STRAW STEERS EU AWAY FROM ‘PRECIPICE’ WITH TURKEY ACCESSION DEAL
Nicola Smith
The Scotsman
Oct 4 2005
Key points
~U Foreign Secretary looks to have repaired deal over Turkey’s
possible entry into the EU
~U Talks mark a success for UK during its six-month EU presidency
~U EU membership may still be 15 years in the future, however
Key quote
“Those in the EU who cannot digest Turkey being in the EU
are against the alliance of civilisations. I appeal to the EU leaders
to show good sense for the sake of global peace and stability.” –
Tayyip Recep Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister
Story in full
THE British government last night averted a deep political crisis
in the European Union after it thrashed out a delicate agreement to
begin accession talks with Turkey.
After over 24 hours of tense negotiations and with only a few hours’
sleep, Jack Straw, the British Foreign Secretary, brokered a successful
compromise to allay Austrian and Turkish concerns about the terms of
the negotiations.
The deal was finally clinched after a fraught four-hour wait on Turkey
to agree to the fine details of the negotiating mandate.
“We have reached agreement. Inshallah, we are departing for
Luxembourg,” Abdullah Gul, the Turkish foreign minister, said from
Ankara as he prepared to board a plane to meet his 25 EU counterparts.
The deal paved the way for the celebratory launch of accession talks
in Luxembourg, marking a milestone in Turkey’s 40-year bid for EU
membership.
The positive outcome to the intense session of diplomatic wrangling
was a welcome relief for the British government which had billed the
opening of talks with Turkey as one of the benchmarks of the success
of its six-month EU presidency.
Mr Straw cautioned his 24 EU counterparts yesterday that a failure
to go ahead with the talks could have disastrous consequences for
the EU’s future relations with Turkey.
“If we go the right way we reach the sunny uplands,” he said. “If we
go the wrong way, it could be catastrophic for the European Union.”
Speaking at a rally of his ruling Justice and Development party
on Monday, Tayyip Recep Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, also
warned that any attempt to sideline Ankara would have wider global
implications.
“Those in the EU who cannot digest Turkey being in the EU are against
the alliance of civilisations,” he said.
“I appeal to the EU leaders to show good sense for the sake of global
peace and stability.”
Mr Straw and Javier Solana, the EU foreign policy chief, were forced
to steer negotiations along a “precipice” between the brinkmanship
of the Austrian and Turkish governments.
Outside, hundreds of Armenians added to the tension with a
demonstration demanding Turkey make amends for the killings of
Armenians under Ottoman rule in 1915.
After seven bilateral meetings between Mr Straw and Ursula Plassnik,
his Austrian counterpart, and a telephone call to Wolfgang Schuessel,
the Austrian chancellor, Vienna appeared to backtrack on its demands
that Turkey explicitly be offered “alternatives” to full EU membership
from the outset.
The drama was heightened when Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of
state, intervened
to assure Turkey that its agreement to the proposed EU negotiating
framework had no implications for its relations with NATO.
The opening of talks with Ankara will only be the start of a ten-
to 15-year process where Turkey will be expected to go through a
series of economic and political reforms.