISY secured 55.59 per cent of the vote.
Winning 57.56 per cent of the vote, Savvas Iliofotou has secured his third term as mayor of Strovolos, as did Andreas Hadjiloizou in Ayio Dometio.

In Engomi Nikos Pavlides was re-elected mayor with 83.73 per cent of the vote, winning by the largest margin in any of the ballots.

The Sunday results also signalled the departure of independent Nikos Vlittis, who served for 20 years in Paralimni, and of Varvara Pericleous, who has served for 12 years in Ayia Napa.
After two decades in office mayor Andreas Petrou of Aglandjia was re-elected by a mere
nine votes in a gripping electoral battle (5,103 votes to 5,094), which will make him the
longest-serving mayor.
In a rare instance, non-Cypriot Linda Leblanc made history in Peyia when she was elected to the position of municipal councillor

Turkish Cypriot and EU voters
THE VOTE counting began immediately after voting ended at 6pm Sunday. In total 505,172 people were registered to vote.

According to Elections Officer Lazaros Savvides, this was the first time that 309 Turkish Cypriot registered voters cast their ballot paper alongside Greek Cypriots and non-Cypriot EU nationals.
With Cyprus’ accession to the EU, 3,728 non-Cypriot voters (mainly British and Greeks) also participated in the local elections.

Despite the fact that the elections marked a record abstention rate, Tassos Papadopoulos commended the Cypriots and European nationals who voted, claiming that the high percentage of participants (86 per cent) demonstrated their respect for local administration and their commitment to democratic procedures.

In Cyprus voting in governmental elections is still nominally compulsory, although abstention is rarely prosecuted.

Who are the 33 new mayors?
Mayors backed by the tripartite coalition of AKEL, DIKO and EDEK:
1. Nicosia: Eleni Mavrou
2. Limassol: Andreas Christou
3. Larnaca: Andreas Moiseos
4. Paphos Savvas Vergas
5. Ayia Napa: Antonis Tsokkos
6. Kerynia: Maria Ioannou
7. Morphou: Charalambos Pittas
8. Strovolos: Savvas Eliofotou
9. Ayios Dhometios: Andreas Hadjiloizou
10. Engomi: Nikos Pavlides
11. Ayios Athanassios: Kyriakos Hadjittofis
12. Kato Polemidia: Georgos Georgiou
13. Mesa Geitonia: Christos Mesis
14. Athienou: Spiros Papouis
15. Geroskipou: Tassos Kouzopos
16. Karavas: Yiannakis Papaioannou
17. Lapithos: Athos Eleftheriou
18. Akanthou: Savvas Savvides

Mayors backed by DISY:
1. Famagusta: Alexis Galanos
2. Paralimni: Andreas Evangelou
3. Aglandjia: Andreas Petrou
4. Lakatamia: Loukas Iatros
5. Latsia: Panayiotis Kyprianou
6. Dali: Leontios Kallenos
7. Dheryneia: Antis (Sotiriou) Siapanis
8. Aradhippou: Christakis Liperis
9. Lefkoniko: Michalakis Pilikos
10. Lysi: Andreas Ttofias
11. Germasoyia: Andreas Gavrielides

Independent Mayors:
1. Peyia: Neophytos Akoursiotis
2. Kythrea: Michalakis Savva
3. Pano Lefkara: Andreas Soseilos
4. Polis tis Chrysochous: Angelos Odysseos

http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=29762&archive=1

It’s all a big ‘if’…
By Jean Christou
(archive article - Tuesday, December 19, 2006)

Turkish-language media leaps on Blair’s weekend statements on flights to the north

TURKISH AND Turkish Cypriot media and politicians have been playing up statements by British Prime Minster Tony Blair on Saturday that he favoured direct flights from the UK to the north of the island.

During a joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara in support of Turkey’s EU accession, Blair was asked about direct flights to the north.
“This is something I would like to do. The problem is whether lawfully, under international agreements that cover aviation, we are able to do so. If it was lawfully possible to do so, then I would like to see us do it,” he said.

Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat has applied to the British authorities for direct flights, which are banned under international law.

Only Turkey operates direct flights to the north and British tourists must first land in Istanbul or Ankara before being able to travel to the north.
President Tassos Papadopoulos responded later on Saturday saying: “They have been trying to do so for three years but to no avail.”
He added: “The ‘if’ in this statement is a big ‘if’.”
But Blair said British officials were consulting international aviation rules to see if direct flights were possible. "That is what we're doing now," Blair said.
Turkish and Turkish Cypriot media were linking the possibility of direct flights with international recognition of the ‘TRNC’.

“Known as the ‘Taiwan model’, this move will allow all kinds of commercial relations with Northern Cyprus,” said one paper.

Talat said direct flights from the UK was very important for the economy of the north.
He said in addition to British companies which would like to buy goods from the Turkish Cypriots, British tourists would also benefit from the flights.
“Tony Blair said similar things before however nothing happened. I hope this time something happens. We have applied to the British Civilian Aviation Association and we are waiting for an answer. We hope a positive answer comes,” he said.

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said: "Blair's talking about direct flights and his decisive stance as regards to removal of every kind of isolation, is of course very important."

http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=29763&archive=1

Getting radical about climate change: the shape of things to come
By Gwynne Dyer
(archive article - Tuesday, December 19, 2006)

HERE'S the plan. Everybody in the country will get the same allowance for how much carbon dioxide they can emit each year, and every time they buy some product that involves carbon dioxide emissions – filling their car, paying their utility bills, buying an airline ticket – carbon points are deducted from their credit or debit cards. Like Air Miles, only in reverse.
So if you ride a bike everywhere, insulate your home, and don't travel much, you can sell your unused points back to the system. And if you use up your allowance before the end of the year, then you will have to buy extra points from the system.

This is no lunatic proposal from the eco-radical fringe. It is on the verge of becoming British government policy, and environment secretary David Miliband is behind it one hundred per cent. In fact, he is hoping to launch a pilot scheme quite soon, with the goal of moving to a comprehensive national scheme of carbon rationing within five years.

Ever since a delegation of scientists persuaded prime minister Margaret Thatcher, a scientist herself, to start taking climate change seriously back in the late 1980s, British governments of both parties have been in the forefront on the issue, but Miliband's initiative breaks new ground. It has, says Miliband, "a simplicity and beauty that would reward carbon thrift."
Previous emissions-trading systems – the sulfur dioxide system mandated by the 1990 Clean Air Act in the United States, the 25-country European Union scheme for trading CO2 emission permits launched in 2005, the system for trading emission allowances at national level among developed countries that have ratified the Kyoto Protocol – all envisage large industrial organisations or even entire countries making the deals. Miliband is bringing it down to the personal level.

A huge share of total emissions is driven by the decisions of individual consumers. Miliband thinks that the least intrusive, most efficient way of shaping those decisions is to set up a system that tracks everybody's use of goods and services that produce a lot of greenhouse gases, and rewards the thrifty while imposing higher costs on the profligate. And there is no time to lose: the world's carbon emissions have to stop growing within ten to fifteen years, he says, and Britain must cut its total carbon emissions by 60 per cent in the next thirty or forty years.

"We are in a dangerous place now," he told the Guardian newspaper on December 11, "and it is going to be very difficult to get into a less dangerous place. The science is getting worse faster than the politics is getting better. People know the technology exists to get a lot of this done... but there is a huge chasm of mistrust between countries about how to do this...The developing countries won't take on any carbon reduction targets until they believe the countries that have caused the problem do so."

The science certainly is "getting worse", in the sense that every forecast is worse than the one before. The most recent assessment of the state of the Arctic by the International Panel on Climate Change, whose full fourth report is due next year, was published early in the journal Geophysical Research Letters last week because its forecast was so alarming.
If current trends persist, the scientists reported, the Arctic Ocean will be entirely ice-free in the summertime not in 2080, as previous forecasts suggested, but by 2040, just thirty-three years from now. Then the dark ocean surface absorbs much more heat than the reflective ice did, and another element of feedback kicks in, and the speed of warming increases again...
Those in the know are very frightened, but there is still that "huge chasm of mistrust". The developing countries that are only now beginning to emit large amounts of greenhouse gases look at the mountain of past emissions produced by the developed countries, the source of most current climate change, and they want the rich countries to cut back very deeply – deeply enough to leave the developing countries some room to raise their consumption without dooming us all to runaway climate change.

That's where the long-range target of 60 per cent emission cuts for Britain comes from. Britain only produces 2 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, so a 60 per cent cut in Britain alone is still only a drop in the bucket, but the aim is to set an example: see, we can do this without impoverishing ourselves, so other developed countries can, too. And if they do, then a deal to control the growth of emissions in the developing countries is within reach.
So individual carbon credit accounts for all, and if you want to do things that produce more carbon dioxide than your annual allowance, you pay for it. The frugal and the poor can sell their unused credits back into the system – and every year or so, as the average carbon efficiency of transport or food production or power generation improves a little bit, the size of the free personal carbon allowance is reduced a little bit. It is, I suspect, the shape of things to come.

http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=29764&archive=1

Greek News
(archive article - Tuesday, December 19, 2006)

ALITHIA: “Ten in 23 said ‘No’ to the coalition”. Attempts were made last night to create an atmosphere of triumph by the leaders of the coalition parties on Sunday night after the results of the municipal elections. They did this by over-promoting the marginal victory by Eleni Mavrou in Nicosia. However, the paper claims, numbers cannot lie and the case on Sunday was that out of the 23 municipalities where the coalition had representatives, the people said ‘no’ in 10. Elsewhere, it states that former Health Minister Dina Akelidou will now become an AKEL deputy after Mavrou’s election to the post of Nicosia Mayor.

THARROS: “DISY the leading party”. Sunday’s election results have declared DISY as the leading party in Cyprus, with a considerable difference from AKEL, which is now in second position. The results of the municipal elections also sent out a strong message to all the coalition parties, who failed to achieve their targets. Elsewhere, Tharros claims that even though Eleni Theocharous did not succeed in Limassol, she gained all the plaudits from the public, while Anna Marangou has claimed she will continue to work with newly elected Nicosia Mayor Eleni Mavrou.

POLITIS: “The coalition survived, DISY achieves major gains”. The newspaper claims that not only did the coalition of AKEL, DIKO and EDEK survive the municipal elections, but also sent out a strong message for the presidential elections. However, in the case of the percentage each party achieved, DISY was the main winner with AKEL losing out in some cases. The paper also states that the percentage of people that did not go to the ballots on Sunday is estimated to be more than 10 per cent.

PHILELEFTHEROS: “Elections without losers”. All parties presented just the statistics that proved that they were the main winners of the municipal elections on Sunday. From the coalition’s point of view, the victory of Eleni Mavrou in Nicosia as well as major successes in big towns such as Limassol, Paphos and Larnaca were the examples of the success, whereas from the point of view of DISY, they succeeded in winning in areas considered strongholds of the coalition. Elsewhere, Phileleftheros mentions the upcoming visit of President Papadopoulos to Athens, where discussions will be taking place in order to prove that Athens and Nicosia do not have different opinions on the Cyprus problem.

HARAVGHI: “The bet was won”. The coalition appears to have won the ‘bet’ not only in Nicosia where the expected results were overturned, but also in other areas where DISY won by a small marginal. AKEL leader, Demetris Christofias, claimed on Sunday night that the coalition made up of EDEK, DIKO and his party, had managed to overcome this test as well, with DIKO considering the election results as ‘satisfying’. EDEK leaders claim however that these elections have absolutely no relation with the presidential elections of 2008.

SIMERINI: ‘Seven losses for the coalition’. The paper reports on what it considers as historical changes brought about by the municipal elections, with the three party coalition counting seven losses. The celebration and success of Mavrou’s election in Nicosia was overshadowed by the defeat of Yiannakis Skordis in Famagusta, which was considered as a stronghold for the left-wing party AKEL.

http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=29733&archive=1

The end of the road for our EU games?
(archive article - Sunday, December 17, 2006)

THE EVENTS of the last week would seem to suggest that the war of attrition being fought by the Cyprus government against Turkey within the EU has come to an end, with our exasperated European partners imposing a long-lasting truce at Monday’s meeting of foreign ministers. They did so by giving Turkey three years to implement the Ankara Protocol under which it would have to open its ports and airports to Cypriot traffic, the European Commission being asked to report on this in its annual reports.

In theory, the decision deprives the government of the power to block the opening of new chapters in Ankara’s negotiating book, apart from the eight suspended because of Turkey’s failure to implement the protocol. This did not stop Foreign Minister Giorgos Lillikas from saying immediately after the meeting that Nicosia would keep its veto option open, as “we cannot close our eyes to the behaviour of Turkey in other areas than the ports issue”. It was more a defiant gesture more than a declaration of intent, as Lillikas would have realised that the ‘veto game’ is up and that the government’s ability to block accession talks has been severely restricted by Monday’s decision.

Politicians in Cyprus wasted no time in taking the moral high ground, accusing our partners of ignoring the EU’s principles and values, but the decision was understandable, given the experience of the last two years, in which the Papadopoulos government constantly caused problems to Turkey’s accession course, in the hope of extracting some minor concessions. With Monday’s decision, ministers hoped to stop Cyprus using its EU membership for meaningless point-scoring against Turkey and constantly disrupting the accession procedure.

The objective of the powerful member states was to minimise this nuisance potential, for now, and press for a Cyprus settlement as the only way permanently to remove the persistent obstacle to EU-Turkey talks. An attempt by the ministers to include a call for a settlement in the conclusions of the meeting was blocked by Cyprus, which has consistently argued that there should be no link between accession talks and a settlement, a stand that suggested Nicosia was not to keen on a new peace initiative, preferring the low-cost wrangling over technical issues at the EU.

But it is unlikely Nicosia will be able to keep dodging the start of a new Cyprus initiative, even though avoiding peace talks at all costs is President Papadopoulos’ objective. There is a very simple explanation for this – he knows that any new UN initiative would, inevitably, produce another Annan plan, with a few changes, which would be impossible to sell to the Greek Cypriots especially after the unremittingly negative press it has been given by the president and his allies in the last two-and-a-half years. He is also aware, and has said so, that if the next settlement drive failed it would be the end of the road – and partition would be a certainty.

The problem for Papadopoulos is that he has manoeuvred himself into a very tight corner from which there is no escape. The two-and-a-half years’ grace period he was given after the referendum was used to demonise an Annan plan-type settlement and ensure Greek Cypriots would never accept anything similar. As if this were not bad enough, he constantly used EU membership to turn the screw on Turkey and to block the Union’s efforts at ending the perceived isolation of the Turkish Cypriots. By creating all these problems, which were viewed as examples of Nicosia’s bad faith, he has achieved exactly what he wanted to avoid.

A settlement is now an imperative for both the EU and the US, which are unlikely to put up with Cyprus calling the shots in EU-Turkey talks. They believe the only way to ensure smooth accession talks for Turkey is by resolving the Cyprus problem. The UN assistant Secretary-general has already written to the two leaders about a new initiative, while Kofi Annan, in his last report to the Security Council, hinted at the possibility of UNFICYP being pulled out in an effort to put some pressure on the Greek Cypriot side.

Had the government adopted a less strident attitude over Turkey and shown a little good faith in the past two years, it would not be facing the prospect of another settlement drive in 2007. Papadopoulos has only himself to blame for his predicament, because he grossly over-estimated his powers in thinking he could use the EU to put Turkey in a corner.

http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=29709&archive=1

Europe ignores our principled stand
(archive article - Sunday, December 17, 2006)

COUNT Metternich of Cyprus diplomacy, bad-boy foreign minister Gorgos Lillikas failed spectacularly to safeguard the credibility of the EU on Monday as his unprincipled colleagues ignored his noble calls for a stand on principles and let off lightly the sultans of Ankara for their failure to open their ports to Cypriot traffic.

It was a black chapter (as Zacharias Koulias, who is not a racist, would say) in the history of the EU, with even our allegedly close ally France agreeing to the Turks escaping with a light slap on the wrist and without a reprimand. Perhaps there is some truth in the universal view expressed by our newspapers and politicians – that the Turk-loving Americans are running the EU through their Turk-adoring British agents.

As our establishment had astutely predicted, no deadline for implementing the protocol was imposed, as we had been demanding, because none of our partners was willing to give us ammunition to continue our nuisance strategy. The Commission would report on the issue at the end of each year, until 2009, after which Turkey would be given yet another extension.

The protocol pantomime faithfully followed the usual script, with us failing to block accession talks despite the fact none of our special, December discounted, demands were satisfied. Our demands for tougher sanctions and a deadline for implementation of the protocol may have not been satisfied but Lillikas, the government and its supporters were satisfied with the EU decision.

That is exactly what you would expect them to say. We didn’t think Lillikas would have a press conference with the Stones’ (I can’t get no) Satisfaction playing in the background to remind us that he had failed majestically. No politician advertises his inability to deliver what he had been promising or his failure to carry out his threats.

There is a very simple explanation for the idealistic, bad-boy’s failure to persuade his colleagues to support our principled stand on Monday. He was so far up on the moral high ground that none of his unprincipled, fellow foreign ministers, who were occupying the moral low ground, could hear what he was saying.


NOT EVERYONE bought the government’s ‘satisfaction’ rhetoric even though the bad boy is a much abler salesman than diplomat. Yet very few were willing to criticise Lillikas’ lilly-livered retreat, preferring to lay the blame on the duplicitous Brits who were following the Yanks’ instructions in dictating EU foreign policy and internal procedures with the aim to safeguarding Ankara’s interests.

At least this was the line taken by an historic editorial, last Sunday, in Phileleftheros, previewing Monday’s meeting. According to the paper, the EU was under the complete control of the US and “powerful member countries which had in the past given in, do not seem prepared to resist Ankara’s arbitrary behaviour, burdening the shoulders of small Cyprus with the weight of the resistance…

“Without seeking to, small Cyprus has found itself at the vanguard of the road (by necessity) the EU needs to follow to free itself from its US dependence.” Unfortunately, our heroic resistance to the Yanks, for the sake of the EU, was of the French type and we were unable to stop what Phileleftheros had warned would happen:

“Europe would move towards Turkification and not Turkey towards harmonisation with Europe,” if we failed to defend the EU against the “pressing US designs.” Phil should not be too dejected – we may have lost a battle but we have not lost the war.

THE ‘TURKIFICATION of Europe’ became the slogan week after Monday’s fiasco, with all the guests of the Lazaros patriotic radio show repeating it. “Instead of Turkey being Europeanised, EU has been Turkified,” lamented Professor Kostas Gouliamos, the radio show’s daily guest, who has a Lazaros-approved opinion about every issue under the ozone layer.

Gouliamos, who is not just a professor but also possesses a PhD, is the chair of the Management and Marketing Department at Cyprus College. He is one of those fanatical anti-US leftists who blame all the world’s wrongs on neo-liberalism, capitalists and globalisation. His disgust with capitalism has not stopped him being in charge of the ultimate capitalist courses – marketing and management. Only Gouliamos can tell us why, even though I suspect the US is to blame.

A question the good professor has not answered - I will be listening to the Lazaros show every morning, this week, in the hope that he eventually does - is the following: as we had failed to prevent the Turkification of the EU, should we not be writing to Brussels to cancel our membership?


THE BANK of Cyprus was back in the news this week after it was reported that the chairman of Greece’s Bank of Piraeus, Michalis Sallas, had written to the BofC board asking it for a meeting to discuss the possible merger of the two banks.

It was the sort of cowboy behaviour you’d associate with a vegetable wholesaler not with a bank chairman but it appears the arrogance of Greek bankers knows no bounds when they are dealing with us dumb, hillbilly Cypriots. Publicising his letter and threatening to sell off the BofP’s 8.2 per cent stake in the BofC if the latter did not agree to discuss a merger, was crude blackmail.

In a country with proper regulatory authorities, Sallas would not have dared resort to these cowboy tactics because he would have been in big trouble for knowingly affecting share prices. And the funny thing is that the guy has not even put his merger proposals on paper for discussion with the BofC. He has used the media to turn the screw on the BofC without bothering to discuss whether there is scope for co-operation and what form this co-operation would take.

The BofC board on Wednesday rejected the offer of a meeting, politely telling Sallas to ‘F’ off. For once, it had made the right decision – Sallas can find some other mugs to force to go into business with him.

THE BOSS of the bank employees’ union ETYK, Loizos Hadjicostis, complained that the BofC board had kept its employees in the dark about the proposed merger and staff had a right to know what was going on. The man’s audacity compares favourably with that of Sallas. Hadjicostis is an employee of the National Bank of Greece and has recently been appointed a member of the board of Laiki. Only a complete moron and Hadjicostis would expect the BofC to brief a Laiki director about its future plans so that its staff could know what was going on!


ADVERTISING company bosses announced on Friday that they would not be tendering for any contracts of ministries and state corporations until steps were taken to introduce transparency in tender procedures.

Advertisers were livid after the £1 million contract for the campaign to promote the euro was awarded to little-known company, Epistele Communications and Media, which they claimed lacked the expertise to handle such a big campaign. Epistele had submitted a tender together with PR firm, Action, and landed the contract.

Three companies that had also tendered have filed official objections but the Tenders’ Review Board upheld the decision on Wednesday. Two of the companies had also secured interim orders to prevent the signing of the contract for a month. Mystery surrounds Epistele, a relatively new company which has also landed a CTO media-booking contract worth eight million bananas.

Who were these guys landing the lucrative state contracts? Most advertisers are convinced, although they have no evidence, that Epistele is a front for Marketway, the Lillikas family’s agency which, by sheer coincidence, has been winning the lion’s share of public advertising contracts since the bad-boy became a minister. Unable to take any more public contracts as Marketway because there would be accusations of corruption, Epistele was set up to land the rest, claim advertising industry insiders.
Marketway was one of the three companies that filed a complaint against Epistele. “It was a smokescreen,” insisted a veteran advertiser, although he was unable to provide any evidence to support his theory.

A RUMOUR doing the rounds is that the Epistele tender included a proposal to use our tennis superstar Marcos Baghdatis to promote the euro. It later transpired that Baghdatis had not even been consulted, let alone agreed to a fee for leading the campaign. When this point was put to an official, dealing with the tender, his response was, “if Baghdatis will not do it, they will find someone else.” Maybe they will get Roger Federer if Baghdatis refuses to do it or wants too much money.

What remains to be seen now is how long the advertising agencies will keep their ban on tenders for public contracts in place. The ban seems a self-defeating measure as it would allow Epistele, which is not a member of the ad agencies association, to win all the state contracts without any competition.

WILL the Central Bank invite tenders for its euro campaign or will it give the contract to the advertising agency it used to advertise government bonds? The euro campaign which caused the outcry was the Finance Ministry’s but the Central Bank will carry out one as well. In the case of the government bonds, the Central Bank gave the campaign contract to Marketway without inviting tenders from any other company. If it does the same for the much more lucrative euro campaign it is doubtful that Mrs Lillikas would be filing a complaint against the procedure followed.

A DIPLOMATIC incident between the two superpowers was narrowly averted during the Ethnarch’s visit to China after the Phil photographer, who was on the trip, suffered a small mishap while taking pictures at the Yuyuan Garden in Shanghai. The Ethnarch visited the garden, which is more than 400 years old having been completed in 1577, with his entourage of journalists.
At one point a loud crack was heard and as members of the entourage turned back, they saw the Phil photographer hitting the ground. He had climbed onto one of the ancient trees (some are 300 years old) to take a picture of the Ethnarch and managed to crack it in half before tumbling to the ground. He escaped unhurt but the Ethnarch’s hosts were not very happy and made their feelings felt. Our Ethnarch had to use all his charm to prevent a diplomatic crisis, which would have been disastrous because it could have led to Cyprus losing China’s support at the UN Security Council.

SPEAKING of hacks, we have noticed that the intellectually challenged, AKELite hack who wears white socks, Yiannakis Nikolaou, is no longer the Ethnarch’s favourite journalist at the state propaganda corporation. Nikolaou no longer accompanies the Ethnarch on his trips abroad.
This sacred responsibility has been given to hackette Stella Michael, who worships the Ethnarch even more devoutly than Yiannakis. During the China trip, Stella felt hurt after the Ethnarch responded rather abruptly to her questions. The following day she went up to him, in front of everyone, and told him that she had been upset by the way he had responded to her questions.
Our Ethnarch showed his humanity by telling Stella that it was all a misunderstanding and that he really respected her work and appreciated everything she did for the country. He even stood next to her and they had their picture taken together by the Phil photographer, who caused no damage this time.

IF READERS want any tips about whom to vote for in today’s municipal elections we will not disappoint them. We do not intend to write down all the mayoral candidates we recommend but there is a very simple rule you can follow. Check which of the candidates is being backed by the communist party AKEL and then vote for the other person.
The Stalinist, dirty tactics employed by AKEL against Alexis Galanos, who is candidate for the Famagusta mayorship, deserve to be punished. In the last two weeks the commies have been doing nothing else but dishing dirt at Galanos.
His company had been involved, they alleged, in some devious dealings regarding the importing of sugar (a bit rich coming from a party that elected president a man who helped Milosevic steal billions from the Serbian people), he had rarely attended events for Famagusta (can you blame him?), he wanted to get a piece of the action from the 4.5 billion pounds that would be spent for the rebuilding of Famagusta (they did not tell us when the rebuilding would start) and, worst of all, he had the support of Famagusta businessmen. AKEL use the word ‘businessman’ as a synonym for criminal. Do businessmen not have the right to vote?
AKEL’s hatred is the best recommendation for any candidate as far as our establishment is concerned. And if you are not convinced by this water-tight argument, then just think the alternative to Galanos, the AKEL candidate, Yiannakis Skordis has a pony-tail. Do we really want Famagusta to be represented abroad by a middle-aged communist with a pony-tail?

NICOSIA is not so easy, because even if you exclude the AKEL candidate there are still three others to choose from, Nicos, Anna and Michalakis. Who you choose out of those three is your business but whoever is elected, I hope he or she gives priority to the completion of the road works at Paphos Gate because I am fed up of driving to work through bloody Solomou Square.

http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=29691&archive=1

Cyprus joins up with French and Dutch to block EU move on Turkey
(archive article - Saturday, December 16, 2006)

CYPRUS, the Netherlands and France have frustrated a bid by EU president Finland and the European Commission to move forward in Turkey's European Union membership talks before the year-end, diplomats said yesterday.

The EU this week partially suspended Ankara's accession negotiations over its refusal to open its ports and airports to traffic from Cyprus. But ministers agreed talks on policy areas not covered by the freeze should go ahead.

Asked whether the EU would open a new subject, known as a chapter, in negotiations before Christmas, Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja told a news conference: "That would naturally be in the spirit of the decisions we have taken."

EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn called this week for the bloc to open the next chapter, which would be on economic and monetary policy, to prove the process was not stalled.

But President Tassos Papadopoulos was quoted by the Cyprus News Agency as saying there was no time to open new chapters before the end of the year and that Nicosia retained its right of veto.

"Each member state continues to maintain its right to object to the opening of a negotiating chapter," he said.

Diplomats said the French and Dutch argued it would send a confusing message to voters if the EU rewarded Turkey by starting a new round of negotiations at exactly the same time as the bloc was punishing it by freezing part of the talks.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she expected to open one or two of the 35 chapters into which the talks were divided early in Germany's EU presidency that starts on January 1.

French President Jacques Chirac reaffirmed his long-term support for Turkey's EU membership bid, in contrast to conservative presidential frontrunner Nicolas Sarkozy, who is strongly opposed to admitting Ankara.

"I have always said and known that Turkey's entry would be difficult but that it was a great challenge that is necessary for the stability and development of the whole region," Chirac told a news conference.

"That is why I have always spoken in favour of negotiations with Turkey, while knowing very well they would be long and difficult," he said.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair demonstrated his strong backing for Turkey by flying to Ankara for a brief visit hours after the EU's Brussels summit.

"It's very important that we maintain the momentum for Turkish accession, taking account of all the difficulties that there are," Blair told reporters

http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=29696&archive=1

‘I didn’t know it was Greek Cypriot property’
By John Leonidou
(archive article - Saturday, December 16, 2006)

A RUSSIAN woman buying a property in the north did not know it was actually owned by Greek Cypriots, a Nicosia court heard yesterday.

The trial of Elena Mirkushova, 30, accused of illegally purchasing a house built on land belonging to Greek Cypriot refugees, yesterday began with the investigator of the case taking the stand.

Yesterday’s proceedings were followed by Theodora Antonis Polycarpou, Marios Antonis Polycarpou and Andreas Antonis Polycarpou, the Greek Cypriot owners of the land sold to the woman by Turkish Cypriot estate agents.

Mirkushova was arrested at the Ledra Palace checkpoint in Nicosia on November 18, along with a Latvian friend of hers, after customs officers discovered a contract of purchase for a property in occupied Lapithos, as well as advertising pamphlets for properties in the occupied areas, in her bag.

Addressing the court, CID Constable Costas Costa said he had taken a statement from Mirkushova who confessed to buying the property in the north.

“However, when asked if she knew that the property originally belonged to Greek Cypriots, she said she was conned by the Turkish Cypriot estate agents because they never told her who were the original owners of the land she was buying.”

The investigator told the court that Mirkushova had signed the contract of purchase and had paid £1,000 sterling as a down payment for the house, which was being sold for £78,000 sterling.

According to the contract, Mirkushova would then have to pay £14,600 sterling a few months later and then pay off the rest of the amount in £2,500 sterling monthly installments.

“The defendant told us that she had not yet actually decided to buy the property but had wanted to go back to Russia so that her lawyers could go over it for her,” said Costa.
The court heard how Mirkushova had wanted to buy the house in the north “because she thought it would have been a good investment for her daughter.”

Evidence was also submitted to the court by the investigator, who handed to Judge Lemonia Kaoutzani various police statements, the contract of purchase and the advertising pamphlets for the properties in the north.

The Russian mother was remanded in custody on November 18 before being charged with two counts of illegally purchasing a property in the occupied areas and conspiracy to commit a crime.

She denies both charges.
Yesterday, the prosecution also dropped the arrest warrant against 42-year-old Bulet Fikri, the estate agent who sold her the house, because “he is in the occupied area and it is not possible to arrest him.”
According to the first charge of the indictment, Mirkushova and Fikri conspired to commit a crime. The second charge stated that on November 18, Mirkushova purchased from Fikri a property that belonged to somebody else, which was being built in the Ayios Theodoros area of Lapithos.
The property sold is built on two plots, one which belongs to Panayiota Grigoris Polydorou and one which is shared between the three members of the Polycarpou family.
The charge said the accused had signed a document of purchase, dated November 18, 2006, but should have known that there was no consent from the rightful owners.
The trial continues of December 19, with the Polycarpou family as well as an official of the Land Registry Department to be called up as witnesses

http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=29673&archive=1

EU law and the Cyprus problem
(archive article - Friday, December 15, 2006)

Sir,
I would like to respond to Mr Leonida’s letter, "Calling from planet Earth" (Sunday Mail, November 26), where he ask "how these lofty legal principles (i.e. principles of European human rights law) would be implemented in the case of Cyprus".

It is true that, in relation to case of Cyprus, Turkey is free to disregard European human rights law. However, the EU is not. In recent European wars, the EU has attempted, to quote Mr Leonida, to enforce "strict adherence to the safeguarding of human rights" instead of allowing the victor to dictate the peace. The EU has exerted diplomatic pressure which essentially amounts to setting conditions on EU membership) in relation to former Yugoslavia. The EU has imposed the following conditions in relation to the right of refugees to return home:

Bosnia and Herzegovina must "complete the refugee return process" (Council Decision of June 14, 2004); Serbia and Montenegro must "facilitate the return of displaced persons" (Council Decision of June 14, 2004); and Croatia must "Speed up refugee return" (Council Decision of September 13, 2004).

Similar conditions were made for the Kurds: Turkey should "pursue measures to facilitate the return of internally displaced persons to their original settlements" (Council Decision of January 23, 2006).

In other words, the EU believes that refugees are entitled to return home, except for the case of Cyprus, where the EU believes that permanent restrictions should be written into the EU's founding treaties to ensure that the refugees do not return (i.e. the Annan plan).

It is easy to conclude that EU's policy on Cyprus is to endorse the "exchange of populations" solution to the Cyprus problem that has been advocated by Turkey since the 1950s. But this is the view of a small faction, led by Britain, and not the view of all 25 member states. The EU's official policy is that the UN plans must be "in line with the principles on which the European Union is founded" (Council Decision of June 22, 2002), which includes adherence to human rights. The European Commission claims that the Annan plan is consistent with these founding principles.

However, it is very hard to reconcile this with the restrictions contained in the Annan plan, such as the, restrictions on the right of free movement and residence that are contained in Article 2 of the Proposed Act of Adaptation.

The question as to whether the Annan plan is consistent with European human rights law is not merely academic, because if it is, then as Mr Leonida correctly pointed out in his letter:
"Who will implement them [human rights principles]? Certainly not the EU which fully endorsed the Annan plan."

However, if the Annan plan is not consistent with the EU's founding principles, then the Commission itself is violating EU law. As citizens of the European Union we can demand that the EU institutions comply with EU law.

Most European politicians are not aware of the contents of the Annan plan. They assume that it is consistent with human rights and that the Greek Cypriots rejected it because they do not wish to share power with the Turkish Cypriots. If it can be shown that the Annan plan is not consistent with the EU's founding principles then the European politicians would not insist that the Greek Cypriots accept it as "the losing side must accept the terms of the victors". Rather, they would insist that all parties, including Turkey, accept the EU's founding principles, which includes allowing all refugees to return home.

Turkey would be free to ignore the EU's demands, but that means giving up the prospect of membership.

Panos Gregory,
Croydon, UK

http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=29652&archive=1

Turkey accuses EU of bowing to Greek Cypriot pressure
(archive article - Thursday, December 14, 2006)

TURKEY yesterday accused the European Union of bowing to Greek Cypriot pressure and being hesitant to take bolder steps on the Cyprus stand-off, and said that a solution to the long-running dispute could only be found at the United Nations.

“The EU has once again refrained” from taking steps, Foreign Ministry spokesman Namik Tan told a weekly news conference.

“We don't accept the EU's bowing to pressure, especially pressure from Greek Cypriots.” Tan argued that the EU could not provide “the right formula for a comprehensive solution.”

“The place for a comprehensive solution is the United Nations,” Tan said.

The comments came after EU ministers agreed to partially suspend membership talks with Turkey because it refuses to open up to trade with Cyprus.

“It is out of the question for Turkey to take unilateral steps” to open its ports and airports to Cyprus, “unless the isolation of Turkish Cypriots is lifted,” Tan said.

Turkey says the Cyprus dispute must be resolved at the United Nations because the EU cannot be impartial with Cyprus as a member.

“Our stance on this has not changed, and won't change,” he said.

“We will closely monitor the decision to lift the isolation” of Turkish Cypriots.

Tan also urged the EU to take a broader look at its relations with Turkey and reconsider the country's strategic importance. (AP

http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=29661&archive=1

Tassos: forget the ports offer today
By Jean Christou
(archive article - Thursday, December 14, 2006)

PRESIDENT Tassos Papadopoulos warned yesterday that if Turkey tried to dupe the EU during today’s summit by resubmitting its proposals on Cyprus, Nicosia would re-table its own demands.

Papadopoulos was speaking on his departure for Brussels to attend the two-day EU Heads of Government summit, which is expected to adopt the recommendations of the bloc’s foreign ministers reached on Monday.

Speculation was rife yesterday that Britain was urging Turkey to resubmit its proposal in writing to open one port and airport to Greek Cypriot traffic as a means of wriggling out of the recommended partial freeze in its accession.

On Monday the EU25 foreign ministers meeting decided to impose the measures on Ankara for its consistent failure to normalise relations with Cyprus under the customs union protocol.
The EU deemed Turkey’s offer of one port and airport in return for the opening of Famagusta port and Tymbou airport in the north as being inadequate to fulfil its EU obligations.

However information from Brussels suggested a renegotiation might be on the cards.

“We have no objection to re-negotiation of the conclusions, but our demands which were not met at the Council will also be resubmitted”, Papadopoulos told reporters yesterday.

Asked if it were possible that a renegotiation could happen, Papadopoulos said theoretically it was but it seldom happened where there was a unanimous decision by the foreign ministers meeting.

Commenting on the issue of direct trade between the north and the EU, Papadopoulos said next EU president Germany would begin work on the handling of Cypriots goods which come from the north.

“Our effort is to show that direct trade does not constitute an embargo or a blockading of Turkish Cypriots, because its contribution will be insignificant, bearing in mind the volume of the production in the occupied areas”, said Papadopoulos.

He said the Green Line regulation provided the facilities for Turkish Cypriots, “if they consider themselves under an embargo”, to export their goods through the legal ports of the Republic.

http://www.financialmirror.com/more_news.php?id=5642&nt=Politics

 Only two out of ten Greek Cypriots favour Turkey's EU accession


21/12/2006

Although Greek Cypriots favour a further EU enlargement, only 19% sees Turkey's accession to the EU as positive, according to the EU Eurobarometre's national report for Cyprus.

In the Eurobarometre, covering the areas controlled by the government of Cyprus as well the Turkish Cypriot community, between September 6th and October 1st, Greek Cypriots rank fourth regarding their negative stance for Turkey's EU accession.

First who see Turkey's accession as negative are the Austrians 87%, followed by Germany 78%, Luxembourg 77% and Cyprus 74%.

On the other hand, Turkish Cypriots are the ones who most favour Turkey's accession with 78%, followed by the Turkish citizens with 68%.

Furthermore, 66% of Greek Cypriots and 54% of Turkish Cypriots favour a future EU enlargement, with 46% being the EU average.

First country of preference for the enlargement for the Greek Cypriots is Switzerland with 88%, followed by Norway (84%) and Iceland (78%).

Last countries of preference are Bosnia Herzegovina with 56%, Albania with 33%, with Turkey being the last country with 19% (EU average for Turkey is 28%).

Regarding the UN, only 26% of Greek Cypriots trust this international organisation, a percentage that is the lowest in the EU.

Turkish Cypriots' trust to the UN shows a decrease from 48% to 41%.

Greek Cypriots continue to trust the EU and its institutions with 57% (48% being the EU average) and Turkish Cypriots with 45%, a percentage that shows a decrease.

Only 38% of Greek Cypriots believe that their voice is heard in the EU while 55% of Turkish Cypriots believe that their voice is not heard.

Greek Cypriots rank third among Europeans regarding their understanding of the EU function. The results showed that 58% of Greek Cypriots and 38% of Turkish Cypriots answered that they understand how the EU works.

Asked which should be the priorities of the EU, Greek Cypriots answered combating poverty, maintaining peace and security, and combating unemployment. Turkish Cypriots see combating unemployment, poverty and organised crime as the main priorities for the EU.

Although happy with their lives, Turkish Cypriots believe that things are going in the wrong direction for them.

Greek Cypriots favour the EU's political union with 68% and the EU's common foreign policy with 78%.

First among all European regarding the development of the EU common defence policy are the Greek Cypriots with 89%.

Regarding the European Convention, 73% of Greek Cypriots and 43% of Turkish Cypriots believe that its implementation is important for the EU's good function. The Greek Cypriots' percentage is the third highest in the EU.
 

http://www.financialmirror.com/more_news.php?id=5641

Direct trade requires constructive stance by Turkey


21/12/2006

The implementation of the EU direct trade regulation for the Turkish Cypriots demands a constructive stance by Turkey, so that any political considerations would be removed from the effort for the financial assistance of the Turkish Cypriots, Government Spokesman Christodoulos Pashiardis has said.

In statements after a meeting of the Council of Ministers, Pashiardis noted that the government consults with its European partners for the solution of this issue ''aiming at the financial assistance of the Turkish Cypriots as legal citizens of the Republic of Cyprus.''

Invited to comment on yesterday's statements by German Minister of Foreign Affairs Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Pashiardis said that the government does not attribute any political dimension to Steinmeier's reference to a ''Northern Cyprus.''

''We do not have any doubt that the German Minister's specific reference is a mere geographical definition with no political implications whatsoever,'' Pashiardis noted.

According to Pashiardis, the German Minister expressed his belief that he does not consider a deal between the EU 25 on the direct trade regulation as insuperable.

''The government has no reason to disagree with the German Minister of Foreign Affairs' belief,'' Pashiardis noted, pointing out that ''undoubtedly, however, the overcoming of this problem requires a positive and constructive stance by the Turkish side, so that any political considerations would be removed from the effort towards the economic assistance of the Turkish Cypriots.''

''The direct trade is a clear financial issue which must not be attached in any way to the political considerations of the Turkish side, or identified with the artificial issue of the so-called isolation of the Turkish Cypriots.''

Commenting on German press reports that President Tassos Papadopoulos committed himself to changing the climate regarding the direct trade regulation, Pashiardis said that ''the only commitment President Papadopoulos gave is that the Cypriot government would continue consultations so that a solution would be found to this issue.''

''He gave this commitment and he reiterates this commitment, a commitment which is in line with the EU Summit's conclusions,'' he added.

Regarding the opening of the EU chapters for Turkey, Pashiardis said that yesterday's discussions on a working group level did not reach any results, adding that the EU's Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER) convenes today.

Pashiardis noted that ''the Cypriot Representative has clear and specific instructions on our side's response in case the Finnish Presidency suggests the opening of chapters of Turkey's accession course.''

The EU General Affairs Council decided on January 11, 2006, to resume ''without delay'' the work for the implementation of the EU regulation for direct trade with the Turkish Cypriot community, adopted by the EU Commission on April 26, 2004.

Turkey, a country aspiring to enter the EU, refuses to implement the Customs Union Protocol by opening its ports and airports to Cyprus.

http://www.thenewanatolian.com/tna-20090.html

Cold comfort for Turkey

The New Anatolian /Brussels and Ankara
21 December 2006

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The European Union rebuffed on Wednesday Turkey's plea to take a symbolic step forward in membership talks by opening four new policy chapters, bowing to pressure by the Greek Cypriot administration as well as calls by some members to slow down the process.

Permanent representatives of the EU members in Brussels (COREPER) agreed yesterday to send an invitation letter to Turkey to open talks only in one chapter of the accession talks, the enterprise and industry chapter, which fell short of Ankara's expectations.

The EU's move followed last week's decision of EU leaders to partially freeze Turkey's accession talks in eight of 35 policy chapters, and not to close other chapters before Ankara opens its ports and airports to the Greek Cypriot administration.

Cyprus is still divided between an internationally recognized Greek Cypriot administration in the south and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) in the north, which is only recognized by Ankara.

EU member the Greek Cypriot administration, claiming sovereignty over the whole island, uses its veto power as a tool to put more pressure on Turkey to accept its claims. The Greek Cypriot administration became an EU member in 2004, despite its rejection of a unification plan which resulted in the Turkish Cypriots being left outside the EU. While Brussels is pressuring Turkey to open its ports to the Greek Cypriots, Ankara says EU should also meet its promises and put an end to the economic isolation of the Turkish Cypriots.

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said on Tuesday that Ankara is eager to continue its EU reform process, despite the 25-member bloc's decision to partially freeze talks. Gul also raised his expectation that four new chapters in Turkey's accession talks can be opened without any delay.

The European Commission announced earlier that it is ready to open negotiations with Turkey in at least eight new chapters, and in four of them almost all the procedures are completed.

EU leaders also agreed last week that while eight of 35 chapters will be suspended with Turkey, on the remaining chapters there will be a quick opening.

Greek Cypriots block 3 chapters

Despite this decision and the European Commission recommendation, the Greek Cypriot administration blocked the opening of three other chapters, on which all conditions were met and technical preparations were finished.

EU sources said on Wednesday that the Greek Cypriot administration is opposed to opening all ready chapters largely because of its response to Finland's efforts in the last couple of months towards a compromise solution on Cyprus. Finland's six-month efforts were aimed at mutual steps by Turkey, the EU, and the Turkish and Greek Cypriots to put an end to restrictions on the island.

According to the sources, several members including France and Austria also supported the Greek Cypriot administration and asked for a delay in the opening of chapters with Turkey, bringing up the unpopularity of Turkish membership in their countries' publics.

Despite Wednesday's decision of the EU permanent representatives, the actual opening of the enterprise and industry chapter is at least one month away due to long technical procedures. According to EU diplomats, the Greek Cypriots may agree to open chapters in three other chapters during Germany's term presidency starting next Monday, depending on the developments regarding Cyprus.

Germany, which is taking over the EU's six-month presidency from Finland, sees a "realistic'' chance of moving ahead in two to four policy areas, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Tuesday without giving a timeline.

Greek Cypriot Foreign Minister George Lillikas said over the weekend, however, that the Greek Cypriot administration may still veto the opening of chapters with Turkey in its EU accession talks, in response to Ankara's veto of Nicosia's membership in international organizations.

The Greek Cypriot administration was among 25 members who unanimously decided last week to partially freeze Turkey's accession talks in eight chapters but to continue the process in the remaining chapters.

http://www.polishmarket.com.pl/index.php?p=/current_issue/&a=13064

Lech Kaczyński, President of the Republic of Poland: What Vision Does Europe Need?

[...] I consider the first thirty months of Poland’s EU membership to have been a major success. We have really gained a lot through this, both in economic and political terms. And I am deeply convinced that the EU should not only exist but also enlarge further, though reasonably. I think that what is termed “enlargement fatigue” is in fact a temporary situation because Europe’s border does not coincide with the eastern frontier of Poland nor the Ukrainian part of the Black Sea coastline. And neither does it coincide with the borderline of the part of Europe we call the Balkans. All these regions should over time have the possibility of joining the Union, although I do realise that today neither the EU nor these countries – except for Croatia – are fully prepared for accession. However, such prospects must be created and the government of Poland will continue to put this matter on the agenda.

From our point of view, the most important is the prospect of EU enlargement to include Ukraine, a large country with a population of 47 million and an area of 600,000 square kilometres, which makes it bigger than France. The next country is a fairly small one, lying on the outskirts of Europe, but being European and Christian in cultural terms – I am referring to Georgia. Poland also supports the EU accession of Balkan countries and Moldova and is in favour of starting accession negotiations with Turkey. I do realise that this is a difficult and long process, and also a bold step from the point of view of not only the Union but our European civilisation as such

http://www.eurunion.org/welcome/ambassadorscorne
r/AmbWklyMess/2006/20061218jbwklymessage.htm

Ambassador's Corner

WEEKLY MESSAGE FROM AMBASSADOR JOHN BRUTON

December 18, 2006

Turkey, the enlargement of the EU and the EU Constitutional Treaty

Last week some very important decisions were taken by the European Union at an EU Summit. Turkey and the Middle East were two of the issues covered.

There had been a big worry that the differences with Turkey over the fact that it does not allow ships from an EU Member State (Cyprus) to dock in its ports would lead to a suspension of the negotiations for EU membership. As freedom to trade is an essential value among EU members, unwillingness to allow ships to dock is a pretty fundamental problem!

A solution was found. Rather than stop the negotiations with Turkey, agreement was reached simply to suspend negotiations on those portions of the agenda (so-called "chapters") directly affected by the ports problem, i.e., free movement of goods, services, financial services, agriculture, fisheries, transport, customs and external relations.

But full negotiations with Turkey will continue on the following chapters:

Freedom of movement for workers
Free movement of capital
Public procurement
Company Law
Intellectual property right
Competition law
Information society and media
Food safety, veterinary and phytosanitary policy
Energy
Taxation
Economic and monetary policy
Statistics
Social policy and employment
Enterprise and industrial policy
Trans-European networks
Regional policy and coordination of structural instruments
Judiciary and fundamental rights
Justice, freedom and security
Science and research
Education and culture
Environment
Consumer and health protection
Foreign, security and defence policy
Financial control
Financial and budgetary provisions
Institutions

The EC will be working hard to advance negotiations on all those chapters. On the other subjects, discussions will continue but these will not be formal negotiations.

Turkey says that one of the reasons for its unwillingness to open its ports to Cypriot ships is the continued "isolation" of Northern Cyprus. On this issue, the EU has made significant progress. To ease any isolation, the EU is giving 259 million euros in aid to Northern Cyprus, one of the highest levels of aid per capita the EU is giving anywhere in the world. The EU also has ensured free movement of Greek and Turkish Cypriots across the internal border. The Commission has also proposed an EU regulation requiring direct trade to be allowed within Cyprus with the Northern part of Cyprus. This proposal remains to be adopted but work is being done on Council language that would push it forward reasonably quickly.

The negotiation with Turkey does, of course, throw into relief the huge challenge that the enlargement of the European Union in itself creates.

It is worth recalling that the EU has enlarged from an initial membership of six countries, to nine, to ten, to twelve, to fifteen, to twenty-five and now to twenty-seven Member States. Every one of those steps only took place with the agreement of all of the existing Member States. EU enlargement can only take place by unanimous agreement. It is a big achievement to have got unanimous agreement for so much enlargement over such a short period of time, especially when one recalls that enlargement entails a commitment to free movement of people and goods and, because the EU is a democracy, it changes the existing balance of power between States within the Union.

Lessons have been learned from the process, and the effect of the enlargement on the internal workings of the European Union has had to be taken into account.

It must be remembered that this idea of the "absorption capacity" of the EU, at a given time in history, is not something new that has recently been invented just in the context of the application of Turkey!

The 1993 Copenhagen European Council, which set the stage for the dramatic subsequent enlargement of the European Union, said:

"The Union's capacity to absorb new members while maintaining the momentum of European integration, is an important consideration in the general interest, both of the Union and of candidate countries."

This is no more than common sense. If the EU is not able to do its own internal business efficiently, it will not be worth much to new members. Internal reform of the EU must proceed in parallel with enlargement. That is what has happened. The completion of the Single Market, the establishment of the euro and new policies on cross-border crime have all gone forward in step with the enlargement of the EU.

The European Commission has prepared a very detailed Communication on all of these subjects (entitled "Enlargement Strategy and Main Challenges 2006-2007") and it is well worth reading.

This Communication comes down against the idea of setting any fixed boundary for "Europe" stating that the "shared experience of ideas, values, and historical interaction cannot be condensed into a simple, timeless formula."

It also stresses the importance of explaining the value of enlargement to the citizens of the existing Members States. Not only does enlargement bring big economic advantages, but it increases physical and military security for all Europeans.

The European Commission Communication sees a risk in setting target dates for the accession of any country, because, once the target date is set, the pressure for internal reform in that country is reduced. It calls for benchmarks and says that if a country no longer fulfills the benchmarks for the opening of negotiations on a particular subject, then negotiation on that subject should be suspended. On the basis of experience, it stresses the overwhelming importance of a strong and independent judiciary in any country that aspires to join the EU and says that that should be one of the first things to be established in any negotiation.

The Communication includes a detailed commentary on the state of the negotiations with all of the candidate countries (Croatia, Turkey, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) and the potential candidate countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo).

It says that Turkey has made significant progress in preparing for EU membership, but identifies a few areas that need further work. It says, inter alia,

"the independence of the judiciary needs to be further established,"
"anti-corruption policies are weak,"
"impunity for perpetrators of torture also remains a problem,"
“a significant number of persons have been prosecuted for expressing non-violent opinions,"
"the adoption of a law that was expected to improve the situation of religious minorities has been postponed several times,"
that "Turkey does not yet meet EU and ILO standards, in particular as regards the right to strike and the right of collective bargaining," and that
"relations with Greece have evolved positively but no progress has been made in resolving the outstanding border dispute."

These are not insubstantial matters. For everyone’s sake they do need to be resolved before the EU enters into a political union with Turkey. This is a point worth stressing. The EU is not a mere diplomatic or trade arrangement. It is a political union based on shared values, human rights and a commitment to closer political and economic integration.

I am delighted that a potential roadblock in the negotiations with Turkey was circumnavigated last week, but work still needs to be done. Turkey needs to deal with the matters mentioned above. The EU needs to improve its internal decision-making efficiency and further enhance its democratic legitimacy with its citizens. That is why the debate about the EU Constitution is not one that can be postponed.

As the incoming German presidency of the EU has said:

"the European Constitutional Treaty provides for the internal reforms needed to ensure the viability of the enlarged European Union. The German presidency will hold indepth consultations with all EU partners and institutions and make a concerted effort to drive forward the EU reform process."

The Middle East

The Heads of Government of the European Union also adopted a wide-ranging declaration on the Middle East at their recent two-day Summit in Brussels.

They agreed that:

“The Middle East is faced with one of its worst crises in years”

and that the current ceasefire will only be meaningful and sustainable if it is consolidated through a political process. They urged President Abbas and Prime Minister Olmert to meet soon. They stressed their commitment to the Quartet principle, i.e., the recognition of Israel’s right to exist, compliance with existing agreements, and non-violence.

The EU leaders called for the “immediate release” of the abducted Israeli soldier but also called for the “immediate release of Palestinian Ministers and legislators detained.”

They called for the:

“release of Palestinian customs and tax revenues held by Israel.”

These monies are the property of the Palestinians and their illegal retention by Israel adds to the grievances felt about illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land.

Like the United States, the European Union is in favour of

“the creation of an independent, democratic and viable Palestinian state, living side-by-side with Israel”

in peace and security.

The EU leaders said that the parties must take concrete and immediate measures to end “all acts of violence” and “all activities which are contrary to international law, including settlement activities and the construction of the barrier on Palestinian land.”

In other words, Israel has a legal right to build a barrier, if it really wants to, but it must build it on Israeli land.

The EU leaders reiterated that:

“The EU will not recognise any changes to the pre-1967 borders other than those agreed by both parties.”

This is an important statement, often repeated. It recognises a demographic, democratic and legal reality that will not diminish with the mere passage of time.

I was involved over several years in the peace process in Ireland. One of the statements that most inspired me as I worked through that often frustrating and tortuous maze was made by assassinated Israel Prime Minister, Yitzak Rabin.

When questioned about his showing openness to Palestinians, Yitzak Rabin reminded his fellow citizens that, in a peace process,

“you make peace with your enemies, not with your friends.”

Israelis will not find peace among the people they may meet in Washington, Brussels or even in Cairo, but among the people who live in Ramallah, Gaza, Bethlehem and Jerusalem. That requires a huge effort of the imagination, and almost reckless willingness to expose themselves to rebuffs and discouragement.

But it is the only way to go ………… for Israel, for America, for Europe and for the world.

As this will probably be my last weekly message of 2006, I would like to wish you both a very happy and relaxing Christmas, and success and peace in 2007.

Please send me your comments about this or any of my weekly messages or other EU matters. I look forward to hearing from you!



John Bruton

http://www.athensnews.gr/athweb/nathens.prnt_article?
e=C&f=13213&t=01&m=A06&aa=1

EU slows down talks with Turkey

Accession talks will continue despite Ankara's failure to open ports toCyprus, but talks on eight of 35 policy areas are suspended

GEORGE GILSON


European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana (L), Finland's Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja (C) and European Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn address a joint news conference at the end of a EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on December 11

THE EUROPEAN Union has struck a grand compromise to slow down Turkey's accession talks while keeping the process firmly on track. At a contentious 10-hour meeting on December 11, EU foreign ministers, who were split in two camps, finally adopted the European Commission's recommendation to freeze eight negotiating chapters (policy areas) in response to Ankara's refusal to open its ports and airports to the Republic of Cyprus. The deal brought a sigh of relief to the heads of state and government convening in Brussels for the December 14-15 European Council, as they will not have to confront yet another "Turkey summit".

The council decision effectively gave Turkey a three-year reprieve to fulfil its treaty obligation to open its ports and airports to Cyprus, as progress will be monitored in 2007, 2008 and 2009. But the review mechanism for Turkey's compliance, a simple reference in the annual progress reports the commission issues each October, lacks teeth. No specific punitive action is foreseen if Ankara has not complied in three years' time, during which the commission is expected to renew its push to open trade with occupied northern Cyprus.

Best possible deal

Yet Cyprus and Greece considered the compromise to be the best possible deal, given a strong majority current of opposition to stiff sanctions against Turkey, which has a huge volume of trade with many EU countries and faces contentious presidential and parliamentary elections next year. While Athens and Nicosia, and some other countries such as the Netherlands and Austria, had publicly called for freezing ten negotiation chapters, Britain led a majority bloc that insisted on suspending only three policy areas. It appears that both blocs espoused maximalist positions, which led to a consensus based on the commission's original November 29 proposal.

Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis expressed satisfaction that the EU gave Turkey a clear message that it must fulfil its requirements and provided for evaluation of Turkey's progress in opening its ports to Cyprus.

Pasok spokesman Petros Efthimiou criticised the government for abandoning its demand for a clear timetable for Turkey to open its ports and for specific repercussions if it does not comply. He also argued that the council conclusions do not explicitly specify which EU institution will decide on the opening of the other negotiation chapters. But the conclusions note that remaining chapters will be "opened in accordance with established procedures", which suggests the inter-governmental conference where unanimity is required.

"The council agrees that the member states within the inter-governmental conference will not decide on opening chapters covering policy areas relevant to Turkey's restrictions as regards the Republic of Cyprus until the commission verifies that Turkey has fulfilled its commitments related to the Additional Protocol [opening Turkish ports and airports to Cyprus]," the council conclusions stated. The eight frozen policy areas include: free movement of goods; right of establishment and freedom to provide service; financial services; agriculture and rural development; fisheries; transport policy; customs union; and external relations.

The automatic opening and closing of the other chapters that was suggested by the commission was averted at the insistence of Cyprus and Greece so that the unanimous decision by the 25 member states of the inter-governmental conference will still be required. That was a red line for Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos, who has jealously guarded the 35 "small vetoes" on the opening of chapters, to check Turkey's compliance on issues concerning Cyprus that EU institutions afford his country. Cyprus and Greece blocked efforts to open talks on new chapters in the last few months.

Papadopoulos also managed to discard the commission's linkage of Turkey's accession process with a rapid Cyprus settlement (with "full-fledged negotiations in 2007"). Instead, it signed on to a separate statement by the Finnish EU presidency supporting UN efforts towards a solution (without a specific timetable) "in line with relevant UN Security Council resolutions and the principles on which the EU is founded", which is precisely what Nicosia has repeatedly called for. The statement also called on both communities to facilitate the rapid resumption of UN settlement talks.

No 'train crash'

"There is no train crash. The train is firmly on the track," declared British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, whose country, closely in line with US foreign policy, championed a soft stance on Turkey's failure to meet its obligations. Ankara made sure to publicise George W Bush's December 8 call to Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in which the US president again expressed support for Turkey's unimpeded accession process. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice conveyed the same message during her visit to Athens in April.

Finnish Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn and the Finnish EU presidency proved useful allies for Turkey, as they openly opposed a review clause that would impose sanctions on Ankara if it did not meet its obligations regarding Cyprus by a specific date. Before a crucial December 5 meeting between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Jacques Chirac, Rehn urged the two leaders not to push for a tight timetable and specific sanctions if Turkey does not open its ports to Cyprus.

In a surprise for Athens and Nicosia, the Franco-German axis abandoned previous support for reviewing Turkey's compliance in 18 months, opting instead for a much looser 30-month period for Turkey to comply. A week before the EU summit, the Greek foreign ministry advocated an 18-month review and the freezing of more than eight chapters, but it refused to call for specific sanctions if Turkey does not comply within the agreed upon time frame.

ATHENS NEWS , 15/12/2006, page: A06
Article code: C13213A061

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http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?ID=156017

Merkel praises Finnish EU presidency over Turkey talks
12-19-2006, 21h40
HELSINKI (AFP)

photo
German Chancellor Angela Merkel holds a press conference after meeting with Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen at the Government Banquet Hall in Helsinki during her brief visit to Finland. Merkel praised efforts by the Finnish EU presidency to unite the bloc over its partial suspension of Turkey's EU accession talks.
(AFP/Lehtikuva)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel praised efforts by the Finnish EU presidency to unite the bloc over its partial suspension of Turkey's EU accession talks.

"We did not have to deal a long time in the council meeting," Merkel told reporters after a talks with Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen, referring to an EU summit held on Friday which saw EU leaders suspend the country's accession talks in eight of the 35 policy chapters each candidate must complete.

EU leaders decided to move after Turkey's refusal to open its ports and airports to Cyprus under a customs union accord it signed with the bloc last year.

They also decided that Turkey could open accession talks in policy areas other than those eight chapters, but cannot formally complete them as long as the dispute over Cyprus remains unsolved.

Merkel said it had been "intelligent" to link, at least indirectly, Turkey's accession talks to the Cyprus issue.

"It sends the right signal" to Turkey, she added.

The German chancellor was in Helsinki for talks with Vanhanen prior to her country taking over the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union from Finland on January 1.
 

Turkey vows to pursue EU reforms despite partial talks freeze
12-19-2006, 12h34
ANKARA (AFP)

photo
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul gives a press conference about Turkey-EU relations in Ankara. Turkey will pursue reforms to align itself with European Union norms despite a partial freeze of its membership talks, Gul has said, describing the EU sanction as only a temporary setback to the country's European aspirations.
(AFP)

Turkey will pursue reforms to align itself with European Union norms despite a partial freeze of its membership talks, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has said, describing the EU sanction as only a temporary setback to the country's European aspirations.

"Turkey is committed to its EU target. There is no deviation from this target after the latest EU decision," Gul told a news conference Tuesday.

"The importance we attach to reforms has not decreased -- on the contrary it has increased," he said. "We are aware that we still have shortcomings and we will speedily proceed with the reforms."

At a summit last week, EU leaders suspended Turkey's accession talks in eight of the 35 policy chapters each candidate must complete due to its refusal to open its ports and airports to Cyprus under a customs union accord it signed with the bloc last year.

They also decided that Turkey can open accession talks in policy areas other than those eight chapters, but cannot formally complete them as long as the dispute over Cyprus remains unsolved.

Gul blamed a "lack of strategic vision" for the EU decision and said the row over Cyprus was being used as a pretext by EU members who were opposed to Turkey's membership.

"The strategic vision that led to the opening of Turkey's membership talks has started to erode," he said. "There is disarray in the European Union. Some members are confused, they mix up great strategic issues with small issues."

But he said he believed this was a "passing phase" and that the 25-nation bloc would come to see Turkey's significance.

"What is important is that Turkey prepares itself for the time when the European Union says it is ready ... because the EU will one day become aware of Turkey's importance," he said. "The EU will see that it cannot become a great power without Turkey."

The EU sanctions came as a blow to Turkey's bid a little more than a year after accession talks got off to a turbulent start in October 2005 amid widespread public opposition in Europe to the country's membership.

At the core of the turmoil is the three-decade division of Cyprus, whose internationally recognized Greek Cypriot government in the south joined the bloc in 2004.

Ankara insists that Turkish ports would remain off limits to the Greek Cypriots unless the EU keeps promises of easing the international isolation of the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), which only Turkey recognizes.

"We have always said that we will take steps forward if they keep their promises and we are ready to do that," Gul said.

The EU made the pledges in April 2004 after the Turkish Cypriots voted overwhelmingly in favor of a UN-drafted plan to reunify Cyprus, which was killed off by a massive "no" on the Greek Cypriot side.

Gul hailed British Prime Minister Tony Blair, a staunch advocate of Turkey's EU bid, for saying during a visit here Saturday that he would like to see direct flights between Britain and the TRNC, for which a Turkish Cypriot airliner applied last month.

"The final decision is of course up to Britain, but we believe that the inauguration of such flights is possible," Gul said.

"If this happens it would be as important as the lifting of the isolation" of the TRNC, he said.

Blair said the British authorities were currently studying whether it is legally possible to allow direct flights from and to the breakaway statelet.

 

E.U. Supports U.N. On Cyprus Issue
Published: 12/14/2006

BRUSSELS - Finland, which holds rotating EU presidency, announced on Monday that it fully supports UN Secretary General Kofi Annan`s efforts for a solution to the Cyprus issue.

After the meeting of the EU General Affairs Council in Brussels, Finnish authorities noted that they were in favor of resumption of negotiations between the parties (in Cyprus) for a lasting solution to the Cyprus issue in conformity with the UN principles and resolutions of the UN Security Council.

Finland noted that it was glad that Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots reached an agreement in principle on initiatives of UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Ibrahim Gambari on July 8th, stating that EU would assume an attitude to encourage the parties.

http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=155337

Turkey's Membership Will Show That Islam Conforms To Democracy And Human Rights, Rehn
Published: 12/14/2006

BRUSSELS - European Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn said that EU made important decisions today, underlining that Turkey`s membership would show that Islam conforms to European values like democracy and human rights.

After the meeting of EU General Affairs Council, Rehn, Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana and European Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner held a joint press conference.

Stating that decisions that they made on Turkey and Ankara Protocol were very important, Rehn noted that those decisions kept alive Turkey`s accession process.

"This decision strikes the right balance... On the one hand, it sends to Turkey the signal that failure to meet legal obligations cannot remain without consequences. On the other hand, at the same time, it clarifies the way forward and enables progress in the accession negotiations," he stated.

Rehn said that EU leaders decided that the commitments of Turkey in regard to the additional protocol would be monitored in progress reports of the European Commission to be released in 2007, 2008 and 2009.

"EU needs democratic and stable Turkey," Rehn added.

Asked what would happen, if Turkey presents a written proposal or opens its some ports, Tuomioja indicated that Ankara Protocol should be implemented fully, stating that they would respond to positive steps in a positive way.

Tuomioja also signalled that isolations on TRNC (Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus) would be facilitated.

http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=155336

Next Summit Will Not Be A Turkey Summit, Tuomioja
Published: 12/14/2006

BRUSSELS - Foreign Affairs Minister Erkki Tuomioja of Finland, which holds rotating EU presidency, said that EU leaders reached compromise on the future of negotiations with Turkey, stating that the following summit would not be a Turkey summit.

After the meeting of EU General Affairs Council, Tuomioja, EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana, European Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn and European Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner held a joint press conference.

EU countries agreed to suspend 8 (in regard to the Customs Union) of the 35 chapters of Turkey`s EU entry talks within the scope of the European Commission`s proposal (on October 29th).

Until requirements of the additional protocol are fulfilled, other chapters will not be closed.

European Commission will keep assessing Turkey in its progress reports to be released in 2007, 2008 and 2009.

Tuomioja said that a declaration with an emphasis for "a solution in Cyprus under the roof of the UN" would be released.

EU leaders also decided that they would take steps to facilitate isolations imposed on Turkish Cypriots.

Did Blair Come For The EU?
Published: 12/19/2006

BY NASUHI GUNGOR

STAR- British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s visit was of course important, but thinking that this visit aimed at supporting our EU bid might mislead us. In sum, Tony Blair said that they would like to send direct flights to Ercan Airport, if there is no impediment. We can think that he made these remarks in order to contribute to the EU process which is caught in the Cyprus dilemma. However, considering Blair’s visit to the Middle East as a whole, a different picture emerges. Let’s look at his program following Ankara: A Middle East tour covering Egypt, Israel, Palestine and the United Arab Emirates. As you may remember, after the Iraq Study Group’s report was published, US President George W. Bush and Blair met and this visit was shaped there. Likewise, although it wasn’t on his schedule, Blair made a surprise visit to Iraq. Generally, these comprehensive visits made by Britain give us the news of a new policy’s cornerstones. Ankara is the first link of the chain, not because of a geographical obligation, but because Turkey is the most important part of the equation. This might seem strange, but Iran isn’t included in the tour because Iran is also important and Tehran is being forced to be the other side of the balance.

Now, let’s look at British-Iranian relations. For example, after the 1979 revolution, the EU Embassy in Tehran has always been a target. However, interestingly, Britain didn’t have the same reaction. Britain preferred the Shiite region in the south in the invasion of Iraq. Do you think that the reason for it is its traditional desire for oil? Or does this preference come from knowing each other better historically? Probably the latter is true and maybe it would be better to open a topic not on British-Iranian relations, but on British-Shiite relations. Blair’s visits aim to ensure certain diplomatic flexibilities that the US can`t ensure. Don’t let me be misunderstood. This formation doesn’t aim to ensure peace, but to make the ranks clear and take the initiative about who will be where in the new era’s conflicts. Remarks made by Blair in Ankara about the European Union are directed towards ensuring Turkey’s surviving these kinds of debates without any bruises. Obviously, a Turkey whose domestic balances are turned upside down wouldn’t be useful for anybody. Meanwhile, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said that Turkey’s gathering Iraqi Sunni groups together in Istanbul was ‘dangerous and provocative’ and that death and violence were encouraged and action plans against the Shiites and Kurds were discussed during that meeting. When the ‘big brother’ is touring the Middle East, these words are very meaningful. However, Turkey hasn’t set to play the role that was expected. This situation could boost Ankara’s importance and value, if it can take certain shifts in its domestic policies without any damage.

http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=155318

It Does Not Mean Recognition, But...
Published: 12/14/2006

ANKARA - Following are the highlights from today`s Turkish daily MILLIYET. The Anadolu Agency is not responsible of opinions expressed or the context of the editorials and does not vouch for their accuracy.

"TRNC President Mehmet Ali Talat says, `opening of the (Turkish) ports (to Papadopoulos Administration`s vessels) will not mean recognition of Cyprus Republic (by Ankara government) but can be considered as a step on this way," writes columnist Derya Sazak in daily Milliyet.

"Isn`t there a memorandum of understanding or letter signed by Turkish State Minister Besir Atalay (in Dec. 2004 in Brussels) to this effect?," asked Sazak in an exclusive interview with the TRNC President Talat.

"That is not related to opening of ports. That document is about to the inclusion of 10 new members (of the EU) to the Customs Union Agreement. Opening of ports is related to transportation which is under the service sector chapter. Service sector is not included in Ankara Agreement. Austria and the Netherlands impose quotas to Turkish TIR vehicles. Could they do this if it was included (in Ankara Agreement)? This shows that transportation is not included in Customs Union," Talat affirmed.

"Opening of ports does not mean recognition of Cyprus Republic, but underlies a step. Greek Cypriot party may later say, `we make trade, then why we don`t have representations at the Ankara airport and/or at the Mersin port. Those who closely follow the tactics of Greek Cypriot Administration and Greece may know very well how those developments take place step by step."

-A COMMUNICATION BLACKOUT-

Replying to a question whether they could reach a political settlement on Cyprus in a tete-a-tete with Papadopoulos, Talat said, "nationalism is on the rise in Greek Cyprus. The most chauvinist administration is in the government (in Southern Cyprus). Papadopoulos pursues an extremely maximalist policy. He already made public at the U.N. General Assembly: "We will unite Cyprus through `osmosis`.``

When Sazak asked what the osmosis method was, Talat said, "it is a technical expression. It tells about the tendency to pass through a semipermeable membrane into a solution where solvent concentration is higher. It is a physical event. Papadopoulos says both parties will be equalized with such a flow. What he means is, `we will assimilate the Turkish Cypriots`."

http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=155316

Turkey's Move Turned Out Without Results, Greek F.M.
Published: 12/14/2006

ANKARA - "Although Turkey`s proposal had some repercussions, I believe that it turned out without any results," said Greek FM Dora Bakoyanni, according to Sabah daily newspaper`s exclusive report on Monday.

Sabah wrote that Bakoyanni commented on Turkey-EU and Turkey-Greece relations in an interview with Greek Eleftheros Typos newspaper.

Noting that decisions taken in the EU must be based on real facts and not on impressions, Bakoyanni however admitted that Turkey`s proposal "created discord (within the EU)".

"Decisions will be made based on real facts and not impressions. The real facts show Turkey is not honouring its signature on implementing the customs union protocol" she told Typos, according to Sabah.

EU gives green light for talks
Thursday, December 21, 2006
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ANKARA - Turkish Daily News

The European Union took a step forward in accession negotiations with Turkey yesterday and gave the green light for the launching of membership talks on a new chapter, namely enterprise and industry policies.

EU ambassadors who met in Brussels agreed to ask Ankara to submit its position document for the start of entry talks on the new chapter, but Turkey will be unable to move ahead with the other three related chapters -- financial control, statistics, economic and monetary policy -- for the time being due to objections from some other member countries, including Greek Cyprus.

Sources said Greek Cyprus, along with the Netherlands and France, opposed opening new chapters before the year-end as the EU would send a confusing message if it rewarded Turkey by starting a new round just after freezing other parts of the talks.

Last week, EU leaders decided to make a move on Turkey's failure to open its ports and airports to Greek Cyprus under a customs union protocol it signed with the bloc in 2005. They also decreed that Turkey could open accession talks in policy areas other than those eight chapters, but could not formally complete them as long as the dispute over Cyprus remained unsolved.

On Tuesday, Ankara expressed hope that some chapters would be opened speedily during the Finnish term presidency of the EU, which ends at the end of this year. �Everything is ready for opening the education and culture, financial control, enterprise and industrial policy, and the economic and monetary policy chapters,� Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül told reporters at a news conference.

But some EU diplomats reportedly said opening policy chapters for Turkey before year-end appeared unlikely, while EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said new chapters in Turkey's talks could be opened in the first weeks of January.

Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the foreign minister of Germany, which takes over the rotating six-month EU presidency in January, said on Tuesday he could envisage the opening of two to four policy chapters with Turkey, but did not say by when.

Turkey has completed one of the 35 negotiating chapters -- covering science and research -- since accession talks began in October 2005.
 

http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=62134

Open-close
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
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OPINIONS

All News »

» Two anniversaries
(Yusuf KANLI )
» The challenge
(Gündüz Aktan )
» Why didn't Erdoğan burn the bridges?
(Mehmet Ali Birand )
» If this is the 'visionary' one, imagine what 'blind Europe' might be
(Semih İdiz )
» A very personal story
(AYŞE ÖZGÜN )
» MORE

Acting in line with the recommendation made by the European Commission, the Dec.15 EU summit suspended talks with Turkey on eight chapters. Thus the accession process has been slowed down.

Gündüz Aktan

Acting in line with the recommendation made by the European Commission, the Dec.15 EU summit suspended talks with Turkey on eight chapters. Thus the accession process has been slowed down.

Meanwhile, EU officials and the EU press have said that the EU should not close the door to Turkey altogether on the grounds that that could bring the reform process in Turkey to a halt. What they really mean when they talk about reforms is that in Turkey the military should be subordinated to the civilian authority more extensively, that �minority rights,� that is, �collective rights for Kurds� should be granted, that Christians' religious rights should be expanded and that Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) should be amended so that it will no longer bar �free debates on the Armenian genocide.�

Obviously, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government is to continue with the accession talks under these circumstances. In other words, we will have accepted the punishment meted out to us for the alleged crime of not fulfilling our �commitments� under the Additional Protocol regarding �Cyprus.� Since it is not likely that the Cyprus problem will be resolved under the U.N. by the deadline imposed on us, that is, by the end of 2009, we will, on that date, once again be faced with the �obligation� to open up our ports and airports to the Greek Cypriots unilaterally. In other words, the crisis is merely being postponed until the end of 2009.

This is typical of the approach with which our relations with the EU have been managed since the mid-1970s. Especially since 1981, when Greece became an EU member, we have not been able to hold Association Council meetings due to Greek obstructions. And we have not been able to actually get the financial aid earmarked for us.

When we applied for full membership in 1987, that too met with similar obstacles. In the 1990s, the Greek Cypriots applied for EU membership as the representative of the whole of Cyprus. Despite the objections raised by the Turks, the EU accepted the Greek Cypriot application in 1993. With the customs union decision taken in 1995, the EU said that if the Cyprus problem remained unsolved until 1998 it would start accession talks with the Greek Cypriots. And it did exactly that when the time came.

The current Turkish government, together with the Turkish Cypriots, has done everything imaginable to solve the Cyprus problem during the process of Turkey's EU candidature. Despite all that, the Greek Cypriots have become an EU member and the Turks have been left out in the cold.

The EU's Dec. 17, 2004 decision amounted to offering Turkey a limited, conditional kind of membership. We accepted it. The Oct. 3, 2005 document drawing up the framework for the accession talks contained a number of �innovated� obstacles that had not been raised in the case of any other candidate country. We accepted them. And now we are faced with a punishment that amounts almost to an insult. And yet we are enduring that as well.

We have reached this point by pursuing, at every step, a policy of �Let's just overcome this hurdle; we'll see afterwards.� We have paid a high cost for that policy. For example, we have fulfilled our commitments although we have not received financial aid from the EU. Also, we became the first country to enter into a customs union with the EU without being a member.

We gritted our teeth and endured that policy during the association relationship, but it would be very difficult to implement the same policy during the accession process as well. EU membership is the kind of goal that covers all areas of life, a goal that sucks the entire energy of Turkish society. Such a goal cannot be attained when the EU fails to display the determined political will to make Turkey a member.

The EU lacks that political will primarily because of the European prejudices against Turkey. All the other objective causes are of a secondary nature, merely bolstering that basic original cause.

Those EU countries that object to Turkish membership display the typical symptoms of a pathological prejudice. In France, for example, the society and its ruling elite simply shift onto Turkey the �bad� aspects they deem unworthy of French society. Having failed to integrate the Muslims living in France into French society, they have come to hate them. Rather than admitting that, they transfer that hate to the Turks and say that the Turks hate and persecute the Kurds. They transform the genocide they committed themselves into the genocide the Turks are supposed to have committed against the Armenians.

When you project your own unwanted unconscious parts onto a target group, you do not want that group to be like you. You would not want it to become integrated with you. If they made Turkey an EU member, admitting it into their ranks, they would unconsciously fear that the bad aspects they have shifted onto the Turks would return to them with the entry of the Turks, destroying the EU identity. Remember the remarks made by former French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing and Cardinal Ratzinger to that effect.

For this reason they ignore certain facts: Turkey has taken the French Revolution as a model for itself. There are similarities between the Turkish Republic and the French Republic. And the two countries attach a similar importance to the principle of secularism. Yet, ignoring all these, the French tend to think that Turks would not be able to achieve those lofty goals the way the French people could.

On the other hand, France would not want to distance Turkey too much, having turned this country into a receptacle into which to dump France's own unwanted characteristics. Turkey is expected to stand by somewhere close enough for France to dump the bad characteristics the French, like other societies, generate.

For this reason the door is neither fully open nor fully closed to Turkey. Just like the soul of the dead man in Kipling's famous poem, �Tomlinson,� Turkey is trapped in the vast cold zone between heaven and hell.

http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=62170

Ankara awaits Karamanlis visit in spring
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
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» Armenia seeks condemnation of alleged Azerbaijani destruction of gravestones
» EU gives green light for talks
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ANKARA - Turkish Daily News

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said he expects a visit by his Greek counterpart, Costas Karamanlis, to Turkey in the spring of 2007.

�I've visited Greece twice, but Costas has not yet paid an official visit [to Turkey]. He is a family friend of mine but now I expect him to visit in the spring,� Erdoğan was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency, when asked whether he would visit Athens.

Erdoğan made his remarks on the sidelines of a Monday presentation by Turkey and Spain to the U.N. General Assembly on an initiative to bridge the rift between the Islamic world and the West.

Erdoğan and Karamanlis had the chance to meet in May on the sidelines of a Southeast Europe Cooperation Process summit in Thessalonica to discuss bilateral ties. But the two failed to set a date for the much-awaited visit of the Greek leader to Turkey, which has been put off several times over the past year.

Meanwhile, a Greek daily reported that Erdoğan had said the Greek government was afraid to mend relations with its old rival Turkey, adding it feared hostile reactions from media and the opposition. �The administration of Karamanlis is afraid to take relation-improving measures because of the opposition and the media,� Erdoğan was quoted as saying by daily Eleftherotypia.

The daily said Erdoğan also pointed an accusing finger at Greek Cyprus, saying that �Greek Cypriots exert pressure on [Greek-based] media, and they in turn exert pressure on the government.�

The two nations have done more in the past six years to improve relations than they have in half a century but ties have cooled in the months since the start of accession talks between Turkey and the European Union last year, over a series of long-standing territorial disputes in the Aegean Sea and Cyprus as well as several religious issues.

In May, a Greek pilot was killed when his jet collided with a Turkish one, but previous progress in bilateral communication helped avert an escalation of tension.

�The Aegean is a sea of peace,� Erdoğan told Eleftherotypia, adding that he and Karamanlis are personal friends. The Greek prime minister acted as a witness at the marriage of Erdoğan's daughter in 2004.

http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=62164

Gül: Ankara has its own road map to pursue reforms
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
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ANKARA - Turkish Daily News

Pledging the government's commitment to full European Union membership, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül described on Tuesday the recent troubled period in relations between Turkey and the bloc as a temporary phenomenon stemming from the EU's own confusion, whereas Turkey's mind has been extremely clear in pursuing reforms under any circumstances.

Gül was speaking to reporters at a news conference held at the ministry -- the sole topic of which was Turkey's EU process. Reiterating Turkey's stance considering the latest EU decision of not opening certain chapters in membership talks with Turkey as he accused the EU of a �lack of strategic vision,� Gül said, �The decision does not comply with the essence and spirit of the relations,� adding: �Turkey is committed to its EU target. There has been no deviation from this target after the latest EU decision.�

At a summit last week EU leaders agreed to slow down Turkey's accession process by not opening talks in eight of the 35 policy chapters each candidate must complete -- as punishment for Ankara refusing to open its ports and airports to EU member-Greek Cyprus under a customs union accord it signed with the bloc last year. They also decided that Turkey can open accession talks in policy areas other than those eight chapters but cannot formally complete them as long as the dispute over Cyprus remains unsolved.

�What is important is that Turkey prepares itself for the time when the EU says it is ready ... because the EU will one day become aware of Turkey's importance,� he said. �The EU will see that it cannot become a great power without Turkey.�

Referring to the fact that the bloc wrapped up the screening phase of negotiations in October, Gül said, then, a picture showing clearly what Turkey needed to do was taken.

The road map in Turkey's hands is clear, Gül added. �So to say, we have the opportunity to open chapters and then close them with our own will. What matters is doing what needs to be done with our own will. Everyone will appreciate this,� he said.



Gül's expectation differs from those of EU diplomats, Rehn:

�We hope that the chapters which should be opened are opened in a short time. We expect some chapters to be opened speedily during the Finnish presidency,� said Gül.

The Finnish EU presidency ends at the end of 2006.

�Everything is ready for opening the education and culture, financial control, enterprise and industrial policy, and the economic and monetary policy chapters,� Gül said.

However, EU diplomats said opening policy chapters for Turkey before year-end appeared unlikely and a Greek Cypriot diplomat told Reuters there was no reason to believe it would happen.

Meanwhile, the EU's Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn, in an interview with the BBC, said that new chapters in Turkey's talks could be opened in the first weeks of January, the Anatolia news agency reported. Germany will take over the EU term presidency in January.

�I hope that we can open talks on a chapter in the first weeks of the German presidency. Thus, we will show that the negotiation process is actually continuing and that it is possible to make progress in fields available for progress,� he was quoted as saying by Anatolia.

http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=62210

Turks still want the EU, but don't trust it
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
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DOMESTIC

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» Bush's nominee for envoy to Armenia fails to win Senate approval
» Court’s Anter ruling fails to heal ‘old wounds’
» Yatağan plant fined YTL 288,000
» State enterprises required to tighten belts
» Health of Turks hangs in the balance, still
» Firm rules imposed on state enterprises
» Health of a nation on hold
» MORE

ISTANBUL - Turkish Daily News

Turkey's EU experts have met with caution the unexpected optimism among Turks towards the EU revealed by the results of the most recent Eurobarometer poll.

The study, published by the European Commission, showed that some 55 percent of Turks gave an affirmative response when asked whether the EU has a positive image. That represented a 12 percent improvement in public perception of the bloc compared to six months ago.

This was unexpected because Turkish-EU relations are not at all in better shape than they were six months ago. Turkey is in fact in a phase of �punishment� by EU members for not opening its ports and airports to traffic from Greek Cyprus.

EU consultant Can Buharalı points to the fact that this recent �punishment� could not be tracked by the Eurobarometer study simply because the latter was carried out before the former. The survey was conducted between Sept. 6 and Oct. 10, several weeks before the EU decision to suspend eight chapters in Turkey's accession talks.

Buharalı also argues that the results of such polls might easily fluctuate according to the way the questions were proposed. �It is really hard,� according to him, �to trace whether there is an increase in the support for the EU bid.�

Another expert, Dr. Haluk Günuğur, dean of İzmir's Economy University's International Relations and EU Department, brings a different angle to the discussion. �Those Turks who wish to join the EU still have a very high percentage in society,� he argues, �but some of these people have lost their faith in the union.� According to Dr. Günuğur, the positive view of the EU among would be held by more than 55 percent of the first group, but by less than 35 percent of those who still believe in the sincerity of the EU.

Mensur Akgün, professor of international relations at Kültür University, sounds more optimistic when he agrees that results might indicate a real endurance in the Turkish society in favor of the EU process. �My guess is based on the positive attitude of some EU member countries toward Turkey during the entire debacle and the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government's constructive engagement with the issue,� says Professor Akgün. �If the government had resorted to populism and had appealed to national sentiments, the results could have been completely different.�

http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=62123

Turks' optimism for EU defies current troubles
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
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Turks' optimism for EU defies current troubles

DIPLOMACY

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» Intricate bargaining over railway, gas in Saakashvili visit
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» EU gives green light for talks
» Displaced villagers denied fair compensation, says US rights group
» No news on 301 as gov’t vows reform commitment
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A high-tension confrontation between Ankara and Brussels over Cyprus is apparently not reflected in Turkish public opinion, with perception of the bloc improving in society. But the political sphere may not respond that positively to a tougher-talking EU

ANKARA - Turkish Daily News

More than half of Turks conjure up a positive image when asked about the European Union, revealing a significant improvement in public perception of the bloc despite high tension on a political level over an unresolved problem centering on Cyprus.

Some 55 percent of Turks gave an affirmative response when asked whether the EU has a positive image, according to a Eurobarometer poll published by the European Commission. That represents a 12 percent improvement in public perception of the bloc compared to six months ago.

The period since the spring of 2006 has been marred by bitter political bickering between Ankara and Brussels over the Turkish refusal to open its ports and airports to traffic from Greek Cyprus. The EU leaders eventually agreed last week not to open eight of 35 negotiating chapters to punish Turkey's noncompliance.

However, the repercussions of the Cyprus woes may not be that positive in the political sphere. Last month's decision from the EU was slammed by Ankara as unfair and �lacking strategic vision.�

The Washington-based based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said yesterday in a report that the EU decision to slow down the accession talks increased the risk of internal political strife in Turkey as the country gears up for two key elections next year.

http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=62080

EU image improves among Turks, survey says
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
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» Armenia seeks condemnation of alleged Azerbaijani destruction of gravestones
» EU gives green light for talks
» Displaced villagers denied fair compensation, says US rights group
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» 301 on shelf despite ‘commitment’
» Diplomacy Newsline
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For 55 percent Turks the EU conjures up a positive image, said the Eurobarometer poll, published by the European Commission, indicating a 12-point improvement in Turkish public perception of the bloc’s image when compared to the spring 2006 survey

ANKARA - Turkish Daily News

The European Union's image is improving in Turkey, despite heated debates and tension over the Cyprus standoff, a public opinion poll showed yesterday.

For 55 percent of Turks the EU conjures up a positive image, said the Eurobarometer poll, published by the European Commission, indicating a 12-point improvement in the Turkish public perception of the bloc's image when compared to the spring 2006 survey.

Turkey started accession negotiations with the EU last year, along with Croatia, but many expect the earliest date at which Turkey will be able to join the bloc is in 10 years' time, if at all. Turkey's EU process has run into difficulties over the deep-seated Cyprus problem.

The Eurobarometer poll was carried out between Sept. 6 and Oct. 10, two months before EU leaders unanimously agreed not open eight out of the remaining 34 negotiating chapters with Turkey, in response to Ankara's failure to open up its ports to shipping from member Greek Cyprus. Ankara slammed the EU decision as unfair, accusing the bloc of �lacking vision� concerning Turkey's strategic importance and how its future membership could contribute to the bloc.

Concerning more specifically the image of certain European institutions, the level of trust in the European Commission has improved slightly in Turkey and now stands at 32 percent in Turkey (up three points), according to the poll. But the trust in the European Parliament remains stable in Turkey, with on average 34 percent of the Turks relying on this institution.

The poll showed 54 percent of Turkish respondents said Turkey's membership in the EU would be a good thing and 63 percent said Turkish membership would benefit from being a member of the EU. But public opinion in Turkey continues to be significantly more critical in Turkey (39 percent, down two points) than in another EU hopeful Croatia (65 percent, down one point).

On the eve of the next round of enlargement, the gap between supporters and opponents of further enlargement remains small, according to the poll. Almost seven in 10 respondents in the two countries that are about to join the European Union, namely Romania and Bulgaria, are in favor of further enlargement. In Croatia support is stable at 64 percent, while it has increased by five points to 50 percent in Turkey.

Support for an EU constitution is growing in countries that have not ratified it, showed the poll, representing an improvement compared with spring 2006 and encouraging those behind a drive to revive suspended talks on the charter. The survey said backing for the Constitution in the nine countries that have not ratified it grew to 53 percent from 47 percent in the first half of 2006.

The survey also showed 47 percent of Turks said they were in favor of the EU constitution.

The constitution was meant to help the EU cope with its eastern expansion by making its decision-making more effective, but Dutch and French voters dealt it a serious blow in 2005 when they rejected it in public referenda. Germany plans to re-launch talks on the constitution, or a treaty to replace it, during its presidency of the EU in the first half of 2007. Sixteen of the EU's 25 member states have ratified the constitution draft, but all 25 must do so for it to take effect.

http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=62067

Diplomacy Newsline
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
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DIPLOMACY

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» 'We want Turkey to do more for Palestine'
» The tale of Bus 37: Blood and tears
» What's in the mind of a suicide bomber?
» Intricate bargaining over railway, gas in Saakashvili visit
» Armenia seeks condemnation of alleged Azerbaijani destruction of gravestones
» EU gives green light for talks
» Displaced villagers denied fair compensation, says US rights group
» No news on 301 as gov’t vows reform commitment
» 301 on shelf despite ‘commitment’
» Diplomacy Newsline
» MORE

MP says opening ports doesn't mean recognition:

ANK - Turkish Daily News

Yaşar Yakış, the head of Parliament's European Union Harmonization Commission, has said the opening of Turkish ports and airports to traffic from Greek Cyprus would not amount to recognition of the Greek Cypriot administration.

Yakış was commenting on a last-minute Turkish proposal to open one port and one airport to EU member Greek Cyprus, which came ahead of a key summit of EU leaders last week in a move to avert a serious crisis in its accession negotiations with the 25-nation bloc.

�We don't recognize Taiwan as a state but our ports are open to them. I think we should put aside such debates and accelerate our efforts to reach a conclusion,� Yakış said over the weekend.

Yakış also said Turkey's ports were open to Greek Cypriots before 1987 and reiterated that the opening of ports today to shipping from Greek Cyprus would not mean recognition.

http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=62025

Stall in EU process to hit Turkish domestic politics, report says
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
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DIPLOMACY

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» 'We want Turkey to do more for Palestine'
» The tale of Bus 37: Blood and tears
» What's in the mind of a suicide bomber?
» Intricate bargaining over railway, gas in Saakashvili visit
» Armenia seeks condemnation of alleged Azerbaijani destruction of gravestones
» EU gives green light for talks
» Displaced villagers denied fair compensation, says US rights group
» No news on 301 as gov’t vows reform commitment
» 301 on shelf despite ‘commitment’
» Diplomacy Newsline
» MORE

While claiming that Turkey is on verge of another coup is gross exaggeration, a slowdown in the EU process may lead to internal strife, according to CSIS report

ÜMİT ENGİNSOY

WASHINGTON - Turkish Daily News

A move by European Union leaders last week not to open talks on eight negotiating chapters with Ankara increased the risk of internal political strife in Turkey as the country gears up for two key elections next year, a report by the Washington-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said yesterday.

The European Council, the EU's top decision-making body, last Friday agreed to back the partial freeze of Turkey's EU accession negotiations until Ankara opens its ports to trade from Greek Cyprus, an EU member.

The decision came as Turkey's military publicly blasted a last-minute offer by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's government -- that Turkey might be willing to open two ports to Greek Cypriot traffic unconditionally -- as "a deviation from state policy."

The CSIS' latest Turkey Update report recalled that Erdoğan, when asked during a visit to New York in early October whether Turkey would "once again wake up to the sound of tanks," said those days were over, because "Turkey is on the track to EU membership."

But now that EU process has been stalled.

"While it would be a gross exaggeration to claim that the country, which has witnessed four coups in the past five decades, is once again on the verge of another interruption of the democratic process, it would be a mistake to ignore the increased risks of internal strife with the stalling of the EU process in a country prone to such problems," said the CSIS report, penned by Bülent Alirıza, director of the think tank's Turkey Project.

"With the focus inevitably shifting from the EU to domestic politics and the intensification of what is being characterized by the Turkish press as 'the Cankaya war' over the election of a new president in April, the dynamics are undeniably shifting," it said.

Following the presidential vote in Parliament to replace Ahmet Necdet Sezer in the spring, national legislative elections have been scheduled for November.

Erdoğan has not announced whether or not he will stand as a presidential candidate, but frequently criticizing the government and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) for allegedly undermining secularism, the military is believed to be opposing his election as head of state.

"It remains to be seen if the other political parties, who are demanding early parliamentary elections to enable a new [Parliament] to choose Sezer's replacement, will be able to muster a serious challenge to the [AKP] and its leader with the charismatic and populist touch that their own leaders lack after four years of mostly ineffective opposition or [the military] itself will find it necessary or prudent to participate in efforts to fill the void." A debate over "the possibility of a military coup" was prompted by an article by Zeyno Baran, a Turkey specialist at the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank here, that appeared in the international edition of Newsweek late last month. Baran said another coup was possible next year at a time when the military was deeply concerned over secularism.

The CSIS report said the United States may have to devise a new strategy for Turkey in light of the worsening EU-Turkish relationship. "If the current EU-Turkish estrangement does not prove to be transient and is accompanied by serious domestic tensions in Turkey, the United States may have to fashion a revised framework for a relationship with this important country sooner rather than later," it said.

"Given the fact that Erdogan made a point of calling the U.S. president to seek reaffirmation of U.S. support for Turkish membership just as the EU was moving towards its decision on Turkey and [Chief of the Turkish General Staff Gen. Yaşar] Büyükanıt is due to make an official visit to Washington in February, the Turks themselves seem determined to keep Turkey on the American agenda," the report said.

The CSIS report said that the EU process stalling and its repercussions in Turkish domestic politics also could badly affect the economy, which is still recovering from the country's worst post-World War II financial crisis in 2001.

"With the recent slowing down of the rate of growth and continuing concerns over Turkey's ability to manage its alarmingly high current account deficit, [AKP] success may ultimately depend on the reaction of the international financial community to the slowdown of the train to Europe and its domestic implications," it said.

http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=61669

Letters to the editor
Sunday, December 17, 2006
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OPINIONS

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» Two anniversaries
(Yusuf KANLI )
» The challenge
(Gündüz Aktan )
» Why didn't Erdoğan burn the bridges?
(Mehmet Ali Birand )
» If this is the 'visionary' one, imagine what 'blind Europe' might be
(Semih İdiz )
» A very personal story
(AYŞE ÖZGÜN )
» MORE

Yusuf KANLI

Watch out windows:

There is a story my Polish grandfather told me that relates to the current EU/Turkey situation. It was about a time in Renaissance Poland when all of the princes and dukes decided to come together to form a nation. They met in a palace on the Vistula River, in a second floor ballroom with windows looking over the river, and the first thing they agreed upon was that if they were to form a unified nation, then any vote would have to be unanimous.

As they met for the first day, tempers got shorter and shorter because nobody could come up with anything that absolutely everybody would support. The meeting went on into the night, helped, the host thought, by a lot of diplomatic vodka. By three in the morning fighting broke out. People were hurled bodily out of the windows and into the river below. After much brawling and bashing, everyone took to his horse or carriage and stormed off home. It was a hundred years, my grandfather said, before the Poles were able to come together again. I have no idea whether my grandfather was telling the truth -- but in a way I'm sure he was.

The basic formula for continued diplomacy in this EU situation would seem to be �just keep talking.� When the talking stops, the opportunities for further diplomacy stop.

The basic principle for analyzing the situation would seem to be �count to one.� It takes just one vote to kill anything. The dynamics are perhaps more �who can be pressured into opposing or not opposing (or abstaining)� than who can be moved to support.

Good luck riding the rough seas of the Cyprus problem and try to do what you can to keep people from being thrown out the windows.

Jacek Mazurkas, Warsaw



Pretensions:

I would like to congratulate your writer Burak Bekdil on his excellent article about the pretensions of the current leaderships. He is absolutely right. Everyone is pretending. Cyprus and Turkey were, are and will always be losers, unless we get rid of so-called allies (United Kingdom, United States, France etc.) and find our solution based on human rights and personal freedoms. The U.K.-U.S.-France don't care about these matters, they are your and our pimps. If Turkey feels that the United States and the United Kingdom are its protectors, I would like to remind you of the maps shown at a recent military NATO meeting in Rome.

Nikos Gantadakis



Turkey asked to pay for EU mistake:

As to the Cyprus/ports matter, that's about some billion euros. But perhaps more essentially, the EU decided that �pacta� (the constitution of Cyprus and the independence treaty) �non sunt servanda,� by allowing the accession of the southern Cypriot administration as if it were legal. Now the EU has to cover that by pressuring Turkey to accept this �fait accompli.� It's another question whether pressure may work at all or compromise might work better. The interests of the EU and Greek Cyprus are a bit different on that. But unfortunately, the French and Dutch voted for the right of Cyprus to veto any deviation from their particular interests. Unwillingly, I guess, but not without serious consequences.

Hans-Peter Geissen, Amsterdam



Cyprus in EU, a mistake:

I feel Cyprus should never have been allowed full membership with so many questions left unresolved. So now they hold a veto on Turkey's membership and I feel this is totally unacceptable. I feel Turkey would be the jewel in the EU crown, with your rich history and beautiful people and I wish you every success in your bid for membership.

Ian Mc Dermott, Dublin



Turks should decide on EU:

I have always said that the EU has the most to gain by Turkey's membership. I view the EU as a bloated socialist enterprise that is in desperate need of new capital and resources to support its defunct socialistic utopia. I encourage the leadership of Turkey to stand fast and join only if it is advantageous to the Turkish people. It should not be up to the European major powers whether membership is granted, but up to Turkey whether a union with the Europeans is beneficial.

For centuries Turkey has acted as the middleman between East and West. The role has been successful and will in the future be more important and lucrative than surrender to the Europeans.

C. Thomas Christie

http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=61900

Latest situation
Saturday, December 16, 2006
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» Two anniversaries
(Yusuf KANLI )
» The challenge
(Gündüz Aktan )
» Why didn't Erdoğan burn the bridges?
(Mehmet Ali Birand )
» If this is the 'visionary' one, imagine what 'blind Europe' might be
(Semih İdiz )
» A very personal story
(AYŞE ÖZGÜN )
» MORE

This article was written at a time when the outcome of the European Union summit was still not known. Yet the fact that British Prime Minister Tony Blair is visiting Turkey following the summit indicates that the summit must have upheld the Dec. 12 proposals of the EU foreign ministers without any change. Obviously, the EU side thinks that no one other than Blair, who strongly supports us, would be able to blunt the Turkish side’s adverse reaction to the summit decision.

Gündüz Aktan

This article was written at a time when the outcome of the European Union summit was still not known. Yet the fact that British Prime Minister Tony Blair is visiting Turkey following the summit indicates that the summit must have upheld the Dec. 12 proposals of the EU foreign ministers without any change. Obviously, the EU side thinks that no one other than Blair, who strongly supports us, would be able to blunt the Turkish side's adverse reaction to the summit decision.

It may be remembered that the Western press in general and the British press in particular have described as an �unfair punishment� meted out to Turkey the way the EU is suspending the accession talks with Turkey on eight chapters. There have even been articles and meetings on the �Who has lost Turkey and is Turkey drifting?� theme. Now the EU will deny that this decision does amount to a punishment, that from now on the talks will proceed at a faster rate than in the past and that this outcome will be much better for Turkey. The EU does that all the time.

In Turkey, too, inspired by the arguments put forth by the EU, there will be those who will be saying that what counts is the continuation of the talks, that we ourselves have brought on this result by slowing down the reform process and that we have not been acting creatively on the Cyprus issue, etc. These circles will heap criticism on those who call for a sharp Turkish response to the EU decision, accusing them of not being in favor of Turkey's EU membership in the first place. And the ship will go on sailing in the same way as before.

The EU, meanwhile, will have attained with that decision the targets it had set for itself in that particular stage in the accession process. The EU admits that suspension of the talks on eight chapters will slow down the negotiating process. In fact, EU officials, especially European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, have recently extended from 10 years to 20 years the envisaged time that must pass before Turkey can become an EU member. Now it seems that we are all too easily accepting the rhetoric that it would take Turkey a very long time to attain EU membership.

Those who fear that Turkey-EU relations will reach the breaking point are gritting their teeth and accepting the lengthening of the accession process -- as they have accepted everything else. In fact, according to some of them, the accession process per se is more important than the goal of that process, that is, EU membership. They see this process as an anchor for the Turkish economy, something that complements the IMF anchor. They say that we are learning from the EU discipline, norms and standards in economic management. Some of them even say that this way we are �obtaining civilization� from the EU.

There is no reason for the EU to admit as a member a country that loves the accession process itself so much. In fact, there would be no need to admit as a member a country that makes it so obvious that it does not consider itself worthy of membership. Indeed, in his latest statement Barroso did not hesitate to say that Turkey would not necessarily become a member even in two decades.

None of the EU fans in Turkey is thinking about Bulgaria and Romania. These two countries are going to be EU members as of Jan. 1, 2007 though they lag far behind Turkey from the standpoint of democracy, economic development and strategic importance. Meanwhile, there were those Turkish journalists who listened disinterestedly while the British journalists attending the press conference held at the end of the EU foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels asked a number of aggressive, or perhaps offensive, questions. Those Turkish journalists could not pose any questions themselves, probably because they were too timid or too self-deprecating.

Such are the effects on us of the EU prejudices, that is, the way the EU scorns Turkey and the Turks, pushing and pulling them with the conviction that they lack the ability to integrate themselves with the Christian culture. Obviously, we too have come to see ourselves �lesser� than the Bulgarians and the Romanians. Since we feared the EU summit would accept the Merkel-Chirac proposal to suspend the entire negotiating process with Turkey, we ended up feeling grateful that the suspension would be limited to eight chapters.

And you still wonder why does that nationalistic wave is rising so ominously?

By accepting this decision, we are deferring today's crisis to the end of 2009. Curiously, our reaction seems to be along the following lines: �Well, we managed somehow now. A miracle could happen and we could continue with the negotiations 2009 onward. A quake could cause Cyprus, like Atlantis, to sink into the sea and we would be rid of it. Naturally, it is better that Denktaş is campaigning �in his own country' rather than in Turkey.�

According to them, the thing that really matters is that the stock exchange must not be shaken. Unfortunately, the economy is heading for dangerous waters despite the EU or the International Monetary Fund. The foreign deficit already amounts to nearly 10 percent of gross national product. Financial discipline is becoming more lax. The growth rate is falling sharply. Slower growth would worsen the country's already very high unemployment rate. Under the circumstances, if the government stepped into an �election economy� mode you would see whether the EU anchor would hold.

Yet, for some, the important thing seems to be the election of the country's next president by this Parliament. By the way, are you one of those that cannot even shepherd �two sheep�?

The last days of Pompeii?

http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=61748

A pause for reflection within a pause for reflection
Friday, December 15, 2006
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» Two anniversaries
(Yusuf KANLI )
» The challenge
(Gündüz Aktan )
» Why didn't Erdoğan burn the bridges?
(Mehmet Ali Birand )
» If this is the 'visionary' one, imagine what 'blind Europe' might be
(Semih İdiz )
» A very personal story
(AYŞE ÖZGÜN )
» MORE

So I suppose it all adds up to an opportunity for a 'pause for reflection within a pause for reflection.' This double moment of continental meditation seems to be where we’ve arrived after the European Union began its inward look following last year’s referenda in France and Holland. Now it is Turkey’s turn to follow suit after a bit of Brussels summitry this week concluded; negotiators will sit on their hands for a year or so and basically hold up the paperwork.

David Judson

So I suppose it all adds up to an opportunity for a �pause for reflection within a pause for reflection.� This double moment of continental meditation seems to be where we've arrived after the European Union began its inward look following last year's referenda in France and Holland. Now it is Turkey's turn to follow suit after a bit of Brussels summitry this week concluded; negotiators will sit on their hands for a year or so and basically hold up the paperwork.

These matters of chapters and screenings and suspensions that, for diplomatic reasons, are called something else are all a bit too intellectual for me. So I will leave it to the better-informed to sort out just what this means. But being from California, where we learn in high school how to �search for the inner child� and such things, I am all for reflection. And reflect we must.

A good place to start might well be with a remarkable new document produced by Turkey's leading think tank, the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV). It is titled �Seeking Kant in the EU's Relations with Turkey.� Immanuel Kant was, of course, the last of the major philosophers of the Enlightenment and a Universalist whose values are seen by many as the moral bedrock of the �European Project.�

The monograph is dispassionate in tone and makes no attempt to apologize for Turkey's many shortcomings, in human rights, democratization and other areas. And the author, Senem Aydın Düzgit, states up front that, yes, Turkey is not ready today to join the EU. But she then goes on to argue that �increasingly discriminatory practices toward Turkey violate the Enlightenment principles upon which Europe is founded and endanger the formation of a Europe governed by Kantian ideals.�

Which is an elegant way of making the same argument that the owner of my car park, Osman Yumuşak, made very emotionally to me this week. He said, �The Europeans treat us with double standards.� As we are no doubt entering a period when the emotional views of people like Osman are on the rise, it is a good time to pay attention to the more articulate and thoughtful voices of people such as Düzgit. Among the points in her compelling reasoning:

· Negotiations with Turkey and Croatia on EU membership were opened on the very same day in 2005, but the legal documents were different. Croatians were told negotiations were �by their very nature� open-ended, but this polite disclaimer was omitted in the case of Turkey. In other words, the meaning of an �open-ended� negotiation is just rhetoric for Croatia, but for Turkey it is real.

· Only Turkey among states seeking accession has been asked to accept a negotiating framework that says if negotiations fail, Turkey must still be joined to the EU with the �strongest possible bond.� No one else has been asked to accept the hint of a �Plan B� up front.· The negotiating rules for Turkey also warn of the need for �long transitional periods, derogations, specific arrangements or permanent safeguard clauses.� Again, no one but Turkey is being asked to shoulder what may well prove a �second-class membership.�

In the conduct of talks with Turkey, Düzgit notes that European leaders frequently resort to citations of the dimming public support in Turkey for EU membership. As countries near membership, public reticence is standard, she notes. In fact, public support for the EU in Slovakia, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Slovenia and Romania were all upon acceptance at levels lower than that in Turkey today. But only in the case of Turkey is this an issue worthy of such concern.

Turkey's treatment of non-Muslim minorities and for that matter such Muslim groups as the Alevis are legitimate subjects for EU scrutiny, Düzgit writes. But so are those of the Russian populations in the Baltic states, the Muslim community in Greece and other small ethnic populations throughout the EU. Yet the grievances of these groups do not refract through the EU's prism of judgment in the same way. Kant would have asked why; so should those concerned about the fate of the EU.

As to the matter of the current failure of Turkey to open its ports to shipping from the Greek-led Republic of Cyprus, the very issue at the heart of today's stalled negotiations, Düzgit makes the point that this reflects as much a failure of the EU as of Turkey. For in 2004, when the divided island voted on an EU-backed plan to reunite the two sides, it was the Greek south that rejected the plan while it was embraced by the Turkish north. Today's mess in Brussels traces to this turn of events, which no one really expected. Düzgit places the blame for this squarely at the door of an EU that allowed the Greek administration to propagandize and deny pro-unification voices access to the state-controlled media. This was, of course, in violation of EU law, as noted at the time by then-Commissioner for Enlargement Guenter Verheugen. She also quotes the former president of the Republic of Cyprus, George Vassiliou: There was �an industry of misinformation at work ... a special kind of police state where people have been told to vote and indirectly threatened.� The rest of the story is that the result put the Greek half of the island in the EU, leaving the Turkish north to languish in isolation. What has the EU done about this? Not much.

And there is much more in the new compilation of the recent history of the EU in Turkey. Indeed, there is not much that is �Kantian� in what we see before us.

Düzgit's work is worthy of a look at this reflective juncture. If you can't find a copy at TESEV's Web site, www.tesev.org.tr, send me an e-mail. I'll be happy to share.

http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=61768

With the EU left behind, Çankaya is the next big thing
Friday, December 15, 2006
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» Two anniversaries
(Yusuf KANLI )
» The challenge
(Gündüz Aktan )
» Why didn't Erdoğan burn the bridges?
(Mehmet Ali Birand )
» If this is the 'visionary' one, imagine what 'blind Europe' might be
(Semih İdiz )
» A very personal story
(AYŞE ÖZGÜN )
» MORE

We should remember this and not deceive ourselves: Turkey and European Union relations will slow down from this point on. Whether the rate of that slowdown is fast or not will be seen in the next two weeks. However, the slowdown is being felt already. The private sector will immediately forget about the EU and the bureaucracy will quit the efforts it put into the EU so far. We will be in a 'pending' relationship. That will be when we’ll understand really well who is dignified and who is not.

Mehmet Ali Birand

Living in Turkey is exhausting. Part of that exhaustion stems from the hardships of daily life, while some of it is due to the fast pace of events. The daily agenda of the country changes at light speed. One event pops up, just as the repercussions of another one die down. Sometimes a couple of topics come in on top of each other. We are currently facing one of those situations. Before the European Union storm even calmed down, the presidential elections came in the spotlight. Attention is mostly focused on the presidential debate, rather than on the European Union. Although nobody openly states it, the same fear is behind Chief of General Staff Yaşar Büyükanıt's harsh remarks on Cyprus and President Ahmet Necdet Sezer's call for an early election: the possibility of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's accession to the Presidential Palace in Çankaya. A section of society is trying to block Erdoğan's possible presidency. It is yet unclear where they will take their stand. It is widely known that particularly the military opposes Erdoğan in the presidential seat, but it is a mystery what the army is ready to risk in order to prevent it. Now President Sezer has acted. When President Sezer, who did not stay for more than 20 minutes at even meetings of the Constitutional Court, which is his own baby, spent four long hours in Kanal Türk's anniversary reception, observers announced their conclusion: The president will become the leader of the nationalist camp. When his statements made during a visit of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) delegation on Tuesday were made public, more question marks emerged. Was what he said (that the government should call for early parliamentary elections before the presidential election) only a well-intentioned warning from an outgoing president for the good of his country? Or was it a signal that he would use his powers to change the current course of things? There are various scenarios. The Republican People's Party (CHP), the president, nationalist circles and the army want general elections before the presidential elections, believing that checking the pulse of society then electing the president according to the new vote distribution in Parliament would be more correct. They say this would contribute to social harmony.

The Justice and Development Party (AKP), however, is pointing at the Constitution, expressing that you can't change the rules of the game in the last minute. “We have the majority, we elect the president,” is what they say. To put it shortly, we are going through a tough row over the regime. Who do you think is right?

Is it Erdoğan, or is it Sezer who has become the leader of the nationalist camp?

A warning for the EU: The Greeks are deceiving you: I am addressing this article to individuals in the European Commission, the European Parliament and in European Union capitals who are in a position to be part of decision mechanisms regarding Turkey. I would like to clarify a point they might have missed. If there are those who still believe that Turkey should open its ports for a settlement in Cyprus among you, or there are those who believe that suspending negotiations with Turkey would undo the unfairness done to the Greeks, I have news for you: Your efforts are futile, for Tassos Papadopoulos does not want a solution in the least. Place his statements next to each other. Take note of everything he and his allies said in recent international conferences. Here's the picture you'll get: According to Papadopoulos, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) is similar to the former Eastern Germany. He believes that the KKTC would give in one day, just as Eastern Germany did after resisting behind the Iron Curtain for years. This is why, in his opinion, any contact with the KKTC should be avoided, all searches for a settlement should be shunned and the issue should be confined to the European Union. This is why Papadopoulos does not what to have talks with Mehmet Ali Talat, and is willing to talk to Erdoğan for he sees Ankara as a counterpart. He seems to be sure that if he can continue his resistance, the KKTC will be surrendered to him in the end. Moreover, he is sure that, if he can keep the problem unsettled until a time when Turkish entry is very close, he will get a much better result. Papadopoulos is deceiving all of you. In fact, he is deceiving himself too. For, his approach is making almost certain that he will fail to take over the KKTC, but also that Cyprus will be divided. The European Union's dream of a “United Cyprus” is being destroyed. Perhaps Papadopoulos will ensure being reelected in the 2008 elections, but he will be etched in history as the leader “responsible for dividing Cyprus into two.” I would like to bring this to the attention of all our friends in the EU.



This is exactly the right time to change 301:

What is our assertion? Don't we keep saying that “We are making all these reforms for ourselves and not for Europe?” If so, this is exactly the right time for proving this claim. If we are going to change Article 301 of the penal code not because of the European Union's pressure but because of reactions from the public, let's get moving. If we are doing this for ourselves, and not for scoring the “golden goal,” as Olli Rehn would have put it, now is the time to prove it. There could be nothing more erroneous than shelving 301, fearing that a change to 301 might be misunderstood. For this move would bolster the many who say, “We should turn our back on the EU. Let's not do anything they want.” The real dignified attitude would be to speed up all harmonization laws, starting with 301. The dignified answer to the EU would be to not slow down the reforms. Now, let's think of the opposite for a minute. Suppose, we suspend all reforms because we're angry at the European Union. Isn't this the real contemptible attitude? Wouldn't that mean that we passed all our new laws just because the European Union? Now is the time to quit these games. We should put aside the dignity/contempt debate and plan out what will happen next. We should remember this and not deceive ourselves: Turkey and European Union relations will slow down from this point on. Whether the rate of that slowdown is fast or not will be seen in the next two weeks. However, the slowdown is being felt already. The private sector will immediately forget about the EU and the bureaucracy will quit the efforts it put into the EU so far. We will be in a “pending” relationship. That will be when we'll understand really well who is dignified and who is not.

http://www.zaman.org/?bl=hotnews&alt=&trh=20061222&hn=39391

EU Agrees to Open one Chapter in Turkey's Accession Talks
By Cihan News Agency
Thursday, December 21, 2006
zaman.com

The European Union Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER) reached a consensus Wednesday on opening one negotiation chapter with Turkey before the end of this year.

On December 15, EU leaders suspended eight chapters of accession talks with Turkey.

The decision was a sanction because of Turkey’s refusal to open its ports and airports to EU member Greek Cyprus according to a customs union agreement with the EU, but they said talks should move forward in other areas.

Turkey and its supporters in the EU were expecting at least four chapters to be opened but Greek Cypriot wishes were once more granted.

The Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER) decided to send Turkey an invitation letter for the opening of the business and industrial policy chapter only.

The European Union and particularly Finland, which holds the rotating EU presidency, wanted to open some of the chapters before the end of the year to give Turkey a message that the EU process was still on track.

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, in a news conference on Tuesday, listed some of the chapters the government had expected to be included in further negotiations with the bloc.

"We expect some chapters to be opened quickly during Finland's presidency. These chapters are education and culture, financial services, business and industrial policy, economic and monetary policy. Everything is ready with these chapters. Negotiations on these can start immediately."

For further information please visit http://www.cihannews.com
 

http://www.zaman.org/?bl=commentary&alt=&trh=20061222&hn=39380

 12.22.2006 Friday - ISTANBUL 04:15


[COMMENTARY]

Turkey is the Antidote to Global Conflict
by
Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Esteemed guests…I salute you with love and respect at the beginning of my talk.

As you know, when the idea of an Alliance of Civilizations was first mentioned in this hall approximately two years ago, it was just an abstract concept that was pleasing to the ear. Actually, we all knew what the problem was, but what had to be done on this subject and, more importantly, where we would begin were a real puzzle.

When Turkey, together with Spain, put its signature on this project, most people were saying that, like many similar initiatives, it would not be sustained and in time would be forgotten. Today we happily see that two years was enough to change these ideas. The Upper Level Group formed by United Nations General Secretary Annan presented a final report approximately one month ago at a meeting we hosted in Istanbul. In the subsequent time frame we all scrutinized the report together. We had the opportunity to assess the important recommendations it put forth.

At this point I can repeat exactly what I said in Istanbul: In my opinion, the report presented by the High Level Group has historical import. With the recommendations it includes, it is a basic reference document in the search for solutions to the important problems we confront. As emphasized in the report, the world faces big contradictions at the beginning of the 21st century. At a time in human history when the most rapid technological advances are being made and when distances are quickly disappearing, physical walls between societies are collapsing, but this time mental walls have begun to rise. Everyday increasing injustice and inequality and exaggerated fears and doubts are feeding mutual hatred, prejudice, anger and intolerance throughout the world. The culture of violence and conflict is rapidly globalizing and threatening not only a certain place, but the whole face of the earth and not only today, but mankind’s future, as well.

No religion recommends violence

Unfortunately, politically and economically advanced societies look down upon the rest of the world. Underdeveloped societies build up reaction to this. A mutual lack of understanding and prejudice strengthen difficulties instead of ameliorating them, and unfortunately gaps between societies deepen. This makes existing problems even more complex and sentences them to impasse. Instead of seeing differences as enrichment and trying to know and understand one another, societies grow more and more distant to one another.

Instead of meeting at a point of common human values, dominant cultural and belief systems oppose one another. This brings about polarization sharpened in time, which is seen in its most obvious form between the Islamic world and the West. According to us, there is no fair basis in the source of this polarization for theses advocating that there is conflict among religions, cultures and civilizations. Look, I have come from the Anatolian city of Konya. I attended the Night of Union activities organized on the occasion of the anniversary of the death of Mevlana Rumi, a great Islamic thinker. As you know, UNESCO has declared 2007 as Mevlana Year due to its being the 800th anniversary of his death. In my opinion, it is very meaningful that this happened at a time when we are talking about the Alliance of Civilizations. I believe that carrying this great Islamic thinker’s message to the world agenda due to Mevlana’s Year will greatly strengthen our efforts for the Alliance of Civilizations. For Rumi’s teaching on love expresses in concise but clear terms exactly what I am trying to explain here at this moment, and it was said centuries ago. I am not going to give an extended speech here about the teachings of Mevlana, who is one of the greatest names in the Islamic Sufi tradition and who is known as the friend of God and man.

However, with your permission, I would like to remind you of two things he said regarding the universal human values we are trying to unite around and about how we can prevent our differences from turning into conflict. Rumi said, “Love is the essence of all pure beliefs.” He also said, “Peace must first be realized in man’s heart.” The message of these words that encompass profound meanings is clear. No religious belief can be the source of violence and hatred, because love, which is the essence of belief in God, settles in our hearts. The domicile of peace is again our hearts. If there is a belief in God in the heart, then peace has been realized in that heart. Friends to God, as we see in Mevlana’s example, are necessarily friends to man. Is not the reason for all the catastrophe, pain and tears the lack of love for man, which we feel so fully today?

It is impossible for us to apply to our lives any ideal of peace that we have not realized in our hearts. For this reason, I say that the violence and conflict challenging our global peace is not occurring among beliefs. This is a grave illusion. The real opposition is between those tied to an alliance of values that take human goodness as a basis and those supporters of conflict who have not realized peace and faith in their hearts. The real opposition is between hearts of love and soldiers of hate. We have to immediately put this truth forth with all its nakedness. For the process of alienation produced by polarization is a candidate for giving birth to very grave consequences. This is a dangerous course. Especially, the fault line between the West and the Islamic world has become very noticeable. The caricature crisis and many other shocks we saw have begun to appear on this fault line. These crises I called shocks are openly informing us of greater disasters to come. If we do not take the necessary steps and precautions, extreme camps that are inciting animosity and hatred will spread their narrow views to a broad basis. Feelings of anger and enmity will be consolidated and our world will be dragged to a point of no return.

The Alliance of Civilization global peace project

We say, no, the catastrophic scenarios of Doomsday heralds are not and should not be the fate of mankind. If we take action today as volunteers for peace, it is possible to save our order of peace that evil forces are trying to destroy. Let us know that if the global peace order that the UN represents collapses, we will all, without exception, be smashed under it. The Alliance of Civilizations is a brave step to prevent this negative course of events. It is a global response to a global threat. I said it before, but I want to emphasize it again: In my opinion, the Alliance of Civilizations is the 21st century’s most important global peace project. However, the success of this project is tied to our being able to continue the process we have begun. We have to finally be able to see the real dimensions of this matter and, without losing any time, we have to seek ways to solve these problems. For in my opinion, it is our common duty to seek solutions to problems that interest first-hand the peace and prosperity of our peoples and the future of our world. As citizens of Turkey, we are the heirs of a tradition that enabled many races from different religions and cultures to live as brothers for centuries over a broad geographical territory. Look, Turkey is a country that has begun accession talks with the EU on a basis of common values, even if there is an absence of vision on the other side right now. It is a democratic, secular republic with a mostly Muslim population and a country where free market conditions prevail. In this sense, it is an inspiration for regional peoples who want to see universal values like modernization, pluralistic democracy, sovereignty of the law, and basic rights and freedoms in their own societies. For this reason, Turkey is an important opportunity and an exemplary country for making “clash of civilizations” scenarios to come to naught. This truth is accepted by all unbiased circles. As we have been claiming since the beginning, Turkey’s EU membership carries great importance in this respect. For when it is viewed from a broad perspective, Turkey will be a concrete example showing that an Alliance of Civilizations is possible.

It is time to take action…

Esteemed friends… This initiative, for which we are co-spokesmen with Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero, has arrived at a critical stage today. Spain hosted the first meeting of the High Level Group. The last meeting took place in Istanbul, the point where Europe and Asia meet and the crossroads of ancient civilizations, which in this respect I see as the symbolic city of the Alliance of Civilizations. The High Level Group’s report stands before us as a historical reference document for the point to which we have come. Including very valuable recommendations, this report puts forth a concrete vision. In my opinion, in order for this vision to be advanced in a meaningful way, the spirit, as much as the letter of the recommendations should be accepted by the international community. If we want to give this enterprise life and make it meaningful, we have to create an “Alliance of Civilizations Spirit” that will move this process forward. Only with this spirit can we keep this process vibrant and catch the wind that will enable our efforts to advance in the direction we desire. In this respect, I think it is necessary to fulfill these two basic conditions to keep the “Alliance of Civilizations Spirit” on its feet.

First of all, we need to enter into sincere solidarity as an international community. We have to display a global moral stance against this global threat that is challenging our common values. Secondly, we must put forth a strong political will all together. Of course, it is very important that this common will be sustainable. For this reason, we have to base our cooperation on a realistic foundation. Otherwise, our efforts will be futile. I say that we have to struggle with conviction against polarization that prepares a foundation for conflict and war and that threatens all of us in various ways and different dimensions. This determination will both be an example for our people and will give the necessary message to circles supporting extremism that want to hijack the discussion. Thus, we will have opened the way for our getting long-range results that we want. Global solidarity, moral stance and common political will: In my opinion, this is the formula that will create the “Alliance of Civilizations Spirit” and lead us to success.

Dear guests… On behalf of Turkey, I have had the opportunity here to underscore how big and how urgent the problem is from our own perspective. I have put forth how we need to set up the path that leads to success. However, at the end of the day, these are just words. Yes, words are valuable, but the time has come to act and take the necessary steps. Our actions during the stage of application will be concrete proof of our will on this subject. Let’s not forget that when the time comes our deeds will be weighed according to how much we stood behind our words.

At this point I want to especially emphasize one point. There is a problem and this problem belongs to all of us. Many of us feel and see ourselves as very far from the current conflicts and polarization. However, at a time when mutual interdependence has increased at an unbelievable speed, our security in the global sense is indivisible. In other words, if not everyone is safe, no one is safe. The problem of one is the problem of all. In this respect, we need to view the matter from a broad framework and see the big picture. We know that in order to succeed on this subject, it is as important as political leadership is that the international community, with all its elements, approves this enterprise. At this point we have great expectations from the Group of Friends of the Alliance of Civilizations.

In addition, important duties and responsibilities fall to international organizations and non-governmental organizations. Again, we are happy to see the continuation of other enterprises aimed at removing mutual bias and disagreements and bringing together members of different religions, cultures and traditions around common universal values. Anyway, we did not and could not have the desire to have a monopoly on efforts regarding this matter. Here I especially want to express that we are ready to cooperate with everyone. We commend all initiatives and all efforts in this area and we believe that they will all support each other over the long run. However, for this reason it is very important that our efforts be complementary.

For future generations…

Of course, the UN is in a central position in this framework. That is why we are gathered together under this roof. The UN will continue to stand up for this issue and make necessary arrangements within this framework. We should not forget that it is impossible to get results from this process without sharing the burden in the true sense. Everyone and each of us have to courageously stick our hands under the rock. Only in this way can we use this historical opportunity to advantage. Only in this way, with a united approach, can we make the Alliance of Civilizations process meaningful and effective. I say that if we believe and work sincerely, we will definitely succeed. Thus, when we look back ten or twenty years later, we will be able to see the contribution the Alliance of Civilizations made to history and mankind.

This is not a dream. If we begin immediately, we can leave to future generations a world where they can live together in peace. Representing the hope for peace of millions of human beings who are members of different religions, language groups, cultures and nations, the Alliance of Civilizations Spirit will serve the establishment of such a world. On behalf of my country and my nation, I thank all who have worked to enable this initiative to come to this stage, particularly my friend Zapatero, the Esteemed Annan and all the members of the High Level Group. I believe that our enterprise will attain its goal under the leadership of the new General Secretary, the Esteemed Moon, and all of our common efforts. With this hope I already salute those who have realized peace in their hearts and the Alliance of Civilizations Spirit. I give my respects to all of you.

This text comprises the speech the Esteemed Recep Tayyip Erdogan presented at the General Assembly meeting made with broad participation in New York within the framework of the Alliance of Civilizations.
(December 18, 2006)

12.21.2006

http://www.zaman.org/?bl=international&alt=&trh=20061222&hn=39400

British Press: Erdogan Rejects Blair's Proposal for Early Election in Palestine
By Kamuran Samar, Cihan News Agency, London
Thursday, December 21, 2006
zaman.com

The British press says that Turkey came out against Tony Blair’s support for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s call for early elections, thus undermining him.

Newspapers wrote that Erdogan’s rejection negatively affected Blair’s move.

The British prime minister started his five-day Middle East tour with Turkey. He then headed to Palestine, where he supported Mahmoud Abbas’s decision to hold early elections.

Erdogan rejected the early election calls on the grounds it would be disrespectful to the will of the Palestinian people.

The Guardian wrote that Erdogan’s rejection spoiled Blair’s plans for early elections. The Daily Telegraph used the headline “Turkey attacks Blair backing for poll,” to indicate the seriousness of the rejection.

The paper further noted: “Tony Blair's five-day peace mission to the Middle East suffered a devastating setback yesterday when Turkey — the first country he visited on a whistle stop tour of the region — attacked a central plank of his anti-terror strategy.”

http://www.zaman.org/?bl=international&alt=&trh=20061222&hn=39404

Italy Proposes Motion for Turkey's Access to EU
By Anadolu News Agency (aa), Roma
Thursday, December 21, 2006
zaman.com

Turkey has received support from Italy in its efforts to go through a difficult period of time while on its way to the European Union.

A motion was adopted unanimously among members of the Commission on Foreign Affairs in the Italian parliament in a bid to keep negotiations between Turkey and the European Union on track.

The motion is a recommendation to the government in Italy.

The motion called for a political solution to regional problem over eastern Turkey.

Umborto Ranieri offered clear mention of the question in negotiations over recognition of both cultural and administrative rights to people with a Kurdish background.

Ramon Mantovani also stressed a similar point when he said the EU talks with Ankara should cover plans to submit rights to people coming from a Kurdish background.

Mantovani is recognized for his sympathy with both the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and its subsets

http://www.zaman.org/?bl=international&alt=&trh=20061222&hn=39388

Blair Calls for Moderate Alliance in Mideast
By Foreign News Desk
Thursday, December 21, 2006
zaman.com

British Prime Minister Tony Blair called on moderate leaders in the Middle East to form an alliance against Iran and other extremist powers in the region.

Speaking to business leaders in Dubai on the final day of what may be his last Middle-East tour as prime minister, Blair argued that Iran was openly supporting terrorism in Iraq, undermining the Lebanese government and thwarting Palestine-Israel peace efforts.

Tehran, in return, accused Blair of sparking uneasiness in the region and commented that his remarks were “hateful.”

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Mohamed Ali Hosseini said, "Britain’s negative and divisive approach and the war mongering and unilateral policies of Bush and Blair have caused tension and extremism in the region."

Blair rejected suggestions that American or British action in the Middle East was fuelling terrorism and urged all Middle Eastern states to participate in the “great struggle” between moderates and extremists.

"They seek to pin us back in Lebanon, in Iraq, in Palestine. Our response should be to expose what they are doing, build the alliances to prevent it and pin them back across the whole of the region. To do this, we need the open and clear backing of countries in this region who know better than us what is happening and why," said Blair.

Blair noted that they had to recognize the strategic challenge the government of Iran posed - not its people, not possibly all of its ruling elements, but those presently in charge of its policy.

Hosseini countered that Britain was openly interfering in the matters of the region.

“Britain has always exploited concepts like democracy to further its personal interest.”
 

http://www.zaman.org/?bl=columnists&alt=&trh=20061222&hn=39402

SAHIN ALPAY
12.22.2006 Friday - ISTANBUL 04:27


Scandal on TRT

I found out the ‘documentary’ on Sweden and the Nobel Prize aired on TRT-1 on Dec.11 after I read Sabah Daily’s news entitled “Pamuk and Nobel Scandal on TRT.”

Some friends of mine who had recorded the program sent a copy to me the next day, I watched it. It was asserting the following views with incredible partiality and prejudice:

Sweden was a country exporting weapons and war to the rest of the world and lacking freedom of expression. Women were subject to intense violence, people suffered from alcoholism and mental illnesses, racism prevailed and the Sami/Lappish minority was deprived of all rights and were subject to genocide in the country...

The Nobel Prize and similar international awards serve U.S. “global cultural imperialism.” Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk was awarded this prize for this very reason. The Swedes did not know anything about the Nobel prize nor about Pamuk...

Sweden, described in this program with this and other similarly fabricated information, did not resemble the country that’s the world’s most democratic, secular and social state of law and number one in establishing male/female equality.

This Sweden also did not resemble at all the country I had previously lived in for nine years and had the opportunity to know closely.

The massive distortion was that the Samis/Lapps had been subject to genocide. It is true that the Lapps who live in northern Europe, including northern Norway, Sweden, and Finland and the Kola Peninsula of northwest Russia, have their own language and religion and were subject to cultural assimilation.

(Is there any European country that did not follow such assimilation policies in the past?)

However, it is not true that the Lapps were subject to genocide or massacre. The Lapps with a total population of approximately 85,000 today have full freedom of language and culture in Sweden, Norway and Finland and have established their own parliament. This information can be found in encyclopedias.

It was quite evident the ‘documentary’ reflected views of opponents of the West and the EU lying within state institutions.

It was obvious the goal was to degrade Sweden, the Swedish Academy’s Nobel Prizes and Orhan Pamuk, the first Nobel-awarded Turk.

It was also openly said that in case Turkey achieved its EU reforms, “nothing would remain of the country.”

In short, the program was a real scandal.

For these reasons

1) The most basic rules of journalism makes it obligatory to convey objective and correct information, and to introduce different points of view to any matter at hand. Of course, Sweden, Nobel Prizes and Orhan Pamuk can and must all be criticised. But, information that comes from news media must be true enough not to distort facts. A program like this, that is not compatible with journalism principles and ethics, can hardly be encountered even in the Turkish news media with its low standards.

2) Although after the 1971 military intervention the TRT ceased to be an autonomous organization and shifted towards a position where it only was used as a tool to promote official ideology, the TRT Act makes the following points: “Not to keep broadcast content onesided and one dimensional in an effort to supply free and healthy way of public thinking; not to become utilized by any political parties, groups, or for religious or ideological purposes... To maintain respect for personal honor and to remain loyal to honesty.”

3) The program lacks the sense of journalistic responsibility because it clouds support from the entire body of Turkish parliamentarians for accession to the European Union; because it blackens plans on the part of the Turkish government to open Turkish Cyprus and start direct flights to Ercan Airport.

There is no doubt that this won’t be the end of a tradition of scandals at the TRT, a government-funded organization ostensibly with a sense of public accountability.

Autonomous both managerially and financially, adherent to journalism ethics and principles, the TRT ought to have set a fine example for the rest of the Turkish media, and to ensure pluralism in the media; however, the current situation of this organization leaves much to be desired.

12.21.2006


e-mail:s.alpay@zaman.com.tr

http://www.zaman.org/?bl=columnists&alt=&trh=20061222&hn=39323

SELCUK GULTASLI
12.22.2006 Friday - ISTANBUL 04:27


'People Biting Dogs' and our Relationship with Europe

Diplomats, journalists and think-tanks all agree that the European Union summit which ended a few days ago was the “drabbest, most non-eventful” meeting in recent years.

What made the summit so plain was Turkey’s absence. While leaders become more and more comfortable the more they retreat from the topic of Turkey, those following Brussels do not consider summits without Turkey to be authentic summits.

Habitual Turkey crises are the bread and butter of journalists. After the Monday agreement to suspend negotiations, a Turkish reporter said to his European colleagues, “We have been absorbed with this crisis for 20 days. Now we can have a little relief.”

Frowning they replied, “Well, are we going to give news flashes on agreements regarding agricultural matters now?”

While an Austrian journalist friend of mine was complaining about not being able to find anything to write about in the absence of a Turkey debate, a Spanish colleague was bemoaning how boring it was to write about bureaucratic details.

In other words, there was ‘blood, love, ambition, revenge and betrayal’ for Europe on the topic of Turkey.

The reason the summit was boring without Turkey was the consensus, or conjecture, that Europe had agreed upon at the beginning of the week. It was “conjecture” because if we look at the statement Greek Foreign Minister Georges Lillikas made yesterday, nothing has changed on the Western front and the Greeks are going to continue to veto accession talks with Turkey.

The EU decision on Turkey freezes 8 chapters and does not close the remaining chapters until the port issue is resolved, but it wants active discussion on the other 27 chapters as soon as possible.

The EU’s decision surprised everyone and was heavier than expected. Its intended message was: “We punished Turkey in a harsh way; now let’s rapidly pick up from where we left off.”

Foreign ministers and then leaders approved the decision on Turkey with an understanding to that effect.

If Lillikas puts his words into action, it means the Greek side is covertly making fun of the EU. If the Greek vetoes are to continue, just as there is no point in freezing 8 chapters - in the words of the Northern Cyprus president - it means that Brussels will carry out its relations with Turkey completely via the Greeks.

Anyway, the EU’s latest decision on Turkey is handicapped by big contradictions. For example, the EU does not say it supports the UN process and it gives the impression that it is escaping from a UN-based solution.

It is obvious to everyone who is running away from the ring, but the Greeks have scored a big success by putting the EU in the role of the escapist. It can be said that EU term president Finland published a declaration and gave support to the UN process. Everyone knows in Brussels that a call without a place in summit results has absolutely no combative value!

We will see this week whether or not the Greeks are going to put the EU in a ludicrous position. If they continue to veto during the permanent members meeting to be held on Wednesday, they will make fruitless all the efforts expended until now since the November 8th progress report. Then neither freezing 8 chapters nor the EU’s prestige will have any meaning left.

There is no need for Western colleagues to worry; we are probably starting a new Turkish crisis week. I am afraid that some time from now Turkey and its crises will lose value as news and there will be news flashes about “people biting dogs” and Turkey not having a crisis.

Brussels

12.19.2006


e-mail:s.gultasli@zaman.com.tr

http://www.zaman.org/?bl=columnists&alt=&trh=20061222&hn=39322

KERIM BALCI
12.22.2006 Friday - ISTANBUL 04:27


Gunpowder and Fire Side-by-side in Iraq

It was known for a long time that Shiite leader Mukteda al-Sadr was running Iraq. The governments of al-Jaferi and al-Maliki were standing with the support of al-Sadr. It is a strange twist of fate that al-Sadr was the first Shiite leader to resist the American occupation.

Prime Minister Nuri el-Maliki’s meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush at the end of November and al-Sadr’s withdrawing his support from the government in protest signaled that a new era has begun in Iraq.

If it were not for the Iraq report written by U.S. National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley on November 8th and leaked to the New York Times newspaper at the end of November, we would not have known that a Washington-orbited change was foreseen. In his report, Hadley mentioned that it was necessary for Iraq Prime Minister al-Maliki to become more active in regard to ending his relationship with al-Sadr and keeping the Imam Mahdi Army under control. Interestingly, the Americans have a long political memory. They are worried that when American soldiers withdraw from Iraq, Mukteda al-Sadr, who fired on them and their supporters during the early period of Iraqi occupation, will be able to gather together in his own hands the forces in Iraq. As a matter of fact, the country’s Sunni and Kurdish groups are very uncomfortable with al-Sadr’s Imam al-Mahdi Army.

Last week Iraq’s daily newspaper al-Azzam wrote that Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish units had decided to cooperate against al-Sadr. None of the parties mentioned in the newspaper accept that they are preparing a coalition that would exclude al-Sadr. However, when Berham Salih, a member of the Kurdish Alliance and deputy prime minister, says that the parties in the country and the country’s fortune are not going to be held hostage by extremist factors, it is certain that he is referring to al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army.

Al-Maliki tried to do the same when in the past several days he recalled to duty soldiers that served in the army during Saddam’s regime. Saddam’s soldiers, most of whom are Sunnis, will thus return to their military professions. This will both prevent the Mahdi Army’s slow public domination of Iraq and help the establishment of social peace.

However, al-Sadr’s accepting an option that will bypass himself is seen as impossible. Nurturing an appetite against power and acting with the philosophy of “Iraq can sink if I am not at the helm,” Mukteda al-Sadr took up arms the moment he understood that the American presence in Iraq was going to push him to the periphery of politics. The Sunnis being more powerful in the period ahead and a future in which Sunni and Kurdish factions are brought together under the leadership of SCIRI entails a death sentence for al-Sadr. And al-Sadr has a character that will not accept death before dying.

I don’t think that it would be an empty prophecy to predict that this situation will heat up even more in Iraq in the days to come. Moreover, the American supported Iraqi Army’s initiating an operation in Bagdad’s al-Sadr district must have upset al-Sadr.

Are the Americans, who forced al-Sadr to agree to enter politics during the period of siege, changing their policy once again? Are the Americans, who lost al-Hoy from among the ayatollahs during the first days he came to the country and who replaced him with al-Sistani and al-Sadr, changing their mind again? These things remain to be seen. However, this can be said right now: the Americans are approaching al-Sadr’s barrel of gunpowder with fire.

12.18.2006


e-mail:k.balci@zaman.com.tr

http://www.zaman.org/?bl=columnists&alt=&trh=20061222&hn=39272

ALI H. ASLAN
12.22.2006 Friday - ISTANBUL 04:27


Towards the 'James Cheney' Formula

If only we were able to see the products of the American collective intelligence more frequently and before it was too late. This was my first wish after the announcement of the Iraq Study Group report by co-chairmen James Baker and Lee Hamilton.

Making a realistic analysis of the situation and presenting comprehensive proposals, this independent commission puts across, in painful language, the grave situation the US has fallen into in the Middle East under the guidance of quixotic nationalists, neocons and the pro-Israel lobby.

If President Bush had lent an ear to such reasonable voices before adopting a unilateral action strategy and pre-emptive strike doctrine resulting in entering the Iraq War blindly, neither the US nor the region nor the world would suffer from this much headache..

The essence of the report lies with the idea of guaranteeing long-term strategic US interests in Iraq and the whole Middle East at the expense of some tactical steps back ; like working with Iran and Syria. When the commission’s formation and contacts are looked at, it can be seen that the report is a study mainly reflecting U.S. ‘deep state’ views.

Before everything else, the report looks like an unnamed ‘national’ uprising against efforts to drag the US into a dangerous adventure in the region and make it a servant to Israeli policies. For this reason, it is natural that the loudest voices of protest against the report come from Democratic and Republican extensions of the pro-Israel lobby. No surprise the neocons lead the critics. Some of the descriptions Richard Perle used in reference to the commission and report are: “disappointing,” “ absurd” and “ misadventure.”

I am amazed that some neocons are still able to come forth and talk without getting a red face; as if they were not the ones who dragged the US and the region into misadventure.

Why are the gentlemen angry? Because they think Israel was not sufficiently consulted while the report was being prepared . A final resolution of the Iraq problem has been tied to the revival of a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace process. How dare suggesting a diplomatic outreach to Syria and Iran , chief enemies of Israel and the US? How could one even give Golan Heights to Syria in negotiations? Etc., etc…

There is a war lobby in Washington whose hair stands on end when peace is even mentioned They hold huge America with their hands and are using it like a machine gun. The Iraq War is not enough for them; Iran should be attacked. There is no need for discussion or diplomacy, just attack. (Since serving in the military is not mandatory; their own children are safe. The poor American people are conned and their children go to foreign fronts to die anyway. ) Enough Muslim blood has not flowed yet ; Sunni-Shiite conflict should be fueled. There should be no Islamic nation in the Middle East that is stronger than Israel or not under its guidance.

It is relieving to hear balanced voices - like the Baker-Hamilton commission - opposed to this rapacious ideology that never gets enough power, blood and chaos. However, it would be naïve to expect the application of the commission’s views to a satisfying degree given the current political circumstances.

The pro-Israel lobby has caught most Democratic and Republican politicians by the throat. They are especially determined to darken the political future of those advocating engagement with Syria and Iran. No wonder Republican Senator John McCain, who is making 2008 presidential calculations, opposes such a move. I do not think that the Democrats’ strongest candidate, Senator Hillary Clinton, can take an attitude any different.

When it comes to the current White House administration, President Bush reacted to the commission’s recommendations respectfully both out of politeness and politics because he is cornered. In the final analysis, Bushthe-son will have to decide which of his father’s old friends’ views he would adopt. The diplomat James Baker or the warrior Richard Cheney?

Baker asked that the recommendations be taken as a whole rather than conveniently selected by the administration. However, I think we will most probably see a “ James Cheney” type of formula emerging in the end.

The commission asked that a new diplomatic strategy be initiated by the end of this month. President Bush is going to spend the coming week in crucial consultations aimed at renewing Iraq policy. It is expected that he will announce new elements in his policy by making an address to the nation before the Christmas holiday .

Turkey’s being hardly mentioned in the report has disappointed those in Washington who would like to have Turkish-American strategic partnership bolstered. . In the places where Turkey is mentioned it is viewed more from the perspective of Turkey’s potential to create problems in Iraq.

In other words, Turkey’s ability to become a part of the problem rather than a part of the solution was highlighted. On the other hand, most of the recommendations in the report are compatible with Turkey’s red-line policies; like Iraq not being divided into three parts, an independent Kurdish state not being established, and a referendum not being held in Kirkuk in 2007. A revival of the Middle East peace process is also in Turkey’s interests. If a dialogue project is implemented directly with Iraq’s neighbors, including Syria and Iran, Turkey can lose its mediator advantage. On the other hand, Ankara’s long-time efforts for a regional consensus will be consolidated.

To conclude, I think that the Iraq Study Group’s report includes recommendations that are generally compatible with the long-run interests of Turkey, Israel and the US and to the benefit of regional and world peace and stability. The devil is in the implementation…

Washington

12.17.2006


e-mail:a.aslan@zaman.com.tr
 

http://www.zaman.org/?bl=columnists&alt=&trh=20061222&hn=39248

ETYEN MAHCUPYAN
12.22.2006 Friday - ISTANBUL 04:27


Who Needs Whom?

EU member countries will agree on a joint policy regarding membership talks with Turkey on Dec. 14. However, regardless of the content of the decision, everybody knows it will not indicate a final consensus and the accession issue won’t be resolved.

There are so many opportunities to prevent Turkey’s EU accession in the future that it is hard to understand the rationale behind the EU’s resistance that reveals defects in its Cyprus policy. However, a careful analysis of this issue implies reverse developments in regards to the future of Turkey’s EU bid. Turcophobic EU countries will gradually lose support and debates about the identity of the European Union will converge on the notion of “Europeanism” in the next few years when the United States will probably elected a Democrat government after the Bush administration. In addition, liberal opposition in Israel will gain strength and Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), will have had several years of experience under its belt as the stewards of Turkey.

These developments will happen when it becomes difficult to prevent Turkey’s accession politically to the European Union. This year might be the last chance to sabotage the Europeanization of Turkey and the secularization of Europe. Consequently, both sides are facing a coalition of groups skeptical to democratic ideas.

People who think in terms of the nation-state continue to perceive the issue in the sense of reciprocal compromise. Liberal thinking is incapable of providing commonsense over this issue because what this approach views as solution is either applying to upper arbitration bodies or initiating a bargain that both sides would have to accept. Unfortunately, these methods can’t create a new world. In the long-term it makes both sides feel they have lost by urging them to be focus on their own interests. Desired win-win cases are possible only in democratic atmosphere at times of such crucial and long-term decisions because only in such a situation both sides can give up their stances reciprocally, come up with a third approach based on synergy and create a mutually confidential atmosphere.

The problem is that democratic thinking on both sides is still in the minority. To accept Turkey into Europe is to enlarge Europe and, in fact, to democratize Turkey. Institutionalization of this process in a global framework implies democratization would be a transformation with no return. Therefore, recent debate about who needs whom is the evidence of an actual superficiality because from a geopolitical aspect it would not be logical to say the West needs Turkey more that Turkey needs the West. On the other hand, since Europe is not the only representative of the West, the role of the European Union cannot be evaluated on its own by ignoring the United States. However, more importantly, there is symmetry between social and geopolitical platforms: In terms of establishing a democratic system, it is hard to assert that one side needs the other side more. Democracy problem in Turkey implies more urgent and fundamental problems, but both sides enjoy chronic weaknesses and fragilities in terms of governing the future. Finally, unless it internalizes a democratic system, no one should expect any country or union of countries to become a geopolitical power.

Philosophically and politically, the European Union and Turkey have never needed each other as much as they do now. And Europe’s leaders aren’t ignorant of this important fact.

12.16.2006


e-mail:e.mahcupyan@zaman.com.tr
 

http://www.zaman.org/?bl=columnists&alt=&trh=20061222&hn=39240

ABDULHAMIT BILICI
12.22.2006 Friday - ISTANBUL 04:27


Even Turkish Cyprus has Lost Hope

The meeting where we discussed Cyprus in the EU process has just ended. I was going down the elevator with former Foreign Affairs Under-Secretary Ozdem Sanberk.

I asked the experienced diplomat, whose hair had turned white from struggling with Turkish foreign policy problems if several more generations were going to live with this problem. Smiling, he said he was not optimistic that a solution could be found in the near future.

Due to the policies of the Greeks, who have the support of the European Union, it is normal for Turkish diplomats to be hopeless. However, Turkish Cypriot President Mehmet Ali Talat fills public meeting squares in the name of a Cyprus “solution” and is a national hero, thrown out of the ring, whose name has become synonymous with Cyprus. Has he, too, lost hope of a solution?

In Zaman’s latest think tank meeting, which has become a tradition, I saw that after discussing Cyprus for more than two hours, he had become very pessimistic. Don’t misunderstand me; I do not mean to say that because President Talat says a solution is hard that he is tending to veer off into no-solution politics. On the contrary, he still believes that there is no alternative except pressure. However, he sees it as highly improbable that the Greeks, with their strong position in the European Union, will accept a solution that will satisfy Turkey. He says, “If there is not going to be a solution, the world should be shown that the Greeks are responsible for this.”

In fact, Sanberk supports the assessment that, with the influence of Hellenic and Orthodox traditions, the Greeks will never accept sharing sovereignty and that this process is going toward a two-state structure. He thinks that Greek politics under the leadership of Papadopoulos consolidates the division of the island.

When one of the participants said that 70 percent of Greek youths do not want to live among the Turks, Talat explained how Turkish youths see living together: “After stating this view of the Greeks, I ask Turkish young people what they think. They said that if they don’t want to live with us, we don’t want to live with them.”

In order to explain how the two peoples living on the island are estranged from one another, he relates the experience of his neighborhood butcher friend: “I cut off all my relations with the Greeks. Only one family remains that I speak with. They don’t like us and don’t want us.” Listen carefully; this is not Denktas talking. This man, who is looked upon skeptically in Turkey because he advocates ending the division on the island and because he contacted Greek political parties, is saying these things.

Meanwhile, Professor Eser Karakas presents another painful point that puts forth the difficulty of a solution. It cannot be expected that the Greeks, who have raised their per capita income to over $20,000, will feel their former need for land in the North. Views indicating the difficulty of a solution like the world wants or at least like what the United Nations recommended are not limited to these. For example, giving the China case, Professor Ali Karaosmanoglu says that the delay in official recognition of Turkish Cyprus is not very abnormal.

Since the EU process is not going to progress without resolving the Cyprus issue, this is bad news for Turkey, isn’t it? Yes, it is bad news in respect to the EU process. However, is this situation good news for the Greeks who consider resisting a solution to be to their gain? No, because if even Talat has given up hope it means that the United Cyprus ideal is rapidly becoming a fantasy. Under these conditions, both Turkey and the world have to re-think what we understand by a solution to Cyprus.

Positive effects in the EU process from the weakening of the probability of finding a solution of uniting with the Greeks are not completely absent. The most important of these is the gradual disappearance of the polarization that peaked on the island before the Annan Plan. It is important for those who thought that Denktas and Turkey’s official policy were the only obstacles to peace to see the inadequacy of this attitude. In addition, it is apparent that during this process the Turkish side has developed its own self-confidence. Authorities say that the per capita income in Turkish Cyprus has risen from $4,000 to $11,000 in the last three years. While previously paychecks comprised only 42 percent of those on the Greek side, now this figure has risen to 78 percent. As the economy develops, self-confidence will definitely increase as well.

12.15.2006


e-mail:a.bilici@zaman.com.tr

http://www.zaman.org/?bl=columnists&alt=&trh=20061222&hn=39225

AHMET SELIM
12.22.2006 Friday - ISTANBUL 04:28


What Kind of World is this?

The EU accession talks may not be completely closed, but neither are they operational. When we use the word “process” we tend to mix it up with the word “period.” Process is a road with phases and stages. It is like a train track. Everyone says there shouldn’t be a train wreck. Now there can no longer be an accident. The train has been stopped and is standing on the tracks.

Some situations are not immediately comprehensible. With time, however, they begin to bother us more and more.

Bulgaria, which until recently was a member of the Warsaw Pact, will become a full and official EU member as of Jan. 1. But we instead are on a “long and narrow” path. While we were a member of NATO, OECD, the European Council and took on the important responsibility of protecting the free world from Warsaw Pact members, Bulgaria was on the other side of the Iron Curtain. It was a small, dark country. It had no cultural or traditional connections with democracy whatsoever.

Now it is an EU member and we are still on this “long and narrow” EU road. They are going to look at our condition and then determine and pass judgment on how much worth we have gained.

This is a status. No one should fool him or herself. Turkey is going to adopt the goal of entering the European Union try and walk on the “long and narrow” path. It is a status. As a matter of fact, we have been on that narrow road since the Administrative Reforms of 1839. We will continue to proceed. We will try and make Europe accept us as European. It may not accept us, but we will keep trying.

As a result, this is a political-social-cultural way of life. It is status, like being a life-long student. There is no diplomacy, just an attitude of adopting graduation as an ideal. It is said that this could take 10-15 years. Is there any concrete political project on earth made to take 15 years? This is not a serious situation.

It is like the old story of a Mullah whose suitcase was placed in front of the door. The Mullah responded by saying that it implied he was not welcome. That’s how I feel. They say, “Look, we did not tear up the rails; we only stopped you,” implying that we are unwelcome. If we call this an implication, what would a brazen approach be like? This really offends me as a citizen.

The 20th century Europe of Salazar, Franco, Hitler and Mussolini – weren’t they the results of a heritage several centuries old? If fairytales are put aside, we know that Europe’s democracy came into existence after War II. Plus, half of it was covered with the Iron Curtain.

But today they can talk about creating democracy in Iraq. They see it possible to establish democracy on tribal and sectarian bases with the yeast of violence.

What kind of world is this?

Everyone is taking Turkey into account

No one is making self assessments. Everyone sees him or herself as perfect and without fault. The pathetic thing is that some of our intellectuals approve of this situation. I won’t say they “see” it as acceptable; in fact, they find it acceptable because they participate in it.

Some people think that the European Union should be rejected because is a project of exploitation (in fact, extermination). Others think the European Union is a civilization project, and they have to be able to enter the it, accept their rightful demands, do whatever they say in order to be saved.

You can see the silhouette of a long and narrow road between these two extremes.

What kind of a stance is this? What kind of attitude? What kind of status? This status is upholding the status quo - an illogical, unrealistic oddity not found in political or ideological literature. There is absolutely no difference between this kind of no and this kind of yes.

I remember a song lyric that says “It offends me to live like this” and I become angry mostly at ourselves, with our extreme yes-men and our extreme no-men.

12.15.2006


e-mail:a.selim@zaman.com.tr

http://english.people.com.cn/200612/22/eng20061222_334875.html

Turkey's EU talks depends on its attitude towards Cyprus: Cypriot president

Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos implied on Thursday that European Union (EU) member Cyprus reserves the right to block Turkey's accession talks if Ankara does not change its stance towards Cyprus.

The EU Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER) reached a consensus Wednesday on opening one negotiation chapter on enterprise and industrial policy with Turkey by the end of this year.

Commenting on the COREPER decision, Papadopoulos was quoted by Cyprus News Agency as saying that the move was in accordance with the conclusions of the European Council.

However, he stressed, every EU member state maintains the right to allow or block the opening of negotiating chapters, based on the acquis communautaire (the EU law and regulations) and the criteria set for candidate states.

"Every chapter will be examined according to existing circumstances, depending on Turkey's attitude towards Cyprus and the contents of the chapter," the Cypriot President said.

On Dec. 15, EU leaders agreed to suspend eight of 35 negotiation chapters, or policy areas, for Turkey's refusal to open its traffic to EU member the Republic of Cyprus. But they said talks should move forward in other areas.

However, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said in a news conference on Tuesday that Turkey hopes to open chapters of education and culture, financial services, economic and monetary policy immediately, apart from the enterprise and industrial policy.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey militarily intervened and occupied the north of Cyprus following a coup by a group of Greek officers.

The internationally-recognized Republic of Cyprus entered the EU in 2004 in the name of the whole island.

Turkey has refused to open its harbors and ports to Cyprus as prescribed by an agreement with the EU until the bloc keeps its promise to ease the international isolation of the divided island's Turkish community recognized only by Turkey.

Source: Xinhua


 

http://english.people.com.cn/200612/22/eng20061222_334860.html

First remains of missing Cypriots to be returned to their families by next April

The first batch of remains of Cypriots who were reported missing at least three decades ago could be returned to their families by April 2007, the Committee of Missing Persons (CMP) in Cyprus said Thursday.

In a press release issued on Thursday, the CMP said that the group has so far found 160 sets of remains, which are being tested for DNA at a laboratory in the United Nations Protected Area (UNPA) in Nicosia.

It added that the CMP hopes to be able to return the first sets of remains to the concerned families by April 2007.

In addition to the exhumation and identification process, the CMP said it would resume investigative activities to discover the fate of other missing persons in the island.

In 2006, the CMP launched the project on exhumation, identification and return of remains of missing persons in Cyprus, which is being carried out by bicommunal teams composed of both Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot scientists.

The group also keeps close contacts with those family associations of missing persons.

The Greek Cypriots claim over 1,500 people still missing while the Turkish Cypriots said some 500 missing during the 1963-1964 inter-communal fighting and a war in 1974.

The Cypriot government has called upon the international community to cooperate and take necessary political and humanitarian measures to help deal with the issue.

Source: Xinhua
 

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,,1975682,00.html

How Beckett's answers raise more questions on Iraq


Explanations on Saddam and the 45 minutes issue at odds with earlier claims

Wednesday December 20, 2006
The Guardian

On the BBC's Today programme last week, John Humphrys issued a challenge to the foreign secretary, Margaret Beckett. He complained that she had refused repeated requests to go on the programme, and called on her to give a proper interview. Yesterday, she did.

During the broadcast, however, she made a number of statements that seemed at odds with what had been said on previous occasions by ministers.

She found herself in particular trouble when responding to a six-page report by Britain's leading foreign affairs think-tank, Chatham House, that Tony Blair's legacy would be defined by the "terrible mistake" of the Iraq war.

Article continues
Humphrys also pressed her about the testimony of Carne Ross, a former Foreign Office official. Mr Ross challenged Mr Blair's version of events in the run-up to the war in Iraq, primarily that Iraq posed a direct threat to the UK.

Humphrys and Mrs Beckett argued on a number of issues. Ewen MacAskill, the Guardian's diplomatic editor, examines their exchanges.

Was Iraq a direct threat to UK?

Humphrys told her: "Carne Ross said at no time did her majesty's government assess that Iraq's WMD or any other capability posed a threat to the UK or its interests."

Mrs Beckett replied: "No one put that argument. What we put was the argument that he [Saddam Hussein] was a threat to the region and that he had the ambition to be a threat to the wider world and Britain does have interests outside just our own shores."

Analysis Mr Blair said several times in the run-up to the war that Iraq posed a direct threat to the UK and its interests. In a Commons statement on September 24 2002, to mark the publication of the government dossier Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction, he said: "If people say, 'Why should Britain care?', I answer, 'Because there is no way this man, in this region above all regions, could begin a conflict using such weapons and the consequences not engulf the whole world, including this country."

The dossier included a map of potential targets Iraq could hit, including Cyprus, home of a sovereign British base.

In an interview with CNN on January 13 2003, Mr Blair was even more explicit. "I would never as British prime minister send British troops to war, unless I thought it was necessary, but there is a direct threat to British national security in the trade of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons."

Iraq could mobilise WMD within 45 minutes?

Mrs Beckett said yesterday: "What was said throughout was that Saddam Hussein was a threat to his region and that he had the intention and the desire to be a threat much more widely."

Humphrys: "Forty-five minutes?"

Mrs Beckett: "John, you and I both know that that was a statement that was made once and it was thought to be of such little relevance, perhaps people began quickly to think 'I am not sure about that'. It was never used once in all the debates and questions in the House of Commons."

Humphrys: "It did not need to be. It was on the public record."

Mrs Beckett: "Oh, come on. nobody thought it was relevant. Nobody thought it was actually at the heart of the debate."

Analysis Mrs Beckett is incorrect when she suggests the 45 minutes claim was of little relevance. Mr Blair referred to it in his personal foreword to the dossier, saying Saddam's military planning "allows for some of the WMD to be ready within 45 minutes of an order to use them".

In his Commons statement, Mr Blair said the intelligence "concludes that Iraq has chemical and biological weapons, that Saddam has continued to produce them, that he has existing and active military plans for the use of chemical and biological weapons, which could be activated within 45 minutes."

The then leader of the opposition, Iain Duncan Smith, referred to the claim in his response to Mr Blair. The London Evening Standard carried the claim as a banner headline on its front page.

The importance of Mr Ross?

Mrs Beckett: "I am not sure how key Mr Ross was. However, put that on one side."

Humphrys: "Key enough to be called to the Butler inquiry."

Mrs Beckett: "Well, I think he said he volunteered to give evidence to the Butler inquiry."

Humphrys: "Lord Butler so naive he thought he was not important?"

Mrs Beckett: "Lord Butler took evidence from a great many people. And I am sure he thought some of them were more important than others."

Analysis Mr Ross was a British diplomat based at the British mission at the United Nations in New York in the run-up to the war in Iraq and involved in the negotiations. He was the first secretary at the mission from 1998 to 2002.

Has the Iraq invasion made the Middle East more dangerous?

Mrs Beckett: "I don't accept your underlying premise that what is happening in the Middle East is all about the war in Iraq. It's one in a string of events in and around the Middle East. The Middle East has always been a dangerous place. It remains so."

Analysis Most governments, and most thinktanks, would accept that the Middle East is more dangerous today than it was before the invasion of Iraq. Deaths in Iraq alone are running at about 4,000 a month.
 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1974409,00.html

Despite the chorus of pious hope, Turkey is not going to join the EU


There will be no place at the table for Ankara in any foreseeable future, and the most profound reason is geographical

Geoffrey Wheatcroft
Monday December 18, 2006
The Guardian

Of all the temptations of journalism, prediction is the most dangerous. Soothsayers in our trade are usually made to look foolish by events. The best answer was given by the fabled correspondent in some distant spot who, asked by an importunate foreign desk (in the days of abbreviated cablese) to file "soonest,fullest,whatnext happens", responded succinctly: "Myballs uncrystal."

After that, let me say something simply and confidently: Turkey is not going to join the EU. "Not" does not mean "never" but in any foreseeable future, although you wouldn't know that from Tony Blair. He visited Turkey last Friday at the beginning of his latest forlorn, not to say fantastical, mission to bring peace to the Middle East, intoning the words: "It is important that we continue the process of accession with Turkey."

Nor would you know it from other exalted Euro-personages. Chancellor Angela Merkel has just joined the Social Democrats, her German coalition partners, in saying that full membership "would be worthwhile", one fine day. Erkki Tuomioja, the Finnish foreign minister, whose country's EU presidency is just coming to an end, says that "the door is still open", while Carl Bildt, the foreign minister, continues ardently to favour Turkish membership.

All these pious hopes are expressed at the very moment negotiations between Turkey and the EU have just hit one more pothole, with Brussels suspending talks as a punishment for Ankara's refusal to open its ports and airports to Greek Cyprus. This suspension was a "serious mistake", Blair says, and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister calls it "unacceptable".

By now the Turks should have learned that there is much they must accept whether they like it or not, and they have come to feel, not without reason, that when one obstacle is surmounted Europe will always find another. Turkey became an associate member of the EEC or Common Market as long ago as 1963, and in 1987 Ankara applied for full membership of the EU.

During the lengthy interlude came the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974 and in 1983 the creation of a Turkish Cypriot state, which no one but Ankara recognises. Turkey has a much better case over Cyprus than in other matters, and the despicable behaviour of the Greek Cypriot government - and electorate, when they voted against the reunification of the island once EU membership could not be revoked - has made Cyprus the least loved member state of the EU.

More serious objections are the patchy Turkish record (to put it mildly) on human rights. Turkey still does not enjoy what European countries consider a true rule of law or freedom of speech, and has not come to terms with its history, notably the fate of the Armenians.

Even then, the continual European hesitancy and changing of the tune might suggest bad faith. But that is not really so, and a better way of seeing it is as a kind of social embarrassment. Far from having embarked on an elaborate deception, Europe said something with good intentions but without really thinking it through, only to recognise slowly how grave the practical difficulties are. As a result, Turkey waits for church bells that never ring, while Europe, as one French diplomat puts it, is like a man with a mistress he doesn't want to lose, but doesn't want to marry, either. The trouble is that a moment passes, after which it's no longer easy or even possible to say this thing can work without causing pain.

For their part, the worst mistake the Turks have made is invoking US support. During yet another crisis between Ankara and Brussels a little more than a year ago, Erdogan rang Condoleezza Rice and asked for her help, to which the secretary of state duly responded by expressing yet again Washington's ardent support for Turkish admission to the EU - and thereby further enraging the Europeans.

As usual Blair takes the American line, arguing for Turkish admission on strategic grounds: it "has an importance not just in respect to Turkey but with wider relationships between the west and the Muslim world". Shutting the door will alienate Muslims everywhere, letting Turkey in will build a bridge between the west and the Islamic world.

But another way of putting it is that Europe is being asked to make a huge sacrifice to gratify American strategic interests. Whatever Blair may think, this doesn't meet with universal favour. As the former European commissioner Chris Patten has sarcastically said, it is very good of the Americans to keep offering Turkey admission to the EU, but this is a question on which Europeans might want to have some say themselves.

Neither Blair nor his American friends have noticed that there has scarcely been a less propitious moment for Turkish admission in these 40 years. Turkish sensitivity about being excluded from a "Christian club" is quite misplaced: Europe today isn't a Christian anything, and even fear of radical Islamism is not the main factor. More important is the hangover from previous EU expansion - and the Turkish question also illustrates the gulf between "the soi-disant elites", as that contrarian French politician Jean-Pierre Chevènement calls them, personified by Blair, Tuomioja and Bildt, and the actual peoples of Europe.

In May 2004, eastern European countries that had been sundered from their neighbours by 60 years of war and cold war were admitted to "our common European home" and very moving it was. After the elation, Europe woke up to realise that its 10 new member states now comprised a quarter of its population while providing a 20th of its economic product, and that's before Romania and Bulgaria join in the new year, let alone Turkey, with a per-capita income one-tenth of the British, and a child mortality rate 10 times the French.

A year later, the French and Dutch referendums, which turned down the new EU constitution, were a hostile response to that expansion, and by implication to Turkish admission. For all Blair's high-sounding platitudes, that new mood has been caught by other European politicians. Nicolas Sarkozy, the French interior minister who is almost certain to be the conservative candidate - and favourite - in May's presidential elections, is an open opponent of Turkish membership, and is "happy to see that these ideas are gaining ground". As he might say, building bridges between the west and Islam, and sapping the roots of terrorism, are doubtless worthy objectives, but since when did they become the purpose of the EU?

In the end, the problem is less cultural or economic or religious than simply geographical. This is something we have only slowly woken up to, but it explains why Turkey will not join for a very long time, if ever. Bildt says, solemnly and dubiously, that "there is no doubt that Turkey is a part of Europe", but a French politician has put it another way: can we really have a Europe that extends to the borders of Iraq? Many ordinary Europeans seem to know the answer to that better than their rulers.

wheaty@compuserve.com

http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-12-17-voa3.cfm

Turkish PM Criticizes EU Decision On Turkey, British PM Lends Support
By VOA News
17 December 2006


Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the European Union's decision to partially freeze his country's entry talks is not fair.

Mr. Erdogan Saturday criticized the EU decision to penalize Turkey for failing to normalize its trade with EU member Cyprus. He called on the bloc to allow Ankara's direct trade with the Turkish Cypriot state, without linking the issue to any conditions.

Mr. Erdogan said that 40 years of Turkish relations with Europe have been reduced to side issues like port openings.

He spoke at a joint news conference with British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the Ankara airport, prior to Mr. Blair's departure for Egypt.

Mr. Blair supported the Turkish bid to start direct flights to the isolated Turkish part of the island. He said Turkey's membership is of "fundamental importance to the future of Europe."

Turkey agreed last year to open its EU customs agreement to 10 countries that joined the EU in 2004. But it has refused to open its ports and airfields to internationally recognized Greek-led Cyprus.

Turkey insists that there should be no link between its EU entry bid and resolution on the island, which has been divided since 1974.

Ankara has pledged to open its ports to Cyprus if EU officials end the isolation of the self-proclaimed Turkish state on the island.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6185751.stm

Press sums up EU summit
European Union headquarters on the eve of a EU summit in Brussels
A bit crowded: can the EU afford to get any bigger?

Papers across Europe reflect on the main themes covered by the EU's end-of-year summit in Brussels.

The German and Spanish press draw attention to the fact that EU leaders had adopted a new policy on immigration, while the issue of "enlargement fatigue" is taken up by editorials throughout the continent.

Several Turkish papers question whether the EU is genuinely interested in having Turkey as a member.

And finally, Austria's Die Presse questions whether anything was in fact achieved by the summit.

Germany's Die Welt

The EU has finally defined immigration policy as a community task. Immigration is no longer an aberration, but the norm. A normal state of affairs, certainly, but one that has to be controlled... So, "Fortress Europe"? No sign of that.

Germany's Frankfurter Rundschau

The EU has now gone at least some way towards tackling the problem of migration... There is no longer a pretence that mastering the global contradictions between rich and poor countries is a police task. What is now emerging is an attempt to bundle international migration and development questions in one concept.

Spain's ABC

The European Council's decision to adopt a "global policy" on immigration greatly pleased Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero yesterday, to the point where he told journalists at the end of the meeting that it had been one of the most satisfactory he had attended.

Spain's El Pais

The 25 have decided to make an indefinite pause in the enlargement of the EU, at least until they resolve their internal institutional problems... Internally, the question of what to do with the European Constitution and the institutional reform which is involved and which is essential with or without enlargement will not begin to be settled until the French presidential and legislative elections in the spring of 2007 are over.

France's La Montagne

Aware of their current limitations, the 25 are dragging their feet on enlargement. For them to admit new countries before putting in place rules enabling the EU to operate harmoniously means taking a big risk. Since they failed to do this before the 2005 "big bang", they are today close to paralysis. So while Bulgaria and Romania will be allowed into the club on 1 January, the other candidates pushing to get in will have to wait, starting with Turkey whose membership seems increasingly problematic.

France's L'Yonne Republicaine

The summit... showed the extent of the stalemate in which the EU finds itself. Badly shaken by the French and Dutch rejection of the Constitution, Europe is also at an impasse on the issue of enlargement... Europe's leaders are now trying to delay the entry of new countries... The freeze on negotiations with Turkey, which was decided on in Brussels because of a lack of effort by Ankara, will serve as a warning to other candidates.

Austria's Der Standard

We all urgently need a strong European Parliament and a strong EU Commission, and why not also a powerful, elected EU government? If Europe does not function, citizens will suffer as a result... Who knows? Perhaps 2007 will be the year of "stateswomen" if Segolene Royal moves to the top as president of France and Merkel brings the overdue EU reforms on their way.

Czech Republic's Pravo

The EU has put the brakes on further expansion. It has chronic problems with its own identity, and countries that don't yet have candidate status will therefore be forced to wait for their invitation into the EU.

Czech Republic's Lidove Noviny

In 2004, the number of countries in the EU increased almost twofold; in two weeks, Bulgaria and Romania will become members of the European club. It looks however as if this last wave of enlargement will indeed be one of the last for the time being. The majority of member states are already tired of expansion. Moreover, in their opinion, before any more newcomers are welcomed, there needs to be a reform of the EU's institutions and a resolution of the situation surrounding the EU constitution.

Croatia's Novi List

Over the past year, the EU has been in the throes of a crisis, and not only an institutional one. Today's Europe does not know where its borders are and, despite the years of successful growth, it now talks of enlargement fatigue and is hesitating to continue this trend.

Turkey's Posta

The EU has to make a decision on Turkey. Does it really want to negotiate with Turkey? Will it accept Turkey as a full member if it fulfils the Copenhagen Criteria?

Turkey's Yeni Safak

As long as Turkey refuses to solve the Cyprus issue, this plays into the hands of those EU members who are opposed to Turkish membership.

Austria's Die Presse

Who needs an event where the fact that ultimately zilch was achieved is seen as a success?

http://news.scotsman.com/latest_uk.cfm?id=1871462006

Blair promotes Turkish EU membership

By Katherine Baldwin and Selcuk Gokoluk

ANKARA (Reuters) - Prime Minister Tony Blair underlined his support for Turkey's membership of the European Union on Saturday, saying the Muslim nation's strategic location could help to foster peace in the Middle East.
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It was the first visit by a European leader to Turkey since accession negotiations were partially suspended over Turkey's refusal to open its ports and airports to traffic from Cyprus.

"The reason why it is so important we devote energy and commitment to the process of Turkish accession... is that it is not just important for Turkey itself but it is of fundamental importance to the future of Europe," Blair said in Ankara.

"Turkey is placed right between the Middle East and Europe and if we needed no other reminder of the strategic importance of Turkey to the EU it is what is happening in the Middle East today," he told a news conference with his Turkish counterpart.

Turkey, which is seeing strong economic growth, has been viewed as a bridge between the West and Islamic countries.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has pursued greater political ties with the Middle East, highlighted by his frequent visits to the region, including Iran and Syria. NATO-member Turkey is one of the few Muslim countries with close ties to Israel as well.

Some countries, including Britain, fear that the partial halt in membership talks will have long-lasting effects on Turkey's efforts to join the wealthy bloc.

Opinion polls show support for EU membership falling in Turkey, with many Turks suspicious that Europeans want to keep the 25-member bloc as a "Christian club" and are just using Cyprus as an excuse to keep them out.

Erdogan again criticised the decision by the EU, which is experiencing enlargement fatigue, to partly halt talks.

"The relationship with the EU dates back 40 years and unfortunately that relationship has been reduced to a secondary issue of opening the ports," Erdogan said.

BLAIR CALLS FOR OPENING CHAPTERS

Cyprus, the Netherlands and France have frustrated a bid by EU president Finland and the European Commission to move forward in membership talks with Turkey before the year-end, diplomats said on Friday.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn called this week for the bloc to open the next chapter, which would be on economic and monetary policy, to prove the process was not stalled.

"I would like to urgently see this (opening a new chapter) happening, possibly under the Finnish presidency," Blair said.

He urged Ankara to open traffic to Cyprus but also said the EU should end the isolation of northern Cyprus. Blair said Britain was studying whether flights to northern Cyprus were lawful under international aviation rules.

Blair said he hoped South Korean Ban Ki-moon would relaunch efforts to reunite the divided island of Cyprus once he takes over the U.N. leadership on January 1.

Cyprus has been split into an internationally recognised Greek Cypriot south and a Turkish Cypriot north, recognised solely by Turkey, since 1974, when Turkish troops invaded the north to foil a coup seeking to unite the island with Greece.

(c) Reuters 2006. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.

This article: http://news.scotsman.com/latest_uk.cfm?id=1871462006

Last updated: 16-Dec-06 14:09 GMT

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/12/16/turkey.blair/index.html

 Turkish PM blasts EU talks freeze
POSTED: 3:50 a.m. EST, December 16, 2006
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ANKARA, Turkey (CNN) -- Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday criticized a decision by the European Union this week to freeze talks on his country's entry into the union, saying it was "very unfair."

"The decisions of the council with respect to the implementation of the additional protocol to the Ankara agreement has been very unfair to Turkey," Erdogan said during a news conference with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Erdogan's comments came as Blair travels through the Middle East amid escalating violence between rival Palestinian factions that have seen kidnappings and gun battles in the West Bank and Gaza.

Blair said Saturday that the next few days and weeks will be crucial in determining whether Israel and the Palestinians can move toward peace.

"If we don't get a new sense of urgency and momentum to the situation, it will continue to go backwards," Blair said in a report from The Associated Press.

On Monday, European ministers decided to partially freeze Turkey's talks to enter the EU "over failure to normalize trade with Cyprus," an EU statement said.

Turkey has refused to open ports to Cyprus until what Erdogan called "unfair restrictions" on Turkish Cypriots were lifted.

The prime minister said his country would continue with the reforms it has put in place to gain entry into the EU "for the prosperity of our people."

Blair said he strongly supported Turkey's membership in the EU, and called for an end to the isolation of Northern Cyprus.

"EU membership is not just important for Turkey, it is of fundamental importance to the future of Europe," Blair said.

After Turkey, Blair will visit Egypt, Israel, the Palestinian Territories and the United Arab Emirates over the next few days, Erdogan said at a joint news conference with Blair.

"The most important thing is that on the Palestinian side, one way or another, we have a fully functioning authority that the rest of us can deal with, support, and give financial assistance to ... that is what I hope we'll be able to agree on during the course of the visit," Blair said.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/12/16/europe/EU_GEN_Turkey_EU.php

Britain's Blair says he supports direct flights to breakaway Turkish Cypriot state
The Associated Press
Published: 2006-12-16 02:30:04
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ANKARA, Turkey: Turkey's prime minister on Saturday called the EU decision to partially freeze talks with his country a "great injustice," while the British prime minister sought to reassure Turkey, saying he supported direct flights to the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state.

European Union leaders agreed to partially freeze Turkey's membership talks at a summit in Brussels on Thursday due to Ankara's refusal to open ports and airports to EU member Cyprus, whose government Turkey does not recognize.

Turkey insists it would only open ports and airports once the isolation of the Turkish Cypriot state ends. Only Ankara recognizes the self-declared republic.

Asked about Britain's position on starting direct flights to the Turkish-Cypriot airport of Ercan, Blair said: "This is something I would like to do."

Blair, said British officials were consulting international aviation rules to see if direct flights were possible. "That is what we're doing now," Blair said.
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Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan strongly criticized the EU decision and called on the bloc to allow direct trade with Turkish Cypriot state "without linking the issue to any conditions."

"The EU Council decision is a great injustice for Turkey," Erdogan said. "Turkish-EU relations which have a history of more than 40 years history have been reduced to side issues like port openings," Erdogan said.

Still, Erdogan vowed to continue a reform process aimed at improving human rights, as well as the country's legal, economic and social systems to meet EU standards.

In a last minute diplomatic effort, Turkey had proposed to Greek Cypriots that both countries open their ports and airports, including Ercan, but Cyprus firmly rejected the proposal while the EU said it fell short of Turkey's obligations to meet EU demands. It called on Turkey to recognize EU-member Cyprus.

However, Blair said: "I noticed a more positive atmosphere," about Turkey following the Turkish proposal.

On Saturday, Blair said Turkey's strategic location makes it an important player for the stability in the Middle East and the future of Europe.

"European Union membership for Turkey is not just important to Turkey itself, in my view, it is of fundamental importance to the future of Europe," Blair said. "Turkey is placed right between the Middle East and Europe and if we needed no other reminder of the strategic importance of Turkey to the European Union, it is what is happening in the Middle East today."

Blair said predominantly Muslim Turkey could play a key role in stabilizing the Middle East and could be an asset for the future of Europe, and expressed hope that negotiations on other membership chapters that haven't been frozen can resume before the end of the year.

"I think the idea of people coming together from different faiths, different backgrounds around concepts of tolerance and respect for each other, and openness to the world, this is absolutely where the future is," Blair said. "And that is yet another reason why it is so important that we extend the hand of friendship but the hand of partnership to countries like Turkey."

http://www.eubusiness.com/East_Europe/061221041553.5rvqpapo

EU pulls up the drawbridge as Bulgaria and Romania squeeze in
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20/12/2006

Bulgaria and Romania are preparing to celebrate their entry into the European Union on January 1, but after that the EU party planners can take a lengthy rest amid enlargement fatigue and the need to reform the bloc's creaking institutions.

"Once they come in the door is closing," said Marco Incerti, analyst at the Brussels-based Centre for European Policy Studies.

Last week, EU leaders put the lid on further enlargement until the necessary institutional reforms can be agreed and the whole process gains wider public support.

"This summit sends out the message that we want to get our house in order," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told the post-summit press conference.

The house-ordering is required after Dutch and French voters last year delivered twin hammer blows to the Union's draft constitution, designed to streamline decision-making and facilitate further enlargement.

Those referendum 'no' votes slammed the brakes on an enlargement process which had been gaining pace for decades and reached its zenith with the 'big bang' of 2004 when 10 mainly ex-Soviet satellite nations joined the club.

An opinion poll released Monday showed the levels that eurosceptism has reached. The Eurobarometer Autumn survey recorded that only 36 percent of Britons questioned supported further EU enlargement, along with 32 percent of French voters and 30 percent of Germans.

Some of the public disillusionment in Britain is due to the large influx of workers from other EU countries. The government in August said that over 427,000 people from the eight ex-communist EU states allowed in in 2004 had come to work there since enlargement -- compared to government forecasts of only 26,000.

This time round Britain and Ireland -- two of only three EU nations to offer unfettered access to workers from the 2004 intake -- are laying out a smaller welcome mat for Romanian and Bulgarian workers, introducing quotas for the less well-qualified.

Of the older EU nations, only Sweden and Finland have announced free access. The 22 million Romanians and 7.8 million Bulgarians will also enter under the stiffest conditions ever imposed amid continuing concerns over corruption and their judicial systems.

Restrictions have also been placed on their farm exports, amid health concerns.

So for Romanian and Bulgaria enlargement fatigue appears to be setting in even before they join.

The latest buzzword is "integration capacity," with questions being asked about how big the EU should get.

"There is a growing debate on rethinking the European Union in its form and where the limits of its borders should be," said Lucia Montanaro-Jankovski, an analyst at the European Policy Centre.

While Croatia is next in line for admission, and hoping to do so by 2009-2010, most questions are being asked about Turkey's candidature.

Ankara opened official adhesion talks on the same day as Zagreb in November 2005. Since then, much to the latter's relief, their paths have decoupled.

Turkey, with its mainly Muslim population of around 70 million, is viewed as simply un-European in some quarters.

In more concrete terms, its membership bid has been hampered by its refusal to open its ports and airports to EU member, and veto-wielding, Cyprus.

At last week's summit the leaders suspended Turkey's accession talks in eight of the 35 policy chapters each candidate must complete.

Also waiting further down the EU queue are Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Kosovo.

The good news for all the EU-wannabes is that Germany, which assumes the rotating EU presidency next month, has promised to revive the constitution debate.

It is being aided in that regard by Spain and Luxembourg which have invited all 18 countries (including Bulgaria and Romania) which have already endorsed the stalled constitution to a meeting next month to discuss the way forward.

But one thing is for sure, after January 1 the pro-constitution lobby will have to gain support from 27 EU nations, having failed to do so with 25.
 

http://www.eubusiness.com/East_Europe/061219124413.c4yqhqos

Author cleared of insulting Turkey's founding father
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19/12/2006

An Istanbul court on Tuesday cleared a best-selling author of charges of insulting modern Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in a book about his wife at a time of EU pressure on the country to ensure freedom of speech, the writer's lawyer said.

Veteran journalist Ipek Calislar risked up to four-and-a-half years in jail under a special law to protect the legacy of the much-revered Ataturk for insulting him in a biography about his wife Latife Ussaki.

She was charged along with Necdet Tatlican, an editor of the mass-selling daily Hurriyet, which published excerpts of the book.

The judge ruled Tuesday in the second hearing of the trial that the alleged offense had not taken place and acquitted both defendants, attorney Fikret Ilkiz told AFP.

In her book "Latife Hanim", released in June, Calislar draws a fresh portrait of Ataturk's enigmatic wife, whose image to Turks has been one of a shrill and bossy shrew blamed for the collapse in 1925 of her short-lived marriage with the national hero.

The passage that landed Calislar in court quotes a witness as telling how Ataturk, facing an armed attack by a political opponent, put on a chador to disguise himself as a woman to flee the presidential palace in Ankara.

The suit was filed on a petition to the court by a reader of the book, Huseyin Tugrul Pekin, who wrote: "It is the greatest insult to claim that Mustafa Kemal, whose courage none of us would dare judge, did something like that."

Dozens of Turkish intellectuals, among them 2006 Nobel literature laureate Orhan Pamuk, have been put on trial over the past year for dissident views.

Most of them have been charged over remarks contesting the official line on the massacres of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire under a controversial penal code article which makes it a crime to insult "Turkishness" and state institutions.

The European Union has warned this goes against European standards on freedom of speech which the country must meet if it is to join the bloc.

No one has been imprisoned under the provision, but the appeals court in July confirmed the suspended six-month sentence against Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, setting a precedent for 70 other pending cases.

Text and Picture Copyright © 2006 AFP. All other copyright © 2006 EUbusiness Ltd. All rights reserved. This material is intended solely for personal use. Any other reproduction, publication or redistribution of this material without the written agreement of the copyright owner is strictly forbidden and any breach of copyright will be considered actionable.

Integration of Turks in Europe...
Posted by Eurocan at 19 December 2006
The Brussels Journal

Second-generation Muslim immigrants in Europe marry people who have arrived straight from their parents’ homelands, rather than immigrant youths of their own ethnic background who have also grown up in Europe. Research by Hilâl Yalçin and Ina Lodewyckx of the University of Antwerp reveals that almost three quarters of the Moroccan and Turkish community import their spouses from Morocco and Turkey.

“Marital import” is on the rise. In the 1970s 41.4% of the Moroccan immigrants in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, married a partner who lived in Morocco, while almost all the others married a member of the Moroccan immigrant community in Belgium. In the 1980s the number of spouses arriving fresh from Morocco had risen to 48.8%. In the 1990s that number rose even further to 60.3%. Between 2000 and 2003, 65.4% of Belgian Moroccan youths imported a spouse from Morocco. The figures are even higher for Turks. Today, eight out of every ten Turkish youths whose family emigrated to Flanders between their 7th and 17th year of age marry someone who lives in Turkey. And six out of every ten Turks who were born in Belgium or moved there before their 7th birthday do so, too.

The researchers point out that people in Morocco and Turkey regard marriage to a Belgian Moroccan or a Belgian Turk as a means of gaining access to the “promised land.” Often, however, they encounter serious difficulties and their inadequate education combined with an insufficient mastery of the Dutch language lead to “social isolation.” Nahima Lanjri, a Belgian Moroccan and a member of the Belgian Parliament, says that children of these marriages “are often considered to be third-generation immigrants, but this is wrong since one of their parents has had to start from zero.”
 

http://www.eubusiness.com/East_Europe/061219113914.2kv3n8o5

Turkey vows to pursue EU reforms despite partial talks freeze
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Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul - Photo EC
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul - Photo EC
19/12/2006

Turkey will pursue reforms to align itself with European Union norms despite a partial freeze of its membership talks, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said Tuesday, describing the EU sanction as only a temporary setback to the country's European aspirations.

"Turkey is committed to its EU target. There is no deviation from this target after the latest EU decision," Gul told a news conference here.

"The importance we attach to reforms has not decreased -- on the contrary it has increased," he said. "We are aware that we still have shortcomings and we will speedily proceed with the reforms."

At a summit last week, EU leaders suspended Turkey's accession talks in eight of the 35 policy chapters each candidate must complete due to its refusal to open its ports and airports to Cyprus under a customs union accord it signed with the bloc last year.

They also decided that Turkey can open accession talks in policy areas other than those eight chapters, but cannot formally complete them as long as the dispute over Cyprus remains unsolved.

Gul blamed a "lack of strategic vision" for the EU decision and said the row over Cyprus was being used as a pretext by EU members who were opposed to Turkey's membership.

"The strategic vision that led to the opening of Turkey's membership talks has started to erode," he said. "There is disarray in the European Union. Some members are confused, they mix up great strategic issues with small issues."

But he said he believed this was a "passing phase" and that the 25-nation bloc would come to see Turkey's significance.

"What is important is that Turkey prepares itself for the time when the European Union says it is ready ... because the EU will one day become aware of Turkey's importance," he said. "The EU will see that it cannot become a great power without Turkey."

The EU sanctions came as a blow to Turkey's bid a little more than a year after accession talks got off to a turbulent start in October 2005 amid widespread public opposition in Europe to the country's membership.

At the core of the turmoil is the three-decade division of Cyprus, whose internationally recognized Greek Cypriot government in the south joined the bloc in 2004.

Ankara insists that Turkish ports would remain off limits to the Greek Cypriots unless the EU keeps promises of easing the international isolation of the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), which only Turkey recognizes.

"We have always said that we will take steps forward if they keep their promises and we are ready to do that," Gul said.

The EU made the pledges in April 2004 after the Turkish Cypriots voted overwhelmingly in favor of a UN-drafted plan to reunify Cyprus, which was killed off by a massive "no" on the Greek Cypriot side.

Gul hailed British Prime Minister Tony Blair, a staunch advocate of Turkey's EU bid, for saying during a visit here Saturday that he would like to see direct flights between Britain and the TRNC, for which a Turkish Cypriot airliner applied last month.

"The final decision is of course up to Britain, but we believe that the inauguration of such flights is possible," Gul said.

"If this happens it would be as important as the lifting of the isolation" of the TRNC, he said.

Blair said the British authorities were currently studying whether it is legally possible to allow direct flights from and to the breakaway statelet.

Text and Picture Copyright © 2006 AFP. All other copyright © 2006 EUbusiness Ltd. All rights reserved. This material is intended solely for personal use. Any other reproduction, publication or redistribution of this material without the written agreement of the copyright owner is strictly forbidden and any breach of copyright will be considered actionable.

That's a recemdable attitude in the face of the EU's action. Turkey's reform process is enourmously beneficial both for Turkey and the EU.
Posted by Sol at 19 December 2006
It is in neithers interest for it to slow down.

A tangible reward for Turkey (particualry in the run up to elections, would be for direct flights from the UK to the TRNC.
A good gesture from Turkey is to withdrawl......
Posted by vatis at 19 December 2006
half of her Turkish army from Northern Cyprus,and half of the Turkish settlers as a first stage.

Then Turkey should return the[enclosed city of Varosha] to their GC owners.

The rest of GC occupied land can be negotiated...?
Opinion
Posted by referendumpetition at 20 December 2006
EU does not aim to become global power, but to provide better social opportunities for europeans who share historical and cultural values. turkey is asian and historically belongs to very different cultural society. its EU application was promoted by interest groups involved in slave trade, wars, social insecurity. currently 2% of world's population possesses 50% of wealth and 50% of the people have just 1% of the world's wealth. Globalization in USA is moving to EU and Turkey' membership is a part of the plot. i am afraid greeks plans to let turkey in in exchange for EU funds are tricky and far from european thinking and moriality. So if Sarcozy next year become president there will be enlargement referendum in France with NO outcome highly possible. So how greeks will return then their cyprus lands? Also all public opinion polls suggest EU public grows increasingly hostile towards any future enlargement. Even in England only 33% support it, the back up in France, Austria, Germany is even lower. So asian turkey's entry is just a phony deal of interest groups from UK, Israel, USA and corrupted politicians.

http://www.eubusiness.com/Living_in_EU/061218163926.h2mnjpay

 The Eurobarometer survey, conducted for the European Commission in September and October, comes just a few days after EU leaders put the brakes on enlargement and confirmed a partial freeze on Turkey's membership talks.

The summit also decided to impose tougher conditions on would-be members and said that future expansion should be based on the EU's "integration capacity" and come once reforms have been undertaken so that the bloc can operate more smoothly.

Only 36 percent of Britons questioned for the survey supported EU enlargement in coming years, a drop of eight percentage points from the last poll in the second quarter of this year. Only four of the EU's 25 member states were less enthusiastic -- Germany, Austria, Luxembourg and France.

The Commission put the result down to the arrival of immigrants into Britain from mainly eastern European countries that joined the EU in May 2004.

"It is understandable that people would have anxieties given that so many people from new member states have arrived," said the Commission's communications spokesman Mikolaj Dowgielewicz.

The British government said in October that some 427,000 workers had arrived from the newer member states since 2004, far more than planned for, and that this had a negative impact on housing and in some cases education.

Britain, which has championed mainly Muslim Turkey's quest to join Europe's rich club, has decided to be tougher on workers from Bulgaria and Romania, which will enter the bloc on January 1.

The poll also showed that public opinion in Spain, Turkey's other main backer, had cooled on enlargement, although one in two Spaniards still support the project.

Fifty-one percent of Spaniards support future expansion, a drop of four percentage points from last time.

More generally, enlargement is still favoured by the most recent entrants into the bloc, including the 10 which joined in the "big bang" of 2004, Greece, which became a member in 1981, and Portugal, which came on board in 1986.

Those least enthusiastic include Germany, with 30 percent in favour of future enlargement, Austria with 31 percent, Luxembourg at 32 percent and France with 34 percent, just below Britain.

The decline appears linked to general public disenchantment with the EU since the failure of the constitution, which was endorsed by all 25 EU leaders, ratified by 16 countries but rejected in French and Dutch referendums last year.

The document had to be ratified by all of them to come into force and those votes sent the Union spiralling into its worst-ever crisis. No concrete movement forward on the constitution is likely before 2008.

On the positive side, people in France and the Netherlands may be warming to the text again, the survey showed, although it was conducted during electioneering in both countries.

Support for the constitution rose five percentage points to 56 percent in France and six percentage points to 59 percent in the Netherlands.

However a Dutch poll conducted ahead of the general elections there last month showed that 64 percent of voters were still hostile to the constitution.

http://www.eubusiness.com/East_Europe/061218143028.zhhde9gk

Britain, Spain experiencing EU enlargement blues: poll
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18/12/2006

Britain and Spain, traditional backers of European Union enlargement, have seen national support for EU expansion decline markedly recently, according to a survey released Monday.

The Eurobarometer Autumn survey, conducted in September and October, suggests that enlargement fatigue has been growing in the two European heavyweights, if not among their political elites.

Only 36 percent of Britons questioned supported further EU enlargement in coming years -- a drop of eight percentage points from the last poll in the second quarter of this year -- putting it 21st on the list of 25 EU countries.

The European Commission, for whom the survey was carried out, put the result down to the arrival of immigrants into Britain and Spain from mainly eastern European countries that joined the EU in May 2004.

"It is understandable that people would have anxieties given that so many people from new member states have arrived," said the Commission's communications spokesman Mikolaj Dowgielewicz.

The British government said in October that some 427,000 workers had arrived from the newer member states since 2004, far more than planned for, and that this had a negative impact on housing and in some cases education.

Britain has decided to be tougher on workers from Bulgaria and Romania, which will join the bloc on January 1.

In Spain, most of the population remains favourable to enlargement, but only just. The survey found that 51 percent of Spaniards support future expansion, a drop of four percentage points from the last survey.

More generally, enlargement is still favoured by the most recent entrants into the bloc, including the 10 which joined in the "big bang" of 2004, Greece, which became a member in 1981, and Portugal, which came on board in 1986.

Those least inclined include Germany, with 30 percent in favour of future enlargement, Austria with 31 percent, Luxembourg at 32 percent and France with 34 percent, just below Britain.

http://www.eubusiness.com/East_Europe/061216112450.hp8esdcp

Blair sees way forward in Turkey's EU bid despite partial freeze
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16/12/2006

Turkey can advance its troubled bid to join the European Union despite a partial freeze of its membership talks over a trade dispute with Cyprus, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Saturday.

"I strongly support Turkey's membership of the European Union. I think and hope there is a way forward," Blair told a joint press conference here with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Blair, one of Turkey's top supporters in its bid to become an EU member, flew here Friday from an EU summit in Brussels at which leaders of the bloc suspended Ankara's accession talks in eight of the 35 policy chapters each candidate country must complete.

The sanctions were a response to Ankara's refusal to open its ports and airports to Cyprus, an EU member it does not recognise, despite a customs union accord it signed with the bloc last year.

Blair reassured Ankara that it was still possible for Turkey to gain momentum in its often tortuous accession negotiations, which only began in October 2005.

"I hope very much that it is possible for the European Union to show... there is still another 27 chapters that can be negotiated and I would like to see urgently as soon as possible some of that start to happen," he said.

Speaking before leaving for Cairo, the second-leg of a five-nation Middle East tour, Blair underlined Turkey's strategic importance to the European Union as a Muslim, secular country serving as a bridge between the East and the West.

"EU membership of Turkey is not just important for Turkey itself. In my view, it is of fundamental importance for the future of Europe," Blair said.

"If we needed no other reminder of Turkey's strategic importance to the European Union, it is what is happening in the Middle East today," he added.

Erdogan once again criticised as unfair the partial suspension of Ankara's membership talks, but said his country would not stray from the path of reform to bring itself closer to the bloc.

"The 40-odd-year Turkish-EU relationship has been reduced to secondary issues such as the opening of ports," Erdogan said. "The EU has been unfair to us."

He again called on EU leaders to deliver on their promises to break the isolation of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), which only Ankara recognises.

Turkey says it will not open its ports to Cypriot use unless the EU does so.

EU officials are expected to discuss the issue at ministerial talks in January.

Text and Picture Copyright © 2006 AFP. All other copyright © 2006 EUbusiness Ltd. All rights reserved. This material is intended solely for personal use. Any other reproduction, publication or redistribution of this material without the written agreement of the copyright owner is strictly forbidden and any breach of copyright will be considered actionable.

yea yea, we know strategic importance, bridge to the middle east. Give it a rest. Tell it to someone who actually believes you!
Posted by Kostazkoncepts at 16 December 2006
.
Replies to this comment
Well being a democractically elected head of a country, it would suggest that more people believe him than they do you. (Posted by Sol at 17 December 2006)
Give your head a shake. the only reason anybody believes a politician is because they are the uneducated majority. Nobody with any sense of logic believes what a politician says. Now the question is which what group do you fall. (Posted by Kostazkoncepts at 19 December 2006)
Turkey has been given 3 years to open its port & airports by the EU. Cyprus would find it very politically damaging to veto any chapters. They are further fenced in by certain countrys threatening direct flights, and opening diplomatic offices in the north.
Posted by Sol at 17 December 2006
The EU is firmly backing a return to the UN.

The UN will bring back a proposal which will almost certainly have large aspects of the Annan plan.

Since the Greek Cypriot government have been demonising that plan for so long it will be very difficult to get a Greek Cypriot "yes" vote.

A Greek NO vote would posibly lead quite quickly to the permant partitian of the island, and recongition of the TRNC.

The embargoes are crumbling. There is the oportunity to reach a fair agreement which takes nto consideration the suffering and injustices on BOTH sides.

The myth of asymetic suffering has no served anyone well.
Turkish Cyprus, UK Hopes Flights Resume, Bring Tourists
Posted by Eurocan at 17 December 2006

By Zaman Staff, Anadolu News Agency (aa), Nicosia
Sunday, December 17, 2006
zaman.com


The debate over Turkey’s EU bid and Cyprus continues unabated. Turkey’s membership has long ceased to be a question over EU enlargement but has taken on a political significance all of its own. The domestic policies of EU member countries have revealed rifts and division with the union.

Ankara has made the lifting of sanctions on Turkish Cyprus a lynchpin of the current stalemate in the European Union’s negotiations with Turkey. The question over how to proceed has drawn different reactions from different countries.


Ankara’s demand that direct international flights be allowed into the Turkish Cyprus’s Ercan airport was met with cautious support from Britain. Tony Blair said it was possible “if there were no legal obstacles.”


Greek Cypriot President Tasos Papadopoulos responded, “They have been trying to do so for three years but to no avail.”


He added, “the ‘if’ in this statement is a big ‘if.’ ”


Currently, Turkish Cyprus’s only air links with the outside world pass through Turkey. The northern side of the island benefits from British tourism, and direct flights from Britain would be a big boost to the Turkish Cypriot community.

Replies to this comment
As there are no UN sanctions flights would be legal. I think the only stumbling block would be the airport not being reconised by the international bodies which govern these things. But if you can get direct flights to Tiawan why not TRNC? (Posted by Sol at 17 December 2006)
Even if the airport is recognised internationally, European countries will still have to abide by Cypriot rule. The EU members have to respect another EU members air space. So the England thing is dead. (Posted by Kostazkoncepts at 19 December 2006)
Despite the chorus of pious hope, Turkey is not going to join the EU
Posted by Eurocan at 17 December 2006

There will be no place at the table for Ankara in any foreseeable future, and the most profound reason is geographical

Geoffrey Wheatcroft
Monday December 18, 2006

Guardian

Of all the temptations of journalism, prediction is the most dangerous. Soothsayers in our trade are usually made to look foolish by events. The best answer was given by the fabled correspondent in some distant spot who, asked by an importunate foreign desk (in the days of abbreviated cablese) to file "soonest,fullest,whatnext happens", responded succinctly: "Myballs uncrystal."
After that, let me say something simply and confidently: Turkey is not going to join the EU. "Not" does not mean "never" but in any foreseeable future, although you wouldn't know that from Tony Blair. He visited Turkey last Friday at the beginning of his latest forlorn, not to say fantastical, mission to bring peace to the Middle East, intoning the words: "It is important that we continue the process of accession with Turkey."

Nor would you know it from other exalted Euro-personages. Chancellor Angela Merkel has just joined the Social Democrats, her German coalition partners, in saying that full membership "would be worthwhile", one fine day. Erkki Tuomioja, the Finnish foreign minister, whose country's EU presidency is just coming to an end, says that "the door is still open", while Carl Bildt, the foreign minister, continues ardently to favour Turkish membership.

All these pious hopes are expressed at the very moment negotiations between Turkey and the EU have just hit one more pothole, with Brussels suspending talks as a punishment for Ankara's refusal to open its ports and airports to Greek Cyprus. This suspension was a "serious mistake", Blair says, and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister calls it "unacceptable".

By now the Turks should have learned that there is much they must accept whether they like it or not, and they have come to feel, not without reason, that when one obstacle is surmounted Europe will always find another. Turkey became an associate member of the EEC or Common Market as long ago as 1963, and in 1987 Ankara applied for full membership of the EU.

During the lengthy interlude came the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974 and in 1983 the creation of a Turkish Cypriot state, which no one but Ankara recognises. Turkey has a much better case over Cyprus than in other matters, and the despicable behaviour of the Greek Cypriot government - and electorate, when they voted against the reunification of the island once EU membership could not be revoked - has made Cyprus the least loved member state of the EU.

More serious objections are the patchy Turkish record (to put it mildly) on human rights. Turkey still does not enjoy what European countries consider a true rule of law or freedom of speech, and has not come to terms with its history, notably the fate of the Armenians.

Even then, the continual European hesitancy and changing of the tune might suggest bad faith. But that is not really so, and a better way of seeing it is as a kind of social embarrassment. Far from having embarked on an elaborate deception, Europe said something with good intentions but without really thinking it through, only to recognise slowly how grave the practical difficulties are. As a result, Turkey waits for church bells that never ring, while Europe, as one French diplomat puts it, is like a man with a mistress he doesn't want to lose, but doesn't want to marry, either. The trouble is that a moment passes, after which it's no longer easy or even possible to say this thing can work without causing pain.

For their part, the worst mistake the Turks have made is invoking US support. During yet another crisis between Ankara and Brussels a little more than a year ago, Erdogan rang Condoleezza Rice and asked for her help, to which the secretary of state duly responded by expressing yet again Washington's ardent support for Turkish admission to the EU - and thereby further enraging the Europeans.

As usual Blair takes the American line, arguing for Turkish admission on strategic grounds: it "has an importance not just in respect to Turkey but with wider relationships between the west and the Muslim world". Shutting the door will alienate Muslims everywhere, letting Turkey in will build a bridge between the west and the Islamic world.

But another way of putting it is that Europe is being asked to make a huge sacrifice to gratify American strategic interests. Whatever Blair may think, this doesn't meet with universal favour. As the former European commissioner Chris Patten has sarcastically said, it is very good of the Americans to keep offering Turkey admission to the EU, but this is a question on which Europeans might want to have some say themselves.

Neither Blair nor his American friends have noticed that there has scarcely been a less propitious moment for Turkish admission in these 40 years. Turkish sensitivity about being excluded from a "Christian club" is quite misplaced: Europe today isn't a Christian anything, and even fear of radical Islamism is not the main factor. More important is the hangover from previous EU expansion - and the Turkish question also illustrates the gulf between "the soi-disant elites", as that contrarian French politician Jean-Pierre Chevènement calls them, personified by Blair, Tuomioja and Bildt, and the actual peoples of Europe.

In May 2004, eastern European countries that had been sundered from their neighbours by 60 years of war and cold war were admitted to "our common European home" and very moving it was. After the elation, Europe woke up to realise that its 10 new member states now comprised a quarter of its population while providing a 20th of its economic product, and that's before Romania and Bulgaria join in the new year, let alone Turkey, with a per-capita income one-tenth of the British, and a child mortality rate 10 times the French.

A year later, the French and Dutch referendums, which turned down the new EU constitution, were a hostile response to that expansion, and by implication to Turkish admission. For all Blair's high-sounding platitudes, that new mood has been caught by other European politicians. Nicolas Sarkozy, the French interior minister who is almost certain to be the conservative candidate - and favourite - in May's presidential elections, is an open opponent of Turkish membership, and is "happy to see that these ideas are gaining ground". As he might say, building bridges between the west and Islam, and sapping the roots of terrorism, are doubtless worthy objectives, but since when did they become the purpose of the EU?

In the end, the problem is less cultural or economic or religious than simply geographical. This is something we have only slowly woken up to, but it explains why Turkey will not join for a very long time, if ever. Bildt says, solemnly and dubiously, that "there is no doubt that Turkey is a part of Europe", but a French politician has put it another way: can we really have a Europe that extends to the borders of Iraq? Many ordinary Europeans seem to know the answer to that better than their rulers.


Replies to this comment
And very interesting comment to that article in the Guardian (Posted by Eurocan at 17 December 2006)
And the 'wonderful' Annan Plan... (Posted by Eurocan at 17 December 2006)
The EU, the US, the UN, and even Greece thought the Annan plan fair. There is a myth of asymetic suffering in Cyprus which the Annan plan did not believe. (Posted by Sol at 18 December 2006)
As for the Annan plan.... (Posted by Eurocan at 18 December 2006)
That is one person opinion, for which he has failed to explain or argue on several issues. (Posted by Sol at 18 December 2006)
wrong turkish calculations
Posted by FrenchCow at 18 December 2006
turkish politicans have made several mistakes:
-> Call for US support. But US and NATO are not EU.
there is a clear anti-US feeling in europe since iraqi war !!
Each times Turkish politicians will ask for US support they will lose
both EU politicians and public support.
-> Try to play hard on cyprus. Many Europeans politicians will try to find
any reason to stop turkey accession. The only way for turkey is to drop everything on Cyprus. Cyprus is a to easy argument to prevent Trukey talks.
 

http://www.eubusiness.com/East_Europe/061215162433.74qcrp2g

Blair in Ankara to confim British support for Turkey's EU bid
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15/12/2006

British Prime Minister Tony Blair arrived in Ankara on Friday on the first leg of a Middle East tour designed to advance the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process and discuss Turkey's bid to join the European Union.

Blair flew in from Brussels, where he had attended a two-day summit of EU leaders that endorsed the partial suspension of Turkey's accession talks, mainly over an unresolved trade dispute with EU member Cyprus.

London has been one of Ankara's strongest supporters in its attempt to join the 25-member bloc, arguing that Turkish accession could help bridge the gap between East and West, Christian and Muslim, and could help stabilise the Middle East.

Blair is expected to reiterate his government's support for Turkey's reform programme when he meets Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for talks and a private dinner later on Friday.

Details are expected at a press conference on Saturday morning.

Blair's official spokesman said the visit had been included in his wider Middle East tour because of Turkey's key role in the region.

"We've never made any secret of the fact that part of the reason we believe Turkey is important and why we support its EU accession is because we believe it is important to support moderate Muslim opinion," he said.

"Turkey is important in terms of its influence and its connections with the Middle East as a whole and therefore the influence it can bring to bear on Israel and Palestine," he said.

The spokesman put a positive spin on the partial suspension of Turkish accession talks.

"The Prime Minister recognises that Turkey, inevitably, will be disappointed that there is a slow-down in accession. He also recognises that there are concerns with other member states.

"The important thing is that it is eight out of 35 areas that have been slowed. The other 27 are moving forward," he said.

Text and Picture Copyright © 2006 AFP. All other copyright © 2006 EUbusiness Ltd. All rights reserved. This material is intended solely for personal use. Any other reproduction, publication or redistribution of this material without the written agreement of the copyright owner is strictly forbidden and any breach of copyright will be considered actionable.

Enlargement worries.....
Posted by Eurocan at 15 December 2006
BBC World Service, December 15, 2006

So the leaders have in effect agreed to make it more difficult for countries to join in the future, while stressing that expansion is a good idea and should carry on.

Britain argues that no new obstacles have been placed in the way of continued expansion, but I am not so sure.

They have agreed to look at the impact the new country would make on the European Union, and the EU's ability to "absorb" it.

While they have only agreed to communicate better with the public, the Mr Barroso has said that democratic approval is also important.

What difference will this make?


Turkey was what this summit was all about
Consider this hypothetical situation. Imagine a new country wants to join and it is bigger than any existing country. So, in terms of votes and members of the European Parliament the new member would be the most powerful in the club.

Imagine that this country was also quite poor, and that its huge population would not only give it political power but would have implications for immigration that would make the British tabloids fears about Bulgaria and Romania pale into insignificance.

Imagine that many EU members and citizens are none too keen on this country because of deep historical, cultural and religious differences. And then think what any "impact assessment" might say about it joining.

You could easily think this hypothetical situation is dreamt up to show one extreme of the argument. But it is a precise description of Turkey, a largely Muslim country which, whenever it is ready to join, will have a larger population than any other country in the European Union.

It's true Mr Barroso went out of his way to stress that the EU was an "open house" and "we have clearly left the door open for Turkey".

It's true he said that it was the duty of politicians to stress the positive and not only listen to concerns.

But I have a feeling the argument about Turkey's failure to open its ports and airports to traffic from Cyprus will be as nothing compared to any assessment of its impact on the existing union.

Thanks to an agreement reached by foreign ministers on Monday, the word "Turkey" was not formally uttered at this summit. But that is what it was all about.
+++++++

Great analysis.



Replies to this comment
fact (Posted by referendumpetition at 15 December 2006)
Hang on, a few years later we were fighting against the Ottoman empire. (Posted by Sol at 16 December 2006)
And Bulgaria's recent historty is a bit dodgy, remeber what happened only a fe years ago to ethnic Turks, who were Bulgarian citizens. (Posted by Sol at 16 December 2006)
Money where your mouth is...
Posted by dpac at 15 December 2006
If the British, are so keen on Turkey, then there is nothing stopping them from improving bilateral ties between themselves. Why does'nt Britain allow visa free enntry for all Turkish nationals?
Replies to this comment
We are not allowed to under EU rules... (Posted by Sol at 16 December 2006)
Blair also called the embargoes against the people of the nort of Cyprus "greaty unfair", and went as far as saying that if there are no legal blocks the UK will allow direct flights to the north
Posted by Sol at 16 December 2006
As the embargoes are not backed by the UN, there should be no legal block.

In fact thinking about it, if they are not backed by the UN, surly the embargoes themselves are illegal?
Europe’s Encounter with Islam: What Future?
Posted by timbuktu at 16 December 2006
extract of article by Nilufer Gole
in
Constellations Volume 13, No 2, 2006.
...
2. Is “Identifying” Europe “Othering” Turkey?
It was a widely shared feeling for Turks that Turkey in joining European Union
was to complete, somewhat naturally, the long historical course of Westernization
that started in the late nineteenth century. The European ideals had already
shaped Ottoman reformist intellectuals, “young Ottomans” and “jeunes Turcs,”
formed by the influence of French positivist thought and the Jacobin tradition
prior to the Republican era. The foundation of the Turkish nation-state under the
leadership of Atatürk in 1923 can be read as a culmination of this process, but a
radical step, almost a civilizational shift, turning away from the heritage of the
Ottoman Empire to embrace a “new life” and a new nationhood that would make
it part of “civilized nations.”
However, from the point of view of European nations, Turkish integration with
the European Union, although a process that was welcomed by European politicians
in the past and started with the economic “Ankara agreement” in 1963, did
not seem to be that natural from the prism of the present-day politics. Turkish
candidacy became the most controversial issue with the meeting of the European
Council in Copenhagen (12 December 2002) to decide the calendar for opening
negotiations with Turkey. The debate started in France, where, unlike in
Germany, the Turkish immigrant population is not a major issue. The words of
Giscard d’Estaing, former president of the French Republic and president of the
Convention on the Future of Europe, initiated the debate on the entry of Turkey
by putting “difference” on the public agenda and saying that “Turkey is not a
European country, its capital is not in Europe.” It is part of “another culture,
another way of life” and its integration will mark “the end of Europe.” His arguments
made their way into public opinion, found echoes among politicians, intellectuals,
and journalists, independent of their prior political views and differing
convictions on other subjects. The Turkish issue ended up reshuffling political
alliances and creating a new consensus among those who were until then in
opposing camps and blurred the very deep divide between the left and the right in
France. The number of articles published in the newspapers, panels on television,
public spokespersons, and books on Turkey indicated the intensity and longevity
of the debate that was carried into different spheres of public life, opening up a
new market for publication and communication, but also for politics. The boundaries
of the public incessantly expanded from mass media discussions, newspaper
articles, and social scientific conferences to everyday conversations in marketplaces,
at dinner tables, and among neighbors or strangers.
The arguments against Turkish membership in the European Union did not
remain the same. The Turkish agenda of the 1970s was mainly determined by the
violation of human rights, the repression of Kurdish nationalism, the influence of
the military in Turkish political life, the Cyprus discord with Greece, and the
official denial of Armenian genocide. But the controversy, although including
some of those questions, was not triggered by questions that can be considered as
the “Turkish problem file.” On the contrary, the debate started when the Turkish
file was getting thinner, when Turkey had started, as observers would put it, “to
do her homework,” to resolve some of the problems in her file and hence become
eligible for European membership. When Turkey started to get closer to European
criteria of democracy, arguments against Turkish membership were articulated in
offensive, not to say aggressive tones, to the surprise of pro-European Turkish
democrats.
One of the new arguments concerned the question of European territory. Turkey
is not part of European geography, let alone history, and threatened, in the eyes of
many, the unity of Europe in geographical terms, representing an unlimited
enlargement of frontiers. “Why not Morocco? Why not Russia?,” were among the
arguments used to denote the “absurdity” of Turkish membership. Including
Turkey would mean expanding the European borders towards the East, and
becoming neighbors with those unwanted, risky countries. Another line of argument
concerned economic factors, and basically the impoverishment of Europe
by the recent newcomers to Europe. Turkey appeared as a burden that Europe
would not be capable of including into its system (economic but also political –
Turkish members in the European parliament would outweigh other countries)
without a high cost. Above all, Turkey was not a small country, and bringing
more than 50 million “Muslims” into Europe would make a difference.
The debate on Turkish membership became a concern for all when it started to
become a concern for definitions of Europe’s frontiers, values, and future. Turkey
became a catalyst, but also the “other” for self-definition of what it was to be
defined as a European. In that sense, “othering” Turkey became a way of
“identifying” Europe. The need for an “alterité ” to define European identity was
integrated into the political discourse of those skeptical of Turkish membership in
Europe. Turkey entering Europe would mean, as a Dutch commissioner for the
European Union (Frits Bolkestein) argued prior to entry talks with Turkey,
forgetting 1683, when the siege of Vienna was lifted and the Ottoman army was
defeated. (One legend is that the “croissant” was invented in Vienna to celebrate
the defeat of the Turkish siege, as a reference to the crescent on the Turkish
flags). Hence the memory of the past entered into present-day cleavages and
controversies. The objection of Austria, until the very last minute, to opening
negotiations with Turkey (3 October 2005) had something to do with these
memories. (Austria agreed to shelve her objections on the condition that Croatia
also begin membership talks.)
The opening of talks with Turkey is an important date, but it brings to an end
neither the public debate nor the process of integration, which will take decades.
One should notice an important shift that has occurred in European politics and
transferred the power of decision-makers to opinion-makers. The issues related to
the European Union, formerly in the hands of Eurocrats and resolved in Brussels,
moved to national publics and became part of a societal debate. The idea of popular
sovereignty that is extended and juxtaposed from nation-state politics to the
EU illustrates this shift. The idea of a democratic Europe came to mean building
Europe from below – whence the necessity of consulting the people, and therefore
a consensus on the need for referenda, whether on the European constitution
or Turkish membership. The idea of a referendum on Turkey, as one might
expect, is mostly defended by opponents of the Turkish candidacy, counting on
the popular vote for its rejection in ten years time.

3. The Working of the European Perspective in Turkey
Ten years time seems sufficiently long for Turks to transform their society. In ten
years time, according to some Turkish democratic intellectuals, Turkey will
achieve a level of democratic stability such that rejection in the European countries
will not have a drastic effect. In a way, the optimists think that the presence
of European prospects would have fulfilled their role. Such an argument might
sound like wishful thinking or a way of de-dramatizing European anti-Turkish
attitudes, but it also illustrates the confidence of Turkish intellectuals in the
impact of the European perspective already at work in Turkey.
The European perspective forced Turkey to introduce a reform of the
republican definition of citizenship in order to be in harmony with democratic and
pluralistic definitions of ethnic, political, religious, and individual rights. Turkish
republicanism as the nation-state ideology has been founded on two pillars:
secularism and nationalism, referred to as Kemalism (the name of the founding
father of the Republic, Kemal Ataturk). But these principles were coupled with
monoculture definitions of society, giving rise to anti-democratic interpretations
of these principles, namely authoritative secularism and assimilative nationalism.
The working of the European project in Turkey meant dismantling the authoritarian
and assimilative nature of republicanism.
Four concrete examples illustrate the ways in which Turkish society is overcoming
authoritarian tendencies, breaking down taboos, and getting onto a similar
wavelength, not without inner tension and confrontation, with European
democracies.
1. The first tension in the Turkish political system is between authoritarian
secularism and democracy. We can speak of a vicious circle that can be seen in
many other Muslim countries that were engaged with values of secularism and
modernity, but at the expense of democratic pluralistic politics. Secular reforms
were implemented in the 1920s, mainly by means of single-party authoritarian
rules. An opening of a democratic space usually profits to those who were
excluded, in this case Muslim groups searching for public recognition and political
representation. To protect the secular state and the principles of the Republic,
the military does not mind putting democracy into brackets. (Algerian parliamentary
elections in 1992 were a dramatic example of such a dilemma; The
Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) won, but the army dissolved the parliament and
cancelled the elections in order to prevent Muslim fundamentalists having access
to power.) The Turkish army sees itself as the guardian of the secular Republic
and therefore occupies a central position in the political life. For democratization,
there is a need to create a consensual “secularism,” and not an exclusionary,
authoritarian one. This is possible only if there is a democratic space, shared by
religious and secular – the former giving up the absolutism of the religious truthregime,
the latter giving up its claims of hegemony over society. The party of Justice
and Development, the AKP, which had Islamic roots, won the 2002 general
elections by democratic means and came to power in Turkey. We can speak of a
building-up of a democratic consensus between secular and religious publics
through an interactive process that transformed both parties. In that respect, what
Jürgen Habermas describes as a cognitive precondition for a religious-secular
dialogue, is engaged in Turkey. Furthermore, rather than a mere discursive debate
between two supposedly fixed identities, the interaction transforms and opens up
a new intermediate spaces for self-definition and democracy.
In spite of the ongoing cleavages and conflicts between hard-line Islamists and
secularist establishment, Turkish society has experienced, especially during the
last two decades, a “fall of the wall” that separated and divided two Turkeys; one
composed of, educated, urban, westward-looking secularist upper and middle
classes (“white turks”) and the other of the faith-driven lower-middle classes
(“black turks” – Ismet Ozel, a well known poet, has considered Muslims in
Turkey as “Turkey’s blacks”) from Anatolian towns. The course of upward social
mobility changed the life-trajectories of many of those belonging to the latter
group (turned them “grey”), who got access to higher education in the 1960s with
emigration to the cities, profited from new market opportunities that expanded in
the 1980s, and gained political power with the victory of the Party of Justice and
Development. The thinning of the wall between the two faces of Turkey brought
different publics and cultural codes in close contact and interaction, albeit with
intense conflict, yet transforming the mutual conceptions of Muslim and secular
publics and limiting the latter’s claims of hegemony. During the last two decades,
the frontiers between the two publics became more porous and leading spokespersons
of Muslim, leftist, and liberal movements engage in public debates, participate
in round-tables, but also cross the borders and address each others’ publics.
Well known public intellectuals from the leftist movement started to write in
conservative religious or radical Islamic newspapers (Zaman or Yeni Safak),
while those from Islamic movement turned their attention to secular publics and
media (as in the case of Ahmet Hakan, the popular anchorman of Islamic local
television, who became a columnist in the secular mainstream daily Hurriyet).
Such success-driven trans-public crossings were unthinkable in the 1980s; they
helped establish bridges of dialogue between divided publics, and created a new
mental space for linking the two faces of Turkey, secular and Muslim, in a more
interactive way that generates transformation and not mere hybridism.
The democratic sphere gained momentum to the extent that the polarization
between the secularist and Islamist publics was played down, leading to an intermediary
space of debate and representation. The European prospect reinforced
this democratic momentum and created a new political agenda of reform. The
mobilization of human rights movements in civil society, the formation of a
public opinion in favor of these reforms, and the determination of the government
and the political classes all culminated in a series of reforms that were passed by
parliamentary vote in 2002–2003 to harmonize the Turkish legal system with the
Copenhagen criteria.
2. One major example is the abolition of the death penalty, a widely shared societal
value in Europe, in contradistinction with American society. The Turkish
parliament voted in favor of the abolishment of death penalty on 2 August 2002, a
first in a Muslim country. More than expressing the desire to embrace European
values or just to please Europeans, as cynical observers would think, the abolition
of capital punishment deepened the political divide and confrontation with
extreme-right nationalists because it came to be related with a more fundamental
problem, namely the Kurdish question. At the time the death penalty was
discussed, the leader of the Kurdish movement was in prison facing a death sentence.
The death penalty would not have gained the prominence it has had if not
for the fact that it concerned the fate of jailed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)
leader Abdullah Ocalan, responsible for terrorist acts. In spite of the nationalists’
objections, the law passed – a victory of reformists against nationalists. Turkey
skeptics dismissed these reforms as “paper” and “cosmetic,” that is superficial.
3. The third crucial moment came when the Turkish parliamentary vote (on
March 1, 2003) denied the US its request to attack Iraq from Turkish soil. Such a
rupture with American policy was unexpected and interpreted as a turning-point in
Turkish-American relations. There was no majority vote, and the outcome of the
parliamentary vote represented the divide that many Turkish citizens felt inside
themselves: they thought the war was unjust, but they feared harming the alliance
with the United States. Turkish anti-war demonstrations were on the same wavelength
as the European peace movements. They were in favor of peace rather than
religious fraternity. Turkey, long-term ally of the United States and candidate for
membership in the European Union, found herself in the divide between the two.
The European powers did not read the Turkish refusal as a sign of sharing the
“European peace sensibility” or a maturation of democracy. The Arab intellectuals
did; Turkey gained respectability in their eyes to the extent that it articulated a
decision autonomous from the US and relied on public opinion and parliamentary
power to say no to the American policy. Europeans, however, missed the democratic
aspect of the decision. They suspected Turkey of a hidden agenda to invade
the North of Iraq and prevent the establishment of an autonomous Kurdish state.
My point here is not to judge the plausibility of such arguments, but to point out
the failure of European politics to hear and support the emerging democratic
voices in Turkey.
4. The fourth and last topic concerns the Armenian question – still a major taboo
for Turkish nationalism. The official view of the past is based on the suppression
and denial of the 1915 genocide that created a sort of forced short-memory and
diffused amnesia for generations of Turks. Therefore there are two aspects of the
problem. One question is remembering the past and the second is developing and
expressing points of view that are independent of the official one. The choice of
words to label the events – deportation, ethnic cleansing, massacres, or genocide – is
becoming a battleground for the public debate that is beginning, albeit under nationalist
pressure and juridical intimidation. The debate has been initiated by few
Turkish intellectuals; historians, including those of the Armenian community, who
challenged the ideological version of the events, defying the taboos of Turkish
nationalism and exploring new ways of relating to the trauma of the Armenians
and developing a new narrative on the historical past. In this respect, the Istanbul
conference signaled a new period. The conference brought together Turkish historians
who wanted to pursue a free discussion of Turkey’s Armenian past. Despite
pressures and postponement, it was at last held at Bilgi University in September
2005. It marked a collective effort to break away from official discourse and to
confront the Turkish nationalism with its own past.
Alongside these historically constructed points of view that challenge the
established ideology, there are also voices and images that bring forth the past
memory. I think of the post cards exhibition in Istanbul illustrating the lives of
Armenians all over Turkey prior to the events. The autobiographical book written
by a woman human rights lawyer, Fethiye Çetin, “My Grandmother” (“anneannem”)
and published in Istanbul in 2004, is another breakthrough in public consciousness.
She tells the story of her discovery of her grandmother as Armenian.
The writer follows her grandmother’s life, gives an account of the past, breaks the
silence on the subject, but also gives many other people the possibility of remembering
and discovering their Armenian ascendance.
The presence of European perspectives in Turkey unties the knots of identity as it
dismantles national myths. It is not a linear, peaceful, once and for all process; it
is an ongoing process and battle. In the eyes of many hard-line nationalists and
secularists (“laïcards”), Europe, in forcing Turkey in the direction of democratization
and demilitarization, endangers the stability of the country, opening up a
gate for the escalating demands of Kurdish nationalists, religious fundamentalists,
and the Armenian diaspora.
I am trying not to argue for a problem-free society but on the contrary to
illustrate, by means of concrete but significant cases, the ways in which Turkish
society names the problems it faces, tries to bring into public awareness those
subjects that were kept out of sight, repressed, or forgotten, and frames them
politically. The honor crimes follow the same political pattern: with the help of
feminist organizations, the issue is brought to public attention, calling for new
legislation. It is rather the “way” of politicizing the issues, carrying them from
silenced arenas (whether by shame or repression) and giving them plurality of
voice and visibility in the public sphere that I describe the existence of a democratic
pattern.
In France, a debate on the legitimacy of Turkish membership, as I have argued,
started the moment Turkey accomplished many of the requirements, getting closer
to the standards set by the EU. Once again one should note that it is the proximity,
the encounter between the two, which is the source of conflict and controversy.
Turkish membership triggered an anxiety of loss and a desire for boundary maintenance.
The question of geographical frontiers, civilizational belonging, religious
differences, and past memories entered into the debate as a constellation of
insurmountable differences, setting a new agenda. Europe, until then left in the
hands of Eurocrats, made its way into public debate, recomposing the political
and intellectual arena independent of left-right, secular-religious, liberalrepublican,
feminist-conservative divisions. Identifying Europe meant “othering”
Turkey. Throughout these debates, Europe is constructed as an identity defined
by shared history and common cultural values rather than as a project for the
future. It is in contexts outside the core countries of Europe (for instance in Spain,
Portugal, and Greece) that Europe appears as a project and has the power to
induce democratization. In Turkey, where Europeanness is not part of a “natural”
historical legacy, it is appropriated voluntarily as a political project, as a perspective,
promising a democratic frame for rethinking commonness and difference.
In sum, Turkish candidacy reveals the difference between Europe as a project
and Europe as an identity. For the European countries there is not difference but
continuity between the two: the EU is the European identity writ large. Secondly,
the Islamic presence in Europe reveals the tensions between the universalism of
Europe and the Judeo-Christian legacy. The European claims for universalism and
its limits are tested and defied by Turkish membership as well as by Muslim
migrants within Europe.

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EU leaders endorse enlargement slow down
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Finnish prime minister Matti Vanhanen (L) with European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso - Photo EU presidency
Finnish prime minister Matti Vanhanen (L) with European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso - Photo EU presidency
15/12/2006

European Union leaders on Friday put the lid on further enlargement of the bloc until the necessary institutional reforms can be agreed and the whole process gains wide public support.

With Bulgaria and Romania set to become the EU's 26th and 27th member countries in a fortnight, the leaders confirmed that they were applying the brakes to further expansion, possibly until the end of the decade.

They also endorsed a decision to partially block EU membership talks with Turkey, by freezing eight of the 35 policy chapters which it must negotiate before being allowed to join.

Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said that previous enlargements had been successful and that the EU leaders had "mapped out the best ways to ensure that future enlargement is also successful".

"It is important that the candidate countries meet the requirements and that the Union is able to operate effectively and to develop," added Vanhanen, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency until the end of the year.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the EU was ready to work on its constitutional treaty under the six-month German presidency of the bloc, which starts on January 1, 2007.

"This summit sends out the message that we want to get our house in order," he said.

"This summit sends the message that ours will remain an open house. We have given new impetus to the aspirations of the Western Balkans and we have clearly kept the door open for Turkey."

Officials stressed the need to bring the public on board with EU plans.

"European leaders have the responsibility to debate, to explain, to give some evidence about what enlargement means," said Barroso.

The summit decisions will have major repercussions for Turkey and EU hopefuls in the Balkans like Croatia, which is at the front of the queue and expected to join by 2010.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who flew to Turkey immediately after the two-day summit, is one of the most supportive in the EU to Ankara's cause. "For the EU and also Britain, it is important that we continue the process to accession with Turkey and we do not shut the door to Turkey's membership," he said.

Perhaps the biggest obstacle to overcome is the EU constitution, the blueprint for its future that was left in tatters last year after it was rejected in referendums by voters in France and the Netherlands.

Sixteen member countries have ratified the text, plus Bulgaria and Romania which will join on January 1, but it has to be endorsed by all before it could legally take effect.

Encapsulated in it are reforms that would allow the Union to operate more smoothly and efficiently as it expands but the document has been in deep freeze during a prolonged "period of reflection" about what to do next.

Germany, which takes over the EU presidency next month, is expected to revive talks on the constitution, though probably not using that term, and plot a roadmap for its acceptance.

Spain and Luxembourg invited member countries that have already ratified the moribund constitution to meet in Madrid next month to weigh up options for reviving the project.

And the German government is seeking interlocutors from each member state to begin discussions as early as January 2.

While no substantive decisions are expected before France takes over the EU presidency in the second half of 2008, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was looking forward to tackling the challenges facing the Union.

There is "a good climate in which to resolve certain issues", Merkel said. Looking further down the enlargement road, the EU leaders also reaffirmed that Serbia was welcome to eventually join the bloc. The country is currently in the throes of a tense election campaign dominated by Kosovo's hopes for independence.

The EU also committed itself to boosting the fight against illegal immigration, by increasing frontier controls and opening centres in countries in Africa with high levels of emmigrants to try to regulate the process.

The leaders warned Iran and Syria against meddling in the affairs of their neighbours and demanded they adopt more "responsible" stances if they hope to improve ties with the bloc.

They encouraged the Middle East Quartet -- grouping the EU, the United Nations, the United States and Russia -- to "stand ready to lead an effort by the international community to build on the outcome of successful negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians".

http://www.eubusiness.com/East_Europe/061214194211.nywkrrp3

EU: Blair not looking for row over Turkey
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14/12/2006

British Prime Minister Tony Blair is eager to argue Turkey's case for EU membership but will not go looking to pick a fight on the issue, his spokesman said in Brussels Thursday.

Blair has been the chief cheerleader within the European Union for Turkey joining the club, championing the country as a beacon for moderate Muslim democracy, as he takes the battle to Islamist extremists in Britain and abroad.

EU leaders began a two-day summit in Brussels on Thursday that will see them slow down the process of enlarging the 25-member bloc until they can reform the its creaking institutions.

And Turkey's accession in particular was pushed off the agenda Monday when EU foreign ministers agreed to freeze its entry negotiations on certain criteria for failing to fulfill its trade obligations to Cyprus.

But Blair will make his outlook plain to counterparts if the chance arises, as he prepares a visit to the Middle East to drum up support for moderate Muslims.

"In terms of Turkey, our position is still that we very much believe in and support their candidacy," Blair's official spokesman insisted.

"Of course, they have to meet all necessary criteria, but we still remain very strong supporters.

"If people want to talk about Turkey, the prime minister is quite happy to. What he's not going to do is specially make a statement.

"If there is a discussion, he is quite happy to, and indeed eager to, argue the case for Turkish accession."

The spokesman stressed that Blair was heading to the Middle East shortly in his bid to forge an "arc of moderation" across the region -- with Turkish acceptance into the EU forming a cornerstone of his vision.

Britain has troops battling Islamic extremists in Afghanistan and Iraq and has been the victim of home-grown Islamist suicide bombers, who killed 52 people in attacks on the London transport system last year.

And since the deadly blasts, Blair's drive to back voices of moderate Islam in Britain and abroad has only intensified.

However, his vision for Turkey becoming one of the two biggest states in the EU seems set to be put on a backburner by the European Council -- the 25 EU heads of state or government.

Making progress on reforming the EU's institutions before allowing new members in was to be the key theme of their summit.

Finland, hosting the get-together as the current EU president, made clear Thursday that "the line is quite clear" from Monday's freeze on entry negotiations on eight of the 35 chapters all candidates must complete.

"The important thing about what the foreign minsters agreed on Monday is that 27 of the 35 criteria are still open," Blair's spokesman said.

He added: "We do believe that candidates for enlargement should meet the criteria that are set down. What we do not believe is that there should be any new criteria imposed on them.

"We, as always, remain keen to keep moving forward."

Text and Picture Copyright © 2006 AFP. All other copyright © 2006 EUbusiness Ltd. All rights reserved. This material is intended solely for personal use. Any other reproduction, publication or redistribution of this material without the written agreement of the copyright owner is strictly forbidden and any breach of copyright will be considered actionable.

Turkish documentary slanders Sweden
Posted by Eurocan at 14 December 2006


Published: 14th December 2006
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/5799/

A documentary shown by Turkey's state broadcaster, TRT, earlier this week depicts Sweden as a barbarian land responsible for the genocide of Sami and Roma peoples. Sweden's acts of ethnic cleansing are said to have continued until the 1980s.

"I have never seen anything like it. From start to finish the programme was twisted and full of lies," Turkish journalist Yavuz Baydar told Sveriges Radio.


A representative for Sveriges Radio, Kerstin Brunnberg, was interviewed in connection with the film. In the version given by the documentary her voice is dubbed into Turkish and she confirms Sweden's systematic destruction of the Sami peoples. Brunnberg has described the interview as "absurd".

The film has come for severe criticism from various quarters in Turkey. The Swedish embassy in Ankara and the Turkish foreign ministry have both reacted to the content of the film, according to Sveriges Radio.

TRT had planned to show the film a total of eight times but has now removed it from its schedule until further notice.

Yavuz Baydar thinks that the documentary may be the work of ultra-nationalists intent on keeping Turkey out of the EU. One tactic is to portray EU member states in a very unflattering light, and in this case Sweden has borne the brunt of the film maker's ire.

"It is portrayed as an ugly country where it is impossible to live, a country characterised by tremendous violence, a country where minorities live in fear," said Baydar.

Paul O'Mahony
 

http://www.eubusiness.com/Institutions/061213170338.1bf6mkij

European parliament votes for reforms ahead of more enlargement
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13/12/2006

The European parliament on Wednesday voted in favour of getting the bloc's constitutional house in order before admitting any more member states.

The Euro MPs agreed by 398 votes to 99, with 36 abstentions, that "ahead of any future enlargement it is necessary to reform the European Union to allow it to function in a more efficient, transparent and democratic manner".

The vote does not question the integration of Bulgaria and Romania which will join the bloc next month.

However the proposition acknowledged that the Union is currently confronted with "difficulties to honour its commitments towards South-East European countries" and called for a series of institutional changes to improve its "integration capacity".

MEPs urged the EU governments to "conclude the constitutional process by the end of 2008", pointing out that the treaty in force -- the Treaty of Nice -- "does not provide an adequate basis for future enlargements".

They want the necessary reforms to be ready before the next European elections in 2009 "so as to avoid a delay in current accession negotiations", notably those with Croatia which is at the head of the queue.

An attempt to draw up a new draft constitution for the block was scuppered by French and Dutch voters at referendums last year.

The European Parliament supported the position taken months ago by the EU's executive arm the European Commission.

"A constitutional solution should have been reached by the time the next new member is likely to be ready to join the Union," Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn told the parliament during the debate.

EU heads of state and government begin a two-day summit in Brussels on Thursday and are also expected to endorse that position, which has wide support.