Turkish ruling party steps up pressure to join EPP

Date: 17/04/03

By Dana Spinant

THE deputy leader of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has challenged the European People's Party to accept the AKP's membership bid, warning that a united Europe should not be seen "as a Christian club".

Saban Disli believes the EPP, made up of Christian Democrat and Conservative parties, is a natural home for Turkey's ruling party, which has its roots in the Islamic tradition.

"Christianity and Islam were born in the same divine source. I do not think the two religions have contrasting values," he told the EPP's newsletter.

In a move that created turmoil in the EPP, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan applied for his party to join what is Europe's most powerful political 'family' as an associate member.

EPP President Wilfried Martens, the former Belgian premier, told European Voice he made clear to Erdogan on 7 February that a precondition for this was a consensus within the EPP.

In particular, the German Christian Democrat Union (CDU), the EPP's largest party, needs to give the green light to the membership bid, Martens said. CDU has made no secret of its reluctance for Turkey to join the EU.

Some leading EPP members said Erdogan's Islamic party's attempt to join the party of European Christians is a paradoxical and provocative step.

However Disli, a US-educated economist, says the AKP is a conservative democrat party, not an Islamic one.

"We believe that parties which used this adjective [Islamic] in the past tried to benefit from religion for political purposes. This was wrong.

"Of course our members practise Islam. We are Muslim, but our party is conservative. Within the democratic process we would also like to improve people's right to freedom of religion and belief."

Disli insists that the government in Ankara wants to prove that a Muslim populated country can be democratic.

"The success of Turkey, whose population is predominantly Muslim, will set a great example to other Muslim nations.

"We will prove, through a transparent and harmonious administration, that Islam and a democratic culture can indeed co-exist.

"The world will then talk about the cooperation of civilisations, not the clash of civilisations," he said.

Disli admits that the Turkish army "has interfered in politics from time to time", but says the military will not enter the political arena again "as long as political will guarantees the system".

He points out that membership of the EU is the most important modernization project for Ankara.

Disli warns, however, that Turkey "has waited too long - or has been kept waiting" by the EU.

While admitting that his country has been late in implementing reforms, he claims that the EU has been harder on Turkey than it has on other would-be member states.

"Today, Turkey's political standards are more compatible with the criteria [for EU membership] than those in the candidate countries were when they were given a date for negotiations.

"This naturally makes Turkish people think they are not wanted in the EU," he added.

Sources from the EPP said that, if the Germans clear the way, the AKP could submit its formal membership application as early as this autumn.

After being examined by the working group on enlargement, an answer could then be expected - at the earliest - by the end of the year, but most probably in 2004.

THE deputy leader of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Saban Disli, has challenged the European People's Party to accept the AKP's membership bid.