The leader of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), Erdoğan, who presented his party’s political vision for 2023 and touched upon many foreign policy issues, made no mention of Turkey’s decade-old EU accession process even though there was — albeit small — a reference in the prepared text of his speech.In a 2009 speech, Erdoğan had made it clear that Turkey would stick to the path to the EU despite the difficulties and would continue to adopt reforms to raise standards in Turkey. His criticism for the EU was limited to remarks on some injustices Turkey faced at the hands of certain European countries acting based on populist politics.
Not mentioning such major political goals as reforms and EU membership was indeed attention-grabbing, and the prime minister notably saluted countries from Australia to Brazil and Japan to Canada while not naming any European country.
On the other hand, the foreign guests who attended the congress were mostly Middle Eastern leaders, including Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal and Massoud Barzani of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). Former Chancellor of Germany Gerhard Schröder was among the few Western guests to attend.
Experts argue that the profile of the foreign guests and Erdoğan’s speech, which mainly focused on Middle Eastern issues, were signs of Turkey’s increasing interest in the Middle East and in distancing itself from the EU. According to experts, however, if Turkey wants to play a role in the region, it should not distance itself from EU goals.
“Turkey will face the risk of losing its prominent role in the region if it distances itself from Europe and postpones its EU goals while playing with unilateralist policies in the region,” Mustafa Kutlay, an analyst with Ankara’s International Strategic Research Organization (USAK), told Today’s Zaman.
Kutlay added that the EU’s contribution to developing democratic standards in Turkey is something that should not be neglected. “Indeed, the EU has played a significant role in Turkey’s success as a role model in the Middle East today. Relations with the EU should not be considered within the context of an emotional or conjunctural approach but within the context of a long-term, structured approach,” said Kutlay.
Turkey opened accession talks with the EU in 2005, but progress has been slow since then due to the Cyprus dispute and opposition to Turkey’s membership from some member countries, such as France and Germany. Of the 35 chapters that must be successfully negotiated by any candidate country as a condition for membership, only 13 have been opened by Turkey, 17 have been blocked and four have not yet been opened — only one is provisionally closed, that on science and research.
“First of all, in any case, Erdoğan had to mention the EU because the EU process is not something that can be neglected due to the conjunctural developments in Europe. Today, European leaders may not appreciate the importance of Turkey, and Turkish-EU relations may be experiencing tough times, but still, if you are speaking about your vision for 2023, as a party you cannot ignore the EU. The political visions for 2023 are strategic goals and should not be based on conjunctural developments,” said Kutlay, reiterating that Erdoğan should have mentioned the EU in his speech.
The recent presidential elections in France brought hope for new momentum in Turkey’s EU membership bid. Former President Nicolas Sarkozy, a staunch opponent of Turkey’s EU membership, lost the race for re-election to his Socialist rival, François Hollande, who is known to have a more favorable view of Turkey’s membership in the EU.
According to European leaders, Turkey is increasingly trying to adjust its position according to the new Middle Eastern order while playing a more independent role in the region, said Kutlay. “Europeans think that Turkey has lost interest in relations with the EU due to its interest in taking a more active role in the region. Indeed, such an assessment has come from the lack of foresight among Europeans. Europeans have always developed their relationships with Turkey based on short-term interests. Europe cannot benefit from such policies,” said Kutlay.
Commenting on Erdoğan’s speech to the Anatolia news agency on Sunday, Turkish Minister of EU Affairs and chief negotiator Egemen Bağış stated that Europe’s leaders who lack foresight have to read Erdoğan’s message carefully.
“Our prime minister mentioned our commitment to the [new] constitution and relayed his message on reforms. It is obvious that this commitment will have a positive impact on the process of EU integration. However, it is also clear that we still face obstacles at the political level. Therefore, Europe’s leaders who lack foresight should read into the prime minister’s speech carefully. They have to get the message,” said Bağış.
Bağış also added that as a result of the double standards employed by the EU, the interest of the Turkish public in the EU has decreased. “However, we will continue decisively with our policy to achieve EU standards,” said Bağış.
Agreeing with Bağış’s comments, Kutlay added that there are certain EU members that fail to appreciate Turkey for the value it deserves. “European leaders have failed to meet Turkey’s expectations. In this respect, the attitude of Turkish officials is understandable. However, Erdoğan’s speech does not serve a strategy that aims to increase the importance of Turkey in the eyes of Europeans. On the contrary, we are at a time during which the importance of relations with the EU need to be better explained than before, and this cannot be accomplished by failing to mention the EU in [such an important] speech,” said Kutlay.
According to Sylvia Tiryaki, an expert in international law and the deputy director of the Global Political Trends Center, the importance of the EU has been lost in Turkish politics these days. The Turkish public no longer discusses EU membershi.
(Today’s Zaman)
