TURKEY AND THE EUROPEAN TENT – PART I
Yale Global Online, CT
Oct 11 2005
Opening the door to Ankara is a win-win for both the European Union
and Turkey
Welcome to the club, at last: British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw
(right), welcomes Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul in Luxembourg
while meeting with the European Union foreign ministers. (Photo:
Reuters)
BRUSSELS: Years from now, historians looking back at the evolution of
the European continent might consider October 3 a landmark. On that
day, the start of negotiations on Turkey’s membership in the European
Union marked a triumph for reformists who have battled long and hard
to whip the country into shape for EU entry. The talks signal the
opening of EU doors for the first time to a predominantly Muslim
country – albeit one with a secular constitution – and represent
a new political maturity, ever since Spain’s Catholic monarchy
stamped out the last Islamic rule from the European continent in
the 15th century. It marked a victory for European policymakers who
reject the notion of the EU as a Christian club and of religion as a
dividing force between people. But it was not an unalloyed victory,
as significant obstacles remain in the path of transforming the dream
of a truly secular multi-religious Europe into a reality.
It is not just a historic move. Both sides stand to reap immediate
rewards. Turkey wins kudos for surmounting an endless series of hurdles
to qualify for EU membership, thereby proving its credentials as a
modern and dynamic society ready to pursue the challenge of further
reform. The EU, meanwhile, has boosted its flagging international
reputation by showing it can take hard decisions despite months of
moroseness following the French and Dutch rejections of a new EU
constitution this summer.
Even more significantly, Europe’s embrace of Turkey provides vivid
proof of the success of the bloc’s “soft power” approach to ensuring
political change and encouraging the emergence of moderate Islam in
its neighborhood. The EU’s use of gentle pressure to promote change
in Turkey has won admiration from the many Muslim governments weary
of hard-line US policies and unimpressed by Washington’s heavy-handed
public relations. By reaching out to Ankara, the EU has also sent
a message of reassurance to its own 20 million Muslims, who are
increasingly uneasy about their future in Europe – particularly with
the rise in anti-Islamic sentiment following the September 11 attacks,
the Madrid train bombings, and the London underground explosions.
The start of the talks has not been easy. Last-minute Austrian
demands that Turkey be offered a watered-down privileged partnership
almost scuppered the negotiations before they started. As EU foreign
ministers, meeting for crisis talks in Luxembourg, squabbled and
bickered over the final membership terms, British Foreign Secretary
Jack Straw engaged in a complicated juggling act including talks with
Austria, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, and US Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice.
Despite the unseemly quarrels, however, Straw and Gul did indeed make
history. The launch of negotiations was a strong signal that a clash
of civilizations is not inevitable, said Straw, adding: “This is proof
we can live, progress, and work together.” In Ankara, Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdoðan said, “This is a victory for common sense.”
Europe’s challenge to doomsayers, who foresee conflict and
confrontation between the West and Islam, marks the coming-of-age of
an increasingly diverse and multi-religious continent, agrees Vural
Oeger, a German social democrat of Turkish descent and a member of
the European Parliament. By keeping its word to Turkey, the EU has
boosted its standing in the Islamic world and rejected extremists’
vision of a divide between the West and Islam, says Oeger, adding:
“I am sure that al-Qaida is very angry.”
Sajjad Karim, a British liberal democrat member of the European
Parliament, agrees that the EU-Turkey talks will help heal some of
the wounds wreaked by continuing anti-Islamic discrimination. As a
moderate and secular Islamic nation, Turkey can also contribute to
the ongoing debate in Europe on modernizing Islam, he says. “Turkey is
democratic, secular, and Muslim, a perfect model for many,” adds Karim.
However, Brussels and Ankara face an array of daunting day-after
challenges, including continuing public hostility to Turkish accession
in Europe and rising anti-EU sentiment in Turkey. In addition, many
leading European politicians, including the next German chancellor
Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s would-be candidate in
2007 presidential elections, remain deeply skeptical about allowing
Ankara into the Union.
While some see Turkey as proof that Islam and democracy can co-exist,
opinion polls in Europe show continuing public fear of the Muslim
nation. European fears of increasingly militant Muslims in their
own backyard have grown in the wake of recent terror attacks. Also
fueling the unease is the murder last year of Dutch film maker Theo
Van Gogh by a young Moroccan, as well as the recent French controversy
over the ban on Muslim headscarves in schools. Echoing such concerns,
French President Jacques Chirac has warned that Turkey will need to
undergo a “major cultural revolution” to gain entry into the EU.
Many in Europe also worry at the economic cost of integrating a vast
and still largely underdeveloped country of over 70 million people.
Proponents of Turkish membership insist, however, that Turkey is
wealthier than the eastern European countries seeking EU entry and
that the process of development will speed up even further during the
accession negotiations. Many contend that the large Turkish workforce
will be essential in helping the EU compete with the likes of China
and India.
Negotiations are expected to take between 10 to 15 years and could
be suspended at any time if even one EU country raises objections.
Ankara will have to press ahead with political and human rights reforms
– and ensure their implementation in several areas. “Turkey will be
under ever closer scrutiny by the EU, by European public opinion,
and by member states,” warned EU enlargement chief Olli Rehn. There
will be pressure on Turkey to help find a political solution in Cyprus
and to accept responsibility for the alleged genocide of Armenians
by the Ottomans in 1915.
Also, EU policymakers admit that although more and more countries
are knocking on EU doors, there is a certain “enlargement fatigue”
following last year’s big-bang expansion to 25 states. Significantly,
the EU membership conditions for Ankara spell out, for the first time,
that Turkish accession will depend on the EU’s ability to absorb the
country as a full member.
As negotiations start in earnest, EU and Turkish leaders will have
to undertake the mammoth task of preparing their citizens to live
together. EU politicians have too often taken the easy road by
pandering to the anti-Islamic prejudices of the far-right parties,
thereby increasing popular fears about Islam and Muslims.
They will now have to encourage more cultural exchanges and contacts
between students, non-governmental organizations, and business
leaders. For the first time, the European leadership must start giving
an honest, public account of the many advantages of embracing Turkey
as an EU member. Whether history was indeed made on October 3 will be
determined by how the European and Turkish leaders and public carry
their new mandate to fruition.
Shada Islam is a Brussels-based journalist specializing in EU policy
and Europe’s relations with Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.
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