BY MUHARREM SARIKAYA
SABAH- Probably the best answer which can be given concerning the process of Turkey's EU membership bid is as follows: Both the European Union and chief EU negotiator and State Minister Ali Babacan are glad. As was reflected at the 22nd meeting of the Turkey-EU Joint Consultation Committee (KIK) in Brussels, the result of this is that the EU, which has certain problems with its constitution and is also dealing with elections, doesn't want to be kept busy with Turkey. Even if letters are expected from Turkey in order to open the chapters on statistics, economic and financial policies, financial control, management and industry, it can't be said that the EU wants this very much. The situation isn't so different concerning Babacan, either, because in almost all the countries which have become full EU members, the governments which guided the negotiating process were later voted out of office. It shouldn't be seen as strange that the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government is glad that negotiations were frozen before an election year. During yesterday's KIK meeting, where Babacan criticized civil society for excluding them, he said that they had determined their new strategies in January and that they would announce early next month the timetable for work to be carried out by 2013.
Joint Parliamentary Commission Co-Chairman Joost Lagendijk, whom I met at Esenboga Airport this week when he came to Ankara to meet with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, told me that both sides are putting the brakes on the process and will restart things when their respective elections are over. Actually, the atmosphere was similar during yesterday's KIK meeting.
Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodities Exchange (TOBB) Chairman Rifat Hisarciklioglu, en route to Brussels for the meeting, said that he wasn't expecting much progress before next year. He criticized the government's method of working during the EU membership process. During the KIK meeting he criticized the government for excluding non-governmental groups during the EU membership process and said that EU membership was a long process but that officials only care who will run for office or visit the ministry.
Stating that Turkey's foreign policy problems wouldn't be limited to the EU, Hisarciklioglu added that there would be elections in the US next year and our region and that the rift between Shiites and Sunnis in Iraq would put Turkey in a difficult position. According to Hisarciklioglu, there is a movement from the global world for a new world order, and thanks to this change Russia, India, China and South Korea took the greatest share of total world production. Meanwhile, Turkey started to meet most of the needs for industrial goods of countries from Morocco to Kazakhstan. In addition, the countries which make the largest investments in Turkey are EU member countries. However, the greatest danger in Turkey is that unemployment and politics will outweigh everything else. Hisarciklioglu added, `The sun is rising from the east again. It has passed through China and India, and now it will rise over Turkey. We can't afford to miss this opportunity'."