BY YILMAZ OZTUNA
AKSAM- Pakistan has long been our friend and it will continue to be. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf also loves Turkey personally and speaks of us often. His short visit to Ankara this week pleased us greatly. German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer is also in Ankara. His recent remarks have echoed those of German Chancellor Gerhardt Schroeder, who of late has been emphasizing Turkey’s importance for the European Union. French President Jacques Chirac, who is also aware of Turkey’s importance, is a very experienced statesman. If he favors our bid, we can start membership negotiations with Brussels at the beginning of 2005.
In addition, Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou – no enemy of Turkey, in fact a personal friend of our former Foreign Minister Ismail Cem – is continuing his policy of rapprochement with Ankara. If he can boost the sorry Turkish schools in western Thrace to the level of the Greek schools in Istanbul, as per the Lausanne Agreement, we would open schools for clergy in Heybeli because Turkish-speaking Orthodox priests would benefit us.
We might even discuss the issue of cutting both countries’ defense budgets, something which might be suggested by Papandreou, who is expected to replace Costas Simitis as prime minister if Greece’s ruling Socialist Party (PASOK) wins the elections set for March. Of course the situation of Greece, whose borders are vouchsafed thanks to its EU membership, and the situation of Turkey are very different. When we join the EU, our borders will enjoy the same protection.
Turkish-Greek rapprochement will relieve both the EU and the US. Of course there is also the Cyprus issue. Over three-fourths of the Turkish people favor our Turkey’s EU membership. When they are told what the Union actually is, this figure rises to 90%. This is quite enough, because 10% opposition is normal. When we start our membership negotiations, we’ll be relieved greatly. Our great weariness with dealing with the status quo is weighing heavily on the Turkish nation.