Turkish, EU paths are diverging

Even if membership talks start on time, there is the sense that failure is merely being postponed

By Burak Bekdil - Kathimerini English Edition

In less than a week, Turkey and the European Union may have formally opened talks for the former’s eventual membership in the latter. In theory, Turkey has never been closer to the EU. In practice, Turkey and the EU are drawing further and further apart each day that brings them closer in theory.

Ankara issued a counter-counter-declaration immediately after the EU issued a counter-declaration to an earlier Turkish declaration on Cyprus. There may not be a counter-counter-counter-declaration from Brussels, but it is an open secret that doomsday is only being postponed.

Turks cheered when German conservative leader Angela Merkel did worse in federal elections than the polls had said she would. But the German opposition to Turkish membership will be “up and running” in the near future; as will the French opposition and that of the Austrians.

At home, more and more Turks tend to grudge as each new day brings bad news from across the EU territory — the counter-declaration, increasing Turkey-skepticism in the Old Continent, and countless EU statements on sensitive issues (Cyprus, Armenian genocide claims and Kurdish rights — the last at a time when the PKK kills daily) which Turks automatically deem anti-Turkish.

The feeling of “hostility” has not only curbed public support for EU membership by 10 percentage points to 63 percent recently, but has also added to a collective sentiment of nationalism. In these last bright days of late summer, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s bodyguards carry umbrellas — no, not to protect Erdogan from rain, but from the occasional showers of eggs and tomatoes that the nationalists tend to throw at him at every opportunity. That feeling finds echoes in the state establishment too.

Recently, a public prosecutor indicted Orhan Pamuk, one of Turkey’s most acclaimed novelists and a potential Nobel Prize nominee in the years ahead, for “insulting Turkishness” after the man accused the Turks of killing 1.5 million Armenians and 30,000 Kurds in an interview with a Swiss paper. The case against Pamuk rang alarm bells in Brussels, where enlargement officials called the indictment “a provocation.” Last week, the same enlargement officials had to use the same word again: “another provocation.”

An administrative court in Istanbul blocked a conference on “Armenians during the Collapse of the Ottoman Empire,” a gathering of scholars, intellectuals and journalists known to challenge Turkey’s official language on genocide claims.

The conference, however, convened over the weekend at a private university campus in Istanbul, with thousands of demonstrators protesting outside the campus area. Fortunately, there was no violence apart from the usual showers of eggs and rotten tomatoes thrown at the participants, including a former deputy premier.

As always, Erdogan and his men are zigzagging between their EU aspirations and populism based on the rising tide of nationalism.

When the conference was scheduled earlier this summer, Justice Minister Cemil Cicek called it “treachery and a stab in our backs.” That was probably the minister’s populist self. However, his EU-bound pragmatist self last week produced a legal solution to bypass the court ban. The ban is for a particular university campus, he argued, and the conference can take place at another campus. How shrewd Erdogan’s men can sometimes be. But how will Cicek explain the difference between “treachery” a couple of months ago and his support for the event last week?

And the same goes for Erdogan. Because the countdown to the opening of membership talks was less than 10 days away, Erdogan’s reformist self spoke: “To prevent a meeting that has not yet happened and where it is not clear what is to be discussed has got nothing to do with democracy.” Nice words for free speech, but pure inconsistency.

Erdogan in less than a year has sued over three cartoons, one depicting him as a cat tangled in a ball of wool, demanding not only libel but also prison terms for the cartoonist. Democracy? European values? Free speech? And there is more.

When the prime minister expressed his criticism of a temporary court verdict, he committed an offense; under Turkish law, commenting on the contents of an ongoing case publicly is an offense as it is seen as an attempt to influence the case. Of course, his immunity protects him from legal prosecution, but how about ethics? How could anyone expect a judge not to have been “influenced” by an open condemnation from the prime minister when a government-controlled board decides on the promotions and postings of all judges and prosecutors?

It’s the same hypocrisy. Politicians often cite the “independence of the judiciary” when courts issue friendly verdicts, and adversaries criticize these verdicts — and vice versa.

On October 3, Erdogan’s Turkey may celebrate. But the celebration will be a bitter one as anyone with any sense can guess that Turkey’s march toward the EU will just be too tough and exposed to the risk of failing at any time after Oct. 3.

NICOSIA (AFP) - EU Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot warned yesterday that Ankara’s failure to lift a trade embargo on Cyprus by refusing to extend a customs protocol would see its accession bid falter.

Ankara is due to start EU talks on October 3 but its refusal to fully implement a customs accord — notably by letting Cypriot ships and planes use its ports and airports — looms large as a major obstacle.

“It is obvious that negotiations which will open with Turkey cannot be concluded unless the problem of free transport of goods is resolved,” he said on the sidelines of a shipping conference in the Cypriot port city of Limassol.

“There are many chapters which will not open if Turkey does not accept the free movement of goods in the (entire) customs union,” the European Commission’s vice president told a news conference.

Turkey is refusing to lift the embargo by extending the protocol to Cyprus, fearing it would be the first step toward recognizing the Greek-Cypriot government in Nicosia.

But the French commissioner made clear that Turkey was running out of options. “Personally, I think the chapter on transport, which means the free movement of goods, can’t be opened unless there is a change on the part of the government of Turkey.”