by Ugur Akinci, Ph.D.

Once a writer said “marriage is not a word -- it's a sentence.” This applies to Turkey's proposed “marriage” with the European Union as well. During the last 40 years Turkey has supplied, sometimes half-heartedly and sometimes in earnest, all the right adjectives, nouns and verbs to hear that short and sweet sentence: “Turkey is a full-member of the EU.” It has not been easy.

1963 Ankara Agreement

The EU-tango started back in 1963, with the signing of the Association Agreement, also known as the “Ankara Agreement,” between the Republic of Turkey and the European Economic Community (EEC). Back then the entire focus was on economic development.

The 1963 agreement envisaged the establishment of a CUSTOMS UNION in three phases.

During the FIRST PHASE between 1963-1970, EEC's share in Turkish imports rose from 29% to 42% . Today EU represents over 50% of Turkey's total foreign trade.

In November 1970, the SECOND PROTOCOL set forth in detail how the proposed customs union would be accomplished during the next 12 to 22 years.

The THIRD PROTOCOL of 1970 set out in a detailed fashion how the EEC would abolish tariff and quantitative barriers to its imports from Turkey (with some exceptions including textiles) and how Turkey would reciprocate similarly.

The relations between Turkey and the EU were frozen for a few years in the aftermath of the Sept 12, 1980 military coup.

1987 Application for full membership

The relationship was revived on a higher platform when Turkey applied for full membership in 1987.

In 1990, EU confirmed Turkey's eligibility for membership. However it deferred the full consideration of Turkey's application until the emergence of "a more favourable environment." The Commission promised a cooperation package but it was shelved due to Greece's objection in 1990.

1993 Copenhagen Criteria

In June 1993, The Copenhagen European Council formulated its famous COPENHAGEN CRITERIA for membership. These important criteria can be grouped under 3 categories:

1) FULL DEMOCRACY – EU demanded that member states have a fully functioning democratic system with respect for the rule of law, full protection for minority rights, elimination of torture, protection of human rights and a fully independent judiciary.

2) STRONG MARKET ECONOMY – EU also pressed forward as a membership requirement the presence of a resilient market economy, robust enough to withstand the competitive pressures of the EU market. For Turkey this meant a strong push for privatization of State Economic Enterprises and dissolution of state monopolies.

3) HARMONIZING WITH EU REGULATIONS – EU demanded the member countries to harmonize their laws and regulations with those of the EU, including their fiscal and monetary policies. In practical terms this meant that Turkey would not be able to deviate from the joint decisions taken by the EU regarding a common currency, a common foreign policy and joint defense. Turkey's efforts to harmonize its legislation with that of the EU continues even today.

1995 Customs Union

Seeing that her application for full membership would not go anywhere too soon, Turkey has wisely pushed for the completion of the Customs Union with the Community. Customs Union talks between the parties began in 1994 and were finalized in March 1995. The Customs Union between Turkey and the EU in industrial and processed agricultural goods went into effect on December 31st, 1995.

With the signing of the Customs Union, Turkey abolished all duties and charges on imports of industrial goods from the EU. Furthermore, Turkey has promised to eliminate its tariffs within 5 years on the industrial imports from the third countries that traded with the EU as well..

Although basic agricultural products have been excluded from the initial agreement, a preferential trade regime for these products has been adopted on January 1 st , 1998.

In the Association Council of April 1997, the EU reconfirmed Turkey's eligibility for membership whil e noting that the further development of the Turkey-EU relations depended on a number of factors relating to Greece, Cyprus and the human rights.

The Commission, however, excluded Turkey from the enlargement process in its report entitled "Agenda 2000" wh ich it disclosed the same year. The fact that the EU confirmed Turkey's eligibility for membership but excluded it from the enlargement process was seen as a contradiction. The Turkish public opinion reacted strongly to this negative development.

1999 Helsinki Summit

The Helsinki European Council held in December 1999 represented a breakthrough in Turkey-EU relations. At Helsinki, Turkey was officially recognized without any precondition as a “candidate state” on an equal footing with the other candidate states.

EU adopted the “Accession Partnership for Turkey” in March 2001

In response, the Turkish Government announced just a few weeks later its own National Program for the Adoption of the EU acquis.

2002 Enlargement

At the Copenhagen Summit of December 2002, the EU made a historic decision for enla rgement. It decided that ten candidate countries including Greek Cyprus (Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Cyprus, Slovenia, Slovakia) would be members to the EU as of 1 May 2004. Turks were very disappointed to see that Turkey was not among these candidates.

Copenhagen Council, however, did re-affirm that “if the European Council in December 2004 … decides that Turkey fulfills the Copenhagen political criteria, the EU will open negotiations without delay.”

That is the main framework within which the EU-Turkish relations have evolved since then.

Turkey's Response

Turkey responded energetically to the EU demands, and especially to the COPENHAGEN CRITERIA, through a series of comprehensive reform packages.

The most important among these are the major amendments to the Turkish Constitution.

34 Articles of the Constitution have been amended in 2001 to improve the human rights, strengthen the rule of law and restructure the democratic institutions.

The Turkish Parliament adopted a new Civil Code in January 2002 and introduced improvements for

These efforts for reform were pursued by three legislative packages in 2002.

The first legislative package aimed to eliminate the detention and sentencing of intellectuals for expressing their views.

The second legislative package extended further the scope of the freedom of thought and expression, the freedom of the press, the freedom of association and peaceful assembly.

The third legislative package (August 2002) was hailed as a landmark since it

2002 - AKP comes to power

In the aftermath of the General elections of November 2002,  the ruling AKP Government introduced two further legislative packages in December 2002, just one month after it came to power.

The first legislative package, the so-called “Copenhagen Package”

The second package of reforms expanded of the scope of re-trial arrangements on the basis of judgments rendered by the European Court of Human Rights.

On January 14 th , 2004, just this month, the Turkish Parliament adopted a law approving 24 international agreements which Turkey has signed earlier, including the one against corruption. It also banned death penalty even in times of war.

Post 9-11 Security Concerns

Since the September 11 tragedy, EU's look at Turkey went through a drastic change. Turkey, as the only secular Muslim democracy in the region, is now seen as a genuine security asset.

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, during an official visit to Ankara on January 21 st of this month has warned against keeping Turkey out of the EU.

Mr. Fischer said a "high price" would be paid if this were to happen adding that, for Europe's security, Turkey is more important than a "missile defence system."

European Commission President Romano Prodi who has just completed an official visit to Ankara this month said “ impressive progress has been achieved, and the country is now closer to the Union” while indexing Turkey's accession to the resolution of the Cyprus issue.

"Our position is very clear that the settlement of the Cyprus problem will greatly help Turkey's EU aspirations” Prodi said, and the AKP government is fully cognizant of the fact.

In short, there are more serious positive signs now than ever indicating that Turkey has never been this close to realize her dream of EU full-membership.

"We go to Europe to be Americanized,” said American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. In a way Turkey is also going to Europe to realize the culmination of Atatürk's ultimate blueprint for Turkey as a “contemporary” society, with no excuses and no fine print at the bottom of the invoice.

In trying to satisfy the EU conditions, Turkey is discovering how she really looks in a mirror that gets larger by the day and thus cannot be ignored.

She is also finding out that EU is as good a platform as any to bring to a close many thorny and seemingly intractable issues that bedeviled her for decades both domestically and in foreign affairs.

“Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest,” said Mark Twain. Ankara is doing many things right these days and perhaps that's why most of us are a bit astonished and some of us force ourselves to find a pretext or two underneath it all.

Two days ago, in his Wall Street Journal OP-ED piece, Prime Minister Erdogan said “a key priority in 2004 will remain accession to the European Union, a goal that the U.S. has unfailingly supported.”

I hope this government will survive the twin tests of Cyprus and Iraq this year and secure a firm date from EU in December so that our current astonishment can transform into genuine gratitude. I wish them well.