|
-
French leader warns bid for
membership may fail
- Officials accept reforms need to go much further
Turkey will have to undergo a "major cultural
revolution" if it is to realise its 40-year dream of
joining the EU, Jacques Chirac warned yesterday.
As a leading Turkish politician spoke of a "rocky"
road ahead, the French president said that Ankara's
membership talks could last up to 15 years and might
fail. "Will [Turkey] succeed?" Mr Chirac asked at a
press conference in Paris with the Italian prime
minister, Silvio Berlusconi. "I don't know. I hope
so but I'm not at all sure." His remarks were echoed
by Ilter Turkmen, a former Turkish foreign minister,
who told the Guardian: "There's no doubt that
Turkey's path to the EU is going to be very rocky."
Their honesty highlights the huge task facing
Ankara.
Turkey has already undertaken big reforms, such as
abolishing the death penalty and opening its market
to European goods, which allowed the EU to open
membership talks. Over the next decade, however, it
will have to open every area of its public life to
EU inspectors. Turkey will have to show that across
the board it is matching, or at least making
irreversible progress towards, EU levels.
It faces the toughest test of any aspiring EU
country because of fears that Europe cannot absorb
such a large and relatively poor country. There is
also the unspoken fear of up to 100 million Muslims
- the country's population will soar in the coming
decades - joining the EU.
In common with any country that wants to sign up,
Turkey must satisfy the EU that it is meeting
European standards in 35 areas known as chapters.
These range from free movement of goods to judicial
reforms. Its supporters hope that progress in these
areas will ease Ankara's path. A steady flow of
reforms, such as improving the rights of the Kurds
and ending state subsidies to flagging industries,
will soften opposition, they hope.
Unlike any other country, however, Turkey is offered
no guarantee that the talks will lead to full
membership. It also faces the real threat that
negotiations will be postponed or called off at a
moment's notice. The EU can, for example, refuse to
open chapters unless Turkey proves that it is up to
scratch in that area.
Supporters are hopeful that a strong momentum will
soon build up, not least because Turkey's
Islamic-oriented Justice and Development (AK) party
has, since assuming power in 2002, passed reforms
that have transformed the political landscape. With
the death penalty abolished and cultural rights
broadened for Kurdish, Arabic and Bosnian
communities, analysts speak of a "rebirth". Last
year, under pressure from Brussels, the government
enacted a penal code that ended Turkey's
semi-democratic past and aligned it with EU states.
But Turkish officials accept that immense headway is
still needed. Human rights violations and curbs on
freedom of expression persist; crimes against women
remain widespread, and discrimination against
minorities is a fact of life. Last year Recep Tayyip
Erdogan, the prime minister, proposed criminalising
adultery. Amid protests, this was dropped. An EU
diplomat said: "It's our great fear that, under
pressure from his traditional-minded support base,
he could cave in again."
Most liberal Turks believe Mr Chirac was right to
demand a "cultural revolution". Levent Korkut, of
the Ankara branch of Amnesty International, said:
"Across the bureaucracy the culture needs to change.
Judges with very old mindsets remain a real problem.
They need to be trained in EU laws, sensitised to
human rights issues and stopped from always seeing
national security as a priority."
With anti-EU feeling growing in Turkey, the task
would be herculean for any government. Mr Erdogan, a
devout Muslim with a pious following, could find it
particularly hard. Many Turks already feel they have
made too many concessions.
Added to this, says political commentator Cengiz
Aktar: "Convincing the man in the street that Turkey
is not a burden but an asset will be one of our
biggest challenges. In the coming years, the most
difficult issue will be for old Europe to mentally
digest Turkey."
State of reforms
Completed
* Abolition of the death penalty
* Language rights for Kurds
* Greater civilian control over the military
* Release of political prisoners
* Start of economic reforms after customs union with
EU in 1995. Both sides removed barriers to trade in
industrial goods, while Turkey adopted EU's external
tariffs for trade with non-EU countries
* Softened stance on Cyprus by backing UN-plan to
unite island, though this was rejected by Greek half
of island in 2004
* Adopted competition laws in 1996
Still to do
* Recognise Cyprus and open up Turkish ports and
airports to Cypriot shipping and aircraft
* Loosen the military's grip on the government
* Speed up judicial reforms
* Prove that human rights are on a par with those in
the EU
* Write 80,000 pages of the acquis communautaire -
the EU's rule book - into Turkish law
* Scale down subsidies to industry
* Comply with EU laws in areas such as food hygiene
and the environment
* Cut the budget deficit and inflation
* Open up services, such as telecoms and energy, to
the EU
* Centre for European Reform
www.guardian.co.uk
Top |
® 