By Yusuf Kanli
TDN- Once Turkey gets a date for the start of accession talks and the negotiations kick off, the friends of this country will be delighted to see the rapid transformation taking place to cope with the acquis, while its foes will be appalled. We hope that before the 90th anniversary of our republic Ataturk's dream of seeing Turkey complete its integration with Europe will have become a fait accompli
Turkey will be celebrating the 81st anniversary of the proclamation of the Turkish Republic today with increased confidence in its future. The pessimism and sense of instability that seriously hurt the country for a long period after the November 2001 and February 2002 crises have been replaced with self-confidence, optimism and stability in all walks of life, which, when coupled with the expectation of getting a date for the start of EU accession talks, have helped Turks look into the future with a sense of assurance.
What a change in such a short period of time! This is the result of the strong moral and social values the nation possess as well as the strong foundation on which Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the father of modern Turkey, and his colleagues established the Republic of Turkey.
In the long war of liberation, which Turkey waged with the barest of means and with limited resources, all sectors of Turkish society sacrificed themselves in an unparalleled patriotic understanding and eventually created a republic among the ashes of the "sick man of Europe," the Ottoman Empire. The republic built by the sacrifices and choice of the Turkish nation is the greatest accomplishment of this people.
It was through the republic that our society managed to transform itself from a community into a nation. Now, with the democratization reforms and advances in individual rights and freedoms, we are moving from a society that throughout its history considered the state to be sacred towards an individual-centered governance in which the state will no longer be the one served but rather the one that serves the individual.
This new understanding -- together with the new definition of the components of our society, and perhaps with new political parties, with election laws in the near future and with a civilian-written social charter in the medium run -- will accelerate the mindset-change Turkey is being compelled to undergo for speedy integration with the European Union.
Once Turkey gets a date for the start of accession talks and the negotiations kick off, the friends of this country will be delighted to see the rapid transformation taking place to cope with the acquis, while its foes will be appalled and amazed.
We hope that before the 90th anniversary of our republic, Ataturk's dream of seeing Turkey complete its integration with Europe will have become a completed fait accompli.