Turks are again divided over their EU aspirations
At the end of the 18th century, Ottoman Turks were divided by the European aspirations of Sultan Selim III. Over two centuries later, Turks of the Republic of Turkey are also divided over the country’s long, difficult journey into Europe. Only two weeks after an e-mail scandal strained Turkey’s ties with the EU, government and military leaders in Ankara found themselves at odds over the remarks of a top Turkish general. Many of Turkey’s bigwigs remained speechless last week when General Tuncer Kilinc, secretary-general of the powerful National Security Council (MGK), said that Turkey’s efforts to join the EU were doomed to fail and called for closer ties with Russia and Iran instead. «I believe that the EU will never accept Turkey,» Gen. Kilinc said. «Thus Turkey needs new allies and it would be useful if Turkey engages in a search that would involve Russia and Iran.» Hot stuff, really… Apparently «who said» was as important as «what was said and when.» Kilinc is no ordinary general. In August 2003, he will take over as air force commander. Nor is MGK an ordinary security body. It brings together political and military leaders under the aegis of the country’s top decision-making panel for security and «other» matters. The contents of Gen. Kilinc’s statement were puzzling as well. True, many Turks would agree with him on the EU part, but why Russia and Iran as new strategic allies? It is no secret that the Turks have for centuries perceived all of the imperial, communist and post-glasnost Russias as a serious foreign threat in this part of the world. Even stranger was the reference to Iran, Public Enemy Number One for Turkish liberals and the military, for its not-so-secret efforts to boost radical Islamic elements in Turkey. Gen. Kilinc must know something the others do not when suggesting a country that President George W. Bush considers as part of an «axis of evil.» Or will Turkey soon seek an alliance with North Korea too? Gen. Kilinc’s statement came at a time of bitter debate over Turkish efforts to meet EU requirements on, among other things, human rights. The EU insists on wider cultural rights for Turkey’s Kurds – a move strongly opposed by many Turks, including the military and most of the country’s three-party coalition alliance, who say it would divide the country along ethnic lines. The Union also wants Turkey to lift the death penalty and allow for greater freedom of expression. Pressure from Brussels has led to tension within the coalition, with the liberals pushing for reforms and the conservatives resisting what they consider as «meddling by Western Europe.» It was also interesting that Gen. Kilinc’s boss, Chief of General Staff Gen. Huseyin Kivrikoglu, called the EU «a geopolitical must for Turkey» in a speech he made on the same day as the air force general made his controversial statement. Odd? There is more. A chorus of politicians, including Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit and Foreign Minister Ismail Cem, reiterated that Turkey’s future was in Europe. Mesut Yilmaz, deputy prime minister and leader of the coalition’s liberal wing, proposed a referendum on whether Turkey should join the EU, hoping, possibly, that a strong result would put pressure on conservative skeptics. For Yilmaz, all that anti-EU talk was «a nightmare scenario.» Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Cem is hopeful that the EU will, later this year, spell out a date for the start of accession talks – although a recent poll of economists and political analysts carried by Reuters gave Turkey only a 20-percent chance of starting talks. All the same, the pro-EU Cem is angry with what he sees as an «anti-EU camp» in Turkey. So, what exactly was behind Gen. Kilinc’s statement? It is out of the question that a Turkish general simply says what he feels on a very sensitive political matter without the prior approval of his superiors. And it would be naive in the extreme to believe that Gen. Kilinc was speaking for himself. The picture as a whole – Gen Kilinc’s absolutely negative perspective and Gen. Kivrikoglu’s cautiously pro-EU position – tells us something. Only a minority of Turks is categorically against the EU. And another minority is for it. The majority’s position is a «yes, but…» So is the military’s. The entirety of last week’s debate in Ankara was not as complex as its partiality. The message from Turkey’s de facto rulers was that Turkey wholeheartedly sees that its future lies Westwards. But it is not prepared to pay a membership fee that it considers too high. Turkey’s late President Turgut Ozal, the architect of the country’s full membership adventure, once said that this was going to be a long, difficult journey. «They will do a lot to deter us,» he said. «We should not give up.» He may be quite right. His well-rounded personality, erudition and wit reminded one of some of the qualities of John Maynard Keynes, notwithstanding the fact that Eddie was no mathematician and Keynes no diplomat. His comments were sometimes very reminiscent of those Keynes made to Lloyd George. When at a Cabinet meeting, Keynes was asked to make a comment on the prime minis- ter’s views, he calmly replied: «With all due respect, I regard your account as rubbish.»
