CAUSE AND EFFECT IN EUROPEAN POLITICS AND ECONOMY
Feb 8 2012
Egemen Bagis: Turkey and the EU Have a Common Future
Adelina Marini, Sofia
It is probably different when you have a friend in the EU
institutions. Of course, it is important what that friendship is based
upon and also whether there are expectations this friendship to deliver
something specific. This is what I was thinking while I listened
to the brief press conference of the Turkish chief EU negotiator,
Egemen Bagis, and the new president of the European Parliament,
Martin Schulz. I relied on that news conference very much, because
there were only photos and video footage from the other meetings of
Bagis in Brussels. After all, Turkey is a strategically important
partner of the EU, the oldest candidate for a full membership and at
the moment a very influential player in the Middle East.
A little context
While I was waiting for that press conference to start, I had a few
questions wandering in my mind. Without enlisting them in order of
significance, the first that came across was related to an announcement
I saw on Twitter yesterday (Feb 7), that against the backdrop of the
expectations the Greek coalition government to finalise the text of an
agreement with its creditors and the troika, Turkey had stopped the
gas deliveries for Greece. The news is especially stressful because
it is a signal that maybe Greece is no longer capable of paying
even for its gas deliveries, which means that it is practically
bankrupt. Besides, stopping the deliveries is happening at a time
of one of the severest winters in Europe in general for decades. So,
this question was important to be addressed – what were the reasons
for halting deliveries, could the EU do something, etc. According to
reports in the Turkish NTV, there were technical problems that caused
the stop of gas deliveries from Azerbaijan to Turkey and Iran.
The second question, of course, was related to Turkey’s accession
process, which has been practically stalled since 2010 when during
the Spanish Presidency of the Council was the last time when a chapter
in the negotiations was opened. Since then, the meetings with Turkish
representatives have been growing more and more uncomfortable for the
EU and reveal the growing self-confidence of Turkey as a self-reliant
regional power, which no longer needs the EU but which the Union
needs more and more.
Naturally, the third issue was the Syria situation, against the
backdrop of the Russian and then Chinese veto on a resolution in
the UN Security Council, that caused a wave of disappointment and
even bewilderment.
Syria
The news conference started with pointing out the friendly relations
between Egemen Bagis and Martin Schulz, the purpose of which remained
unclear. The European Parliament chief outlined as an especially
important topic of his discussions with Bagis precisely Syria. “We,
as Europeans, have to be very grateful to the position Turkey chose
regarding Syria”, he said, having in mind the support Turkey stated
for the pro-democratic protests in the country, violently crushed
by Bashar Assad’s regime. And Mr Bagis for his part underlined that
this was the right position, because innocent people were killed. It
is time the international community to work to convince the Syrian
leadership to implement the necessary reforms so that all in Syria
live in prosperity and freedom, he added.
The international community is at the moment with tied hands. The
US has closed its embassy in Damascus, followed by several European
countries. The only connection with Bashar al-Assad’s government is
being maintained by Russia. On February 7th, Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s
foreign minister, visited the country. A fact, which is obviously
not to Turkey’s liking. On Saturday, Turkish Foreign minister Ahmet
Davutoglu said at the annual security conference in Munich that
there was a great danger nuclei of confrontation to be created in the
region. “We do not want the Cold War logic in our system”, he said
and called the Cold War structures in the region to be transformed.
The role Turkey is playing in the region was an occasion Martin Schulz
to say that, because of Syria, Turkey had again proven how important
it was as a strategic partner of the EU “today and in the future”.
Armenia
What caused my perplexity was Schulz’s reaction to a question of
a journalist, regarding an ongoing preliminary investigation in
Switzerland, related to a remark Egemen Bagis made regarding the
events of 1915, which Turkey denies were a genocide against the
Armenian people. For unclear reasons this question evoked laughter
with the European Parliament chief, who in the same time refused
to comment on preliminary investigations. While Egemen Bagis was
answering that question however, Martin Schulz continued to laugh,
finding it hard to repress.
The Turkish minister recalled that his country was ready to confront
its history and to create a committee of international experts on the
Armenian question and reminded about the letter of Premier Erdogan to
the government of Armenia in 2005, in which he says that he is ready
to confront his history and asks whether Armenia is ready to do the
same. In fact, Mr Schulz did not leave the topic without a comment,
saying that he wanted to make a recommendation in his capacity of
a German and especially of a German president of a multinational
European institution, who has to confront his country’s past everyday.
“The demons of our past haunt us even today and every day I face my
country’s past. Our generation is not guilty for crimes committed in
the past but it is responsible to ensure that they do not repeat”.
Turkey and the EU
Was it for the friendly relations with Egemen Bagis or for his
personal convictions, but Martin Schulz called on the European
Union to stick to its promises for Turkey and its membership to
the EU. He recognised that this was a long and difficult way but
that was a promise the EU made for Turkey. Schulz explained that
both discussed the term “European perspective” which, in his words,
was often used for candidate countries. In fact this term is used
especially frequently for countries the membership of which seems
too distant, like for example the Western Balkan nations. According
to Schulz, the European Perspective is a geographic game. This term
means to stick to the commitments Turkey to become a member of the
EU. For his part Egemen Bagis explained that the European perspective
meant that it was time “together to look into the problems, not only
because we have common past and heritage but a common future”.
Cyprus
With his words the Turkish minister for European affairs confirmed
Turkey’s pledge to ignore the EU Council Presidency of Cyprus,
which starts on July 1, unless a solution is found by then to
the Cyprus question. He announced that he and the president of the
European Parliament had committed to assist the presidents of the two
communities – the Turkish and the Greek – to shake hands in agreement
before July, “so that this does not turn into an issue but into a
solution and an opportunity for the EU-Turkey relations”.
For now it is not clear how Bagis’s meeting with EU Enlargement
Commissioner Stefan Fule went by but the video footage reveals very
warm relations. As euinside wrote many times, for long it has been
high time a brand new conversation between the EU and Turkey to take
place on what the relations between them should be, especially against
the background of the really impressing role the country is playing
in the Middle East in a moment when Europe has its throat squeezed
by severe fiscal and economic troubles. To which, by the way, Turkey
also proposes a solution, articulated again by Egemen Bagis – remove
the visas and thus you will boost your economy. Turkey is the only
EU candidate country which is still under a visa regime with the EU.