EU-Turkey relations could sour if nationalists form government

Date: 03/12/1998

By Simon Taylor

FEARS are growing that Turkey's relations with the EU could come under further strain in the coming months following the decision of President Süleyman Demirel to ask a well-known nationalist to form a government.

Officials at the European Commission have expressed concern at reports that the new coalition government is likely to be headed by Bulent Ecevit, the man who sent Turkish troops into Cyprus in 1974.

They are also worried that right-wing politicians might exploit public hostility towards the EU and take an aggressively anti-Union line in nationwide elections scheduled for April next year.

The country's two mainstream conservative parties, Motherland (ANAP) and True Path (DYP), failed this week to agree on the make-up of a new government following the collapse of Mesut Yilmaz' minority coalition amid allegations relating to corruption.

Instead, Demirel asked Ecevit, leader of the Democratic Left (DSP), to join the two right-wing parties in a coalition. The DSP leader believes that Turkey has been badly treated by Brussels over its hopes of joining the Union and is opposed to making diplomatic efforts to sweeten relations.

According to some press reports, he has even suggested that Turkey's customs union with the EU should be renegotiated if Ankara and Rome remain at loggerheads over the fate of Kurdish Workers' Party leader Abdullah Öcalan.

Accepting the nomination yesterday (2 December), Ecevit said: "It is beneficial to have a determined and parliament-backed government."

Analysts have warned that the two right-wing parties, led by Yilmaz and Tansu Çiller, could be tempted to take a very aggressive line against the EU in the run-up to national elections scheduled for 18 April next year, exploiting the spontaneous public protests over Italy's failure to hand over Öcalan and lingering resentment that the Union is applying what are seen as double standards by keeping Turkey out of the enlargement race.

Ecevit stressed yesterday that it "would be wrong to see this government as only an election government".

Choosing a new prime minister hostile to the EU could mean a fresh setback in relations between Ankara and Brussels, which have recovered slightly over the last week from the low point brought about by Italy's refusal to extradite Öcalan to stand trial in Turkey.

At a meeting with Commission officials this week, Ankaran diplomats gave assurances that a wave of boycotts of Italian goods was a spontaneous consumer reaction and did not have the government's official support.