The Agenda

Author: Prof. Dr. Ramazan Gözen of Ankara's Çankaya University

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Palazs, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband have made statements, in which they said that Turkey is part of Europe and should certainly be a full member of the European Union. Frattini said Turkey's EU membership is as important as the peace between Germany-France and the tearing down of the Berlin Wall , and stressed Italy does not want to lose Turkey.

These statements and the praise of Turkey do not naturally mean that Turkey's EU membership is a foregone conclusion because there are some countries who are flatly opposed to Turkey's full membership and who come up with models alternative to full membership. Germany, France and Austria are the countries leading the negative front against Turkey. They are strongly in favour of Turkey being NOT granted full membership and propose a status they call priviliged partnership for Turkey. This alternative model is something Turkey outright rejects.

We can say there are two fronts within the EU regarding Turkey's full membership. The countries led by France and Germany which are against Turkey being admitted and those led by Britain and Italy which want to see Turkey a full member spearhead the two opposing fronts. However, grouping by country may be misleading. For example, Germany who is now opposed to Turkey's EU full membership, was as enthusiastic as Britain at the 1999 Helsinki Summit for Turkey to be granted the candidate status.

So, it could be more appropriate to make an assessment of the views on Turkey's membership on the basis of what the political parties, intellectuals and peoples say. Discussions in this regard can be divided into four: The first is in the context of party ideologies. Social democrats, greens, liberals and left parties, intellectuals and civic organizations greet Turkey's membership favourably. These parties and intellectuals have freedom-oriented, cosmopolitan and secular views.On the other hand, conservative, nationalistic and Christian democrat parties raise massive objections to Turkey's membership and defend the view that privileged partnership is what Turkey should have as an alternative to full membership.

Why the latter group think this way is because they are religiously and socio-culturally reactionary and conservative.

The second pertains to political vision and includes the culturalists and strategists. The culturalists believe that the EU is a body consisting of the countries with a common culture, which they contend , is based on Christianity, Greek civilization and Roman Law. Those in this group attributing quite some importance to the religion factor also weigh heavy. The culturalists say that as Turkey is a country of a different religion and culture, it should remain outside the borders of EU. The Strategists say that the EU should act with an eye to what is happening globally in order to safeguard its interests.

As a result of this approach, they say it is imperative such a strategically important country as Turkey be taken onboard for the EU to assume more power and exercise more influence in world politics, and they contend Turkey located at the heart of the Middle East, the Balkans, the Mediterranean and the Caucasus will boost EU's capabilities.

The third discussions is about a group comprised of the Europeanists and the Atlanticists within the context of the European identity and trans-atlantic relations. The Europeanists say that the EU as a separate entity should have an exclusive identity. The European identity denotes the EU having its own independent decisions and policies in the areas of security, politics and defense. The Europeanists want NATO's mission in Europe to be scaled down to be replaced by an autonomous and exclusively European military and security structure and army. However, the Atlanticists who account for the majority of EU countries do not support a security and defense identity independent from NATO and the United States.

The Europeanists, citing Turkey's non-EU identity and its trans-atlanticist structure as a state , argue that it should not be an EU member. The trans-atlanticists who trust the security and defense safeguards of NATO and the US, however, have been trying for Turkey to be included in the Union because they feel Turkey closer to their group. Britain and Italy are today from this group. It is worth remembering at this point that the US who serves as the boss of trans-atlantic relations gives solid support to Turkey's EU bid.

The European peoples and non-governmental organizations who are the most influential factor where Turkey's EU bid is concerned constitute the fourth group in the discussions. EU nations are important not only because of what democracy dictates but also Turkey's membership is finally down to the support to be given by the people.

Turkey's EU membership is neither possible nor logical if the EU nations do not adopt the idea of Turkey being included in the Union. Well, what is the general view of Europeans regarding Turkey?

It seems the general view in this regard is against Turkey. When we look at the surveys conducted in the past, we see that the European public opinion seems to have changed over the years about Turkey. In certain periods, we see a surge in the support given to Turkey's EU bid as was the case in the 2004-2005 segment. However, the following years, the post 2006 period for example, were when support for Turkey dwindled considerably.

As a result, Turkey's EU membership is contingent on which of these fronts is more influential and powerful within the EU in having its say implemented. We believe that an EU where strategists, social democrats, liberals, greens and trans-atlanticists will ultimately weigh heavier will also increase the demand for Turkey's presence within that body. The thing is that this demand will not emerge automatically. Turkey will have to do a lot to that end. What is needed in this framework is to boost Turkey's attraction, to set up a Turkey with values harmonious with those of EU and to implement policies to strengthen its geo-political status.

Or to speak more specifically, solid improvement in democracy, pluralism, rule of law, market economy and human rights implementations in domestic policies and the upholding in foreign policy of peace, security and stability so as to disseminate these values to the neighbouring countries are bound to strengthen the hand of Turkey supporters within the EU. The recent domestic and foreign policy initiatives launched by Turkey, its efforts to be an energy terminal through some projects such as Nabucco and its ongoing membership negotiations with the EU can be considered as steps taken in the desired direction.