Diplomats strive to salvage Turkey talks

Date: 21/05/1998

By Mark Turner

EU DIPLOMATS are struggling to salvage a key meeting with Turkey scheduled for next week, under threat because of a continuing stand-off between Greece and the rest of Europe.

Athens is still refusing to unfreeze 375 million ecu of financial assistance to Turkey until Ankara accepts international jurisdiction over disputed Aegean islands, and is demanding an unambiguous repetition of the tough stand taken by the EU last December.

“The Union's position should make a clear reference - not just an allusion - to the conditions for cooperation with Turkey laid out at Luxembourg,” insisted a Greek official. “Those include the need for political and economic reforms, the improvement of human rights standards and the protection of minorities, and the establishment of satisfactory and stable relations between Greece and Turkey.”

Athens' demands have taken on new urgency in the wake of an assassination attempt on Turkish human rights leader Akin Birdal, who was shot six times last week.

But the Union's 14 other members, under strong pressure from Ankara and the US to take an softer line with Turkey, argue that the financial aid must be released now and are wary of reigniting the controversy which followed December's Luxembourg summit.

European Commission sources add that unless Turkish Foreign Minister Ismael Cem thinks he can win a clear concession from the EU-Turkey Association Council planned for next week, he is unlikely to turn up.

Although the EU has offered Turkey a 'customs union plus' with closer institutional cooperation, Ankara says it is not interested unless the money owed under the existing customs union is released and it is shown a clear path to Union membership.

“This negotiation can only be carried out within the framework of the integration of Turkey with the EU,” said foreign ministry spokesman Sermet Atacanli.

Analysts believe Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz' domestic political troubles are making it next to impossible for Ankara to compromise.

“The government's shaky situation means that unless it is promised something sellable at home, it will not be interested in coming to Brussels,” said one Commission expert. “It suits Ankara for the time being to view the glass offered by the EU as half-empty rather than half-full.”

This intractable deadlock prompted some EU diplomats to consider holding a '14+1' meeting with Turkey where the Union would present a common position without Greece. Athens would take the floor on its own later - a situation which last occurred during Germany's EU presidency in late 1994.

But Union sources say that is unlikely under the present circumstances.

Turkey and Greece have been conducting an unrelenting and increasingly vicious war of words over the past months, with both sides firing one angry statement after another across the Aegean.

The dispute has all but sunk any hopes of peace in the short term in Cyprus, which began accession talks with the EU this spring, and has prompted Washington to increase pressure on the Union to show more flexibility towards Ankara.

UK presidency and Commission officials are now working on ways of soothing Turkish feelings at next month's Cardiff summit, although they admit privately that Europe is not prepared to offer much more.