Union waits for gesture from Turkey

Date: 11/11/1999

By Simon Taylor

TURKEY will once again find itself centre stage when EU leaders meet in Helsinki next month, two years after the decision to leave it on the fringes of the enlargement process sparked furious protests in Ankara.

Back in 1997, Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz announced that Turkey was cutting off political dialogue with the Union on key issues after EU leaders made it clear at their Luxembourg summit that Ankara could not be treated as a normal candidate for Union membership.

A series of events have changed the political landscape since then, culminating in the European Commission's recent decision to treat Turkey as a full candidate and draw up a strategy to bring Ankara back into the enlargement fold.

In the aftermath of the Luxembourg summit, relations slumped as Ankara refused to attend a special 'European conference' designed to ease Turkey's feelings of exclusion. The situation was exacerbated in 1998 when the capture of Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan provoked a wave of protests across Europe by Kurdish groups. EU governments united to call on Turkey not to carry out the death penalty on Ocalan for terrorist crimes.

There were, however, small signs of improvement after Democratic Left leader Bülent Ecevit formed a new government in the spring. Ecevit's overtures to the EU led German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder to make a bid to advance relations with Turkey in the run-up to the Cologne summit in June.

But his efforts to draw up a 'roadmap' for Turkey to follow in order to come closer to the EU were blocked by Ankara's traditional opponents, the Greeks, together with Sweden and other member states eager to extract improvements on human rights from Turkey.

The single defining event which changed EU-Turkish relations was the tragic earthquake in August which claimed the lives of more than 15,000 people. Ankara's urgent need for emergency aid prompted Greece to soften its traditional opposition to providing financial assistance to its Mediterranean neighbour and rival.

In fact, Athens and Ankara were already quietly exploring ways of cooperating in uncontroversial fields such as energy and transport while steering clear of explosive issues such as the future of Cyprus. But the earthquake provided an unmissable opportunity for the EU to mend its fences with Turkey.

This crystallised in the Commission's bold decision last month to treat Turkey unequivocally as a full candidate for membership, with Enlargement Commissioner Günter Verheugen offering Ankara the same mechanisms as the other 12 candidates to guide it down the road towards EU entry.

These include a system for assessing precisely where Turkey does not meet Union rules on legislation and other standards, a single financial aid package to help Ankara meet the costs of meeting those standards and a forum for re-establishing political dialogue on some of the most difficult issues.

However, real progress for Turkey's membership hopes depends on how EU leaders react to the plan at the Helsinki summit. While most Union governments are keen to take advantage of the window of opportunity to improve relations with Turkey, Greece is not alone in harbouring reservations about handing Ankara gifts without getting something in return.

The Greek government has stated it wants to see “tangible proof” of Turkey's desire to meet the criteria for EU membership and “not just a setting-out of good intentions”. Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh has said Stockholm wants “to work to achieve concrete progress in the human rights and democracy field” before Helsinki.

The message from EU governments is clear. They want a signal that Turkey is prepared to take difficult decisions and make the progress necessary to approach EU membership.

Moving closer is all that is realistic at this stage. Ankara's poor record on human rights and democracy and the fact that much of the country is economically underdeveloped makes full membership a long-term project.

So far, Turkey has not given any hints that it is preparing to offer concessions. “We are not formulating our policies with regard to what we can do to achieve certain results,” said Foreign Minister Ismail Cem recently.

The Commission has opened the door to Ankara's membership hopes once more. If Turkey misses this opportunity at Helsinki, it may be the country's last chance for a very long time.