Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Sept 12 2010
Researcher Å?en says Turkey does not need EU membership
Professor Faruk Å?en has said Turks are not very enthusiastic about the
country becoming a member of the European Union because the EU
leadership does not include Turkey’s membership in its plans in the
near future, but the professor says there is no need to worry because
Turkey does not need the EU.
`The EU’s plans show that Turkey will enter the EU not earlier than
2021. If Turkey continues to grow at the same rate, it will be a
country that may be able to provide funds to the EU, not a country
that hopes to get EU funds,’ he told Sunday’s Zaman.
`If Turkey needs Europe in order to be disciplined in the area of
universal human rights, it’s a shame for Turkey,’ said Å?en, who is the
chairman of the board of directors of the Turkish-German Foundation
for Education and Scientific Research (TAVAK), based in Ä°stanbul.
According to Å?en, Turkey needs to make those improvements in the area
of human rights itself, and points out that economic growth alone will
not be enough to make Turkey a democratically developed country.
`Turkey has a lot of things to correct. Germany’s population is 82
million, and 61 million people vote and pay taxes. Turkey has a
population of 72 million, of which 49 million are voters, but only 7.4
million pay taxes. Turkey should work to correct such skewed
practices,’ he said.
In our interview Å?en also answered questions regarding Germany’s
immigration policies and how those policies influence Turkish
immigrants who live in the country.
You argue that Germany has the opportunity to design better
immigration policies now that the economic crisis in the country has
begun to fade. Can you elaborate on that idea?
The economic crisis in 2000-2009 in Germany led to an increase in
racism, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. There are surveys which show
that racism has been rising in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom,
too. New economic figures show that the German economy is growing
again since June of this year. There has been an increase in Germany’s
exports and automotive sales. There are more than 3.5 million
unemployed people in Germany, but the German economic institutions
also point out the need for more qualified people for employment. If
the economic figures continue to improve over the next two years,
Germany’s immigration policies are likely to improve. This has to
happen because otherwise the immigrant youth is likely to channel its
energy into negative ways on the streets. Germany’s Minister of State
Maria Böhmer [commissioner for migration, refugees and integration]
has been aware of this fact but has not been able to implement
effective measures.
What are the choices in front of the German government?
Germany will have to employ 500,000 qualified immigrants each year in
order to satisfy its employment needs. Otherwise, they will have to
increase the current retirement age of 65 to 70 to benefit from the
country’s qualified workers for a longer time and save on pension
funds. Germany’s population is aging. Currently, Germany’s 40 million
employers, who have social security, finance 24 million retired
people. That means that 36 million employers will finance 28 million
retirees in 2014. Unemployment is also a big problem in Germany. As I
said, there are two options for Germany: It will either increase the
retirement age or soften its immigration policy.
What reasons lie behind the rising Islamophobia in Germany and other
European countries?
Europe needed a new enemy. Its old enemies were largely the countries
of the Warsaw Pact. But those countries became friends after
Gorbachev’s reforms. There have been several Islamic movements, like
the Islamic Salvation Front [FIS] in Algeria, the Muslim Brotherhood
in Egypt, the Khomeini movement in Iran, the Taliban movement in
Afghanistan and [Necmettin] Erbakan’s movement in Turkey. Europe
looked at this picture in the 1990s, and formed a picture of the
enemy, which was Islam.
Most recently Bundesbank board member Thilo Sarrazin made
controversial remarks about Turks, Arabs and Muslims. In his latest
book, `Germany Does Itself In,’ Sarrazin claimed that Muslim
immigration and a high birth rate among Turkish immigrants will harm
the country’s long-term economic potential.
Sarrazin has always had prejudices. He reacted to our figures — which
indicated that there are 74,000 Turkish employers in Germany —
regarding Turkish immigrants’ economic contributions to the country.
He always said Turks who live in Germany only work as grocers and
`döner kebab’ makers. He is a social democrat, but opportunistic. No
one knew of him until he started to make anti-Turkish statements. It
is a shame for the German social democrats that he is still in the
party.
***
`Turks expected to return to Turkey from Germany’
How serious are the expectations that many qualified Turks plan to
return to Turkey from Germany?
They’re quite serious. Approximately 100,000 qualified people of
Turkish origin are expected to return to Turkey this year. There are
three reasons behind this: One is that Germany has lost its high
growth rate. Secondly, racism has risen in Germany. And lastly,
qualified people who came back to Turkey have seen that they reach
success more easily in Turkey than in Germany. Germany’s cumulative
rate of growth in 2002-2007 was 7 percent while this figure was 42
percent for Turkey. Therefore, young people see more opportunities in
Turkey than in Germany. Turks also do not buy as much real estate in
Germany as they did before, first because they tend to go back to
Turkey, and second because of economic hardships.
Do those developments cause worries at the level of the German government?
They have slowly started to realize the situation. They once tried to
attract Indian technology workers back to Germany, but they did not
come back because salaries have fallen and unions have lost their
influence in Germany. Germany has to have a new vision, a new and
welcoming immigration policies in order to attract qualified workers.
Where do you think Turkey’s relationship with the EU is going?
Among the major powers of Europe, Turkey’s supporters included in the
past Germany’s [Chancellor] Gerhard Schröder, France’s [François]
Mitterrand, Britain’s Tony Blair and Italy’s [Silvio] Berlusconi. Now
only Berlusconi remains who supports Turkey’s EU entrance. There are
also Spain, Portugal, Slovenia and Sweden that support Turkey’s
inclusion in the EU. The EU’s short-term plans do not envision Turkey
in it. As for Turkey, the Turks do not desire to be in the EU as much
as they did before, especially after the economic crises in Romania,
Hungary, Spain, Portugal and Greece. If Turkey had become an EU member
in 2004, it would have received 7 billion euros in EU aid annually.
But if Turkey becomes a member of the EU in 2014, the annual EU aid
that it will receive will not exceed 2 billion euros. The EU’s plans
show that Turkey will enter the EU not earlier than 2021. If Turkey
continues to grow at the same rate, it will be a country that may be
able to provide funds to the EU, not a country that hopes to get EU
funds.
You present a sound economic argument. However, what do you think of
the political arguments? Would Turkey adopt the Copenhagen criteria
without the goal of membership in the EU?
If Turkey needs Europe in order to be disciplined in the area of
universal human rights, it’s a shame for Turkey. Turkey needs to do
that itself, and mere economic growth will not be enough to make
Turkey a democratically developed country. Turkey has a lot of things
to correct. Germany’s population is 82 million, and 61 million people
vote and pay taxes. Turkey has a population of 72 millions, of which
49 million are voters, but only 7.4 million pay taxes. Turkey should
work to correct such skewed practices.
——————————————————————————–
`Turkey’s zero problems with neighbors policy is smart’
`All countries desire to have good relations with their neighbors. We
observe this in the case of Germany, too. Germany had been fighting
with countries like Poland, France and the Netherlands but now it has
very good relations with these countries in terms of the economy and
politics. Turkey’s `zero problems with neighbors’ policy is a smart
policy. Turkey will benefit from developing good relations with
countries such as Syria, Iraq, Armenia and Georgia. In Syria and
Jordan, people admire Turkey and Turks.
`When Turkey had sour relations with Syria, Kurdistan Workers’ Party
[PKK] camps flourished there. However, my observations show that Iran
never responds to our goodwill in approaching the relations. They
betrayed us in several business deals before. The latest example is
Iran’s attitude regarding the Armenian issue, which even in Europe was
not referred to except for France.
`Regarding Turkey’s relations with Israel, there is nothing to justify
Israel’s [May 31] attack on the flotilla [carrying aid to the Gaza
Strip]. I’ve been to both Ramallah and Gaza. I know about the
Palestinians’ suffering, and Turkey had better look after the
Palestinians.
`The border with Armenia should be opened as soon as possible. There
are no borders when we look at the air traffic between the two
countries. Currently, there are flights between the countries. It is
not fair to close the land border to Armenians who cannot afford air
travel. Opening the border would both contribute to trade in the
region and help reduce prejudice that exists in both countries.’
`Turkey has not changed direction’
`Europeans who argue that Turkey’s foreign policy axis has shifted
treat Turkey unfairly. Look at France and Germany. Their relations
with Iran are much more advanced than Turkey’s relations with that
country. Germany’s foreign trade volume with Iran is almost more than
its trade volume with Turkey. It is not fair to blame Turkey for
turning its back to Europe just because Turkey would like to have good
relations with its neighbors. The European Union should take Turkey
seriously and try to attract it to Europe as much as possible and as
soon as possible.’
Turkish-German university to be opened in 2011
`There are English and French-language higher education institutions
in Turkey, but there are no German-language higher education
institutions even though Germany is an important trade partner for
Turkey. Each year around 5 million German tourists come to Turkey.
There are 3,800 German corporations established in Turkey as there are
74,000 Turkish entrepreneurs in Germany. The university, working in
cooperation with seven universities in Germany, will accept its first
class, a total of 600 students, in October 2011. The campus is located
in the GümüÅ?yaka neighborhood of Silivri, Ä°stanbul.’
***
Faruk Å?en, long time researcher of Turks in Germany
Currently chairman of the board of directors of the Turkish-German
Foundation for Education and Scientific Research (TAVAK), Professor
Faruk Å?en until recently headed the Turkish Research Center (TAM),
which he founded in 1985 in Essen. After completing his higher
education at Germany’s University of Münster, he taught at the
University of Bamberg and the University of Essen. He has several
books and articles in Turkish, German and English on the problems
faced by Turkish immigrants in Germany and Turkey’s relations with the
European Union. Å?en is working hard in his capacity as the head of
Ä°stanbul-based TAVAK to establish a Turkish-German university in
Ä°stanbul. TAVAK is also to have two research institutions in Turkey.
On of them will be the Mediterranean-Aegean Research Center, to be
based in Ä°zmir and funded by the European Union and the Organization
of the Islamic Conference (OIC). The other will focus on immigration
studies and be based in Ä°stanbul.
12 September 2010, Sunday
YONCA POYRAZ DOÄ?AN Ä°STANBUL
From: A. Papazian