Athens: Vision and facts

Vision and facts
By Costas Iordanidis
Kathimerini, Greece
Sept 7 2006
The recent European Parliament report calling on Ankara to recognize
the genocide of Armenians during World War I and that of the Assyrians
in the country’s southeast and the Pontic Greeks in the Black Sea
region may have irked Turkish officials but it does not come close
to constituting official European Union policy.
As a representative body, the European Parliament reflects public
reservations toward the prospect of Turkey’s EU membership. However,
the EU’s political elites have often adopted policies that run against
popular sentiment.
A similar thing is currently taking place in Turkey, as the security
establishment and the government are turning their back on public
sentiment. The EU’s attraction is on the wane and Turkish people
feel more affiliated with Muslim countries, some of which – Iran,
Syria and Lebanon – have been targeted by the West.
Turkey is experiencing a sort of schizophrenia. While the political
system is supposedly representing the general will, its style of
governance is actually bordering more and more on “enlightened rule.”
Increasingly, government policy is becoming eschatological: Political
leaders are convinced about the correctness of their actions, despite
the fact that the implementation of their policies has failed to bear
much fruit – at least enough to win public consent.
So much will depend on the European Commission report on Turkey’s
reform progress, due for release in October. Although the document
is expected to contain some warnings for Ankara, EU leaders will by
no means halt Turkey’s path to Europe.
The decision to admit Turkey is so firmly rooted among the EU’s
political elites, particularly in Greece, that it looks unshakeable.
Political vision, it seems, matters more than facts.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress