Turkey ready for EU talks, says kebab king

By Deanne Corbett

Date: 30/09/04

REMZI Kaplan swings his black Mercedes into the reserved parking spot outside the doner kebab production factory that bears his name in Wedding, a largely Turkish district of Berlin. Inside, Turkish and German employees turn out the cone-shaped stacks of meat that supply Kaplan's restaurants, as well as hundreds of other Turkish snack bars in Germany, the Netherlands and, coming soon, Poland.

Dubbed Berlin's "Doner King", Kaplan is a well-established member of the German capital's large Turkish community. His business is firmly rooted in the European Union and personally he does not stand to gain anything should Turkey join the EU. Despite this, he is an enthusiastic supporter of Turkey's membership bid.

"So many Turks live in Europe. The ties between Turks living here and those still in Turkey have helped the mentality in Turkey to change. The country is becoming more modern and Turkish society is making an effort to change because of its desire to join," Kaplan says.

Geographically, Turkey straddles the Orient and the Occident, but politically, the country has turned firmly toward the West, says Ahmet Ersöz, a member of Berlin's German-Turkish Business Association.

For the majority of Turks living in Germany, that is a good thing, he says. If Turkey is accepted into the EU, it will give them more freedom to come and go. Now, if Turks go back to Turkey for more than six months, they risk losing their German residency permits,

"For business people, it's important to live in a region without lots of bureaucracy," he says.

"Many are active in Turkey, or want to be, and if they are planning a project, they might need to stay longer," adds Ersöz. "Also, having the same currency in both countries would make business much easier."

With more than 200,000 people of Turkish origin living in Berlin, the city's Turkish community is hardly homogeneous. Among the more conservative, devoutly Muslim sector, there is no doubt that Turkey deserves to join the EU, but there is also a firm belief that it should not pursue membership at any cost.

The recent row between Brussels and Ankara over plans to criminalize adultery in Turkey has revived complaints among some German Turks that the EU sees itself as morally superior.

"Would you want your husband or wife to cheat on you?" asks Erdal Ayvaz, the manager of a mosque and Turkish community centre in the Berlin district of Neukölln. "Turkey is a Muslim society and in our faith, adultery is forbidden." Ayvaz says that the EU was overreacting to the adultery clause, as the burden of proof required would have made convictions almost impossible.

That is a moot point now, as in an eleventh-hour intervention, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan convinced legislators to strike the item from the country's revised penal code.

Ankara's attempt to criminalize adultery added fuel to the arguments of those who believe the country does not belong in the EU - people such as Angela Merkel, head of Germany's conservative opposition party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Merkel is appealing to the leaders of other conservative parties in Europe to support her position, which involves offering Turkey a "priviliged partnership" instead of full membership. It is an idea that evokes scorn among Berlin-based Turks.

"What's privileged in Merkel's proposal?" asks Ersöz.

"Turkey already has a privileged status, it is part of a customs union. Turks are tired of being treated as second-class citizens. Relations between states are no different from relations between people. Either you are friends, or you are not."

German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder has already made it clear that he is a friend.

He has said that he favours Turkish membership of the EU because of the increased economic and political security it would bring.

But perhaps Schröder has also realized that if the prospect of EU membership were suddenly to disappear, Germany's 2.5 million people of Turkish origin might feel less inclined to integrate with their German neighbours.

"Merkel's proposal is an insult to the many Turks who've made Germany their home.

"If we are treated the way that she always says we should be, then what incentive is there to make an effort to change her mind?" Ersöz says.

Back in his expansive office atop the Kaplan kebab factory, the Doner King of Berlin dismisses Merkel's "privileged partnership" with a wave of his hand.

"She's crazy," he says. "We know what we're doing here in Germany. We're not just guest workers anymore. We have our own politicians, business people, actors and artists.

"What she and others like her say doesn't interest us anymore."

But nor does Kaplan bear any false optimism about Turkey's chances of EU entry.

He says that patience is needed and acknowledges that his country is not yet ready.

An important hurdle has been overcome in that it now seems certain that Brussels will open accession talks with Ankara. But the talks will take years and, if Turkey does not meet all the criteria, the EU could decide against its bid.

"I read today that there's no chance of Turkey joining the EU before 2013," Kaplan says.

"That seems reasonable enough to me."

• Deanne Corbett is a Berlin-based freelance journalist.

Article features voices from the Turkish community in Germany on Turkey's potential accession to the EU.