BY TAHA AKYOL
MILLIYET- Columnist Taha Akyol comments on Turkish-European relations. A summary of his column is as follows:
Earlier this week in Berlin, during conversations among circles close to German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Prime Minister Recep Tayip Erdogan at a banquet thrown by the Turkish Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association (TUSIAD), opposition, Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Deputy Uta Zapf said, ‘For years Turkish leaders have been promising reforms but they haven’t carried through. But this time, your prime minister unexpectedly is fulfilling certain reforms to make Turkey European. Europe can’t ignore this.’ In truth, our prime ministers were unable to carry through these reforms because the state wasn’t ready and their coalitions weren’t strong enough. The Europeans weren’t expecting such reforms from Erdogan because they considered him a ‘fundamentalist Islamist.’ However, through the Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) one-party rule, Erdogan signed one of the most liberal reforms packages in the Republic’s history, thus fundamentally altering the state’s traditional military-civilian balance and its understanding of freedom. Certain things really are changing for us, putting us closer to Europe.
However, is Europe itself sincere? Our diplomatic history is rife with examples of bad Europe intentions. In the last century Europe, acting as colonialist and invader, started two world wars within itself. However, now the German and French people, which between themselves have killed more than 50 million people, have become friends! That Europe is the European Union today. Some things are changing there, too, because they’ve learned lessons from history and more importantly, their economies and lines of communication are going beyond the borders and spurring ‘international integration.’
Today there is a conflict within Europe about becoming a ‘Christian club,’ but it can’t tell this to Turkey openly. Erdogan thinks that religion should have no place in the upcoming European Constitution because if it did, Christianity would be the EU’s official religion, thus barring Turkey’s entrance. Similarly, if Islam became our own official religion, we couldn’t join the EU. Today multiculturalism is a ‘developed value.’ Lale Akgun, a Muslim, ethnically Turkish German citizen, is currently a European Parliament member from the Social Democrats. There are other such examples in various European parliaments. Today Akgun is congratulating Erdogan for his reforms and efforts towards Turkey’s EU membership. Of course there are still certain circles in the EU which treat Turkey as an enemy for ‘ethnic’ reasons, but the Europes of the past and present are quite different. A Turkey in the EU will be more powerful both economically and strategically.