Reality may hurt, but it can't be ignored

By Yusuf Kanli
Whenever the European Union issue pops up on the agenda, we stress that Turkey's membership road will be a rather difficult one and will require substantive compromises on what have been Turkey's “fundamental positions” over the past decades.
We are not trying to be an EU-skeptic, sharing as we do the firm belief that sooner or later this country will complete the accession process and will itself decide in a referendum whether or not to join the EU, rather than the decision being made by the French, the Dutch or someone else in the EU, who justifiably have some worries either because of the religion or the culture of Turkey or because of the size of the country and the like.
The discussion in Europe on the identity of the old continent has already started, and we have to admit that this discussion was in part triggered by Turkey approaching the last phase of its more than 200-year-long European vocation.
Europe will have to decide itself whether it is a club of Christian nations or a multicultural, multiethnic and multi-religion union based on universal norms headed by democracy, supremacy of law and individual rights and liberties. We have nothing to say in that debate, since we should not be expected to change our religion for the sake of EU membership. That’s a problem that should be faced and resolved by the Europeans. If they eventually decide they want to stay a Christian club, what can we say other than wish them good luck and continue on our own way and opt for some other alternatives?
But, if they say “Turkey is welcome but should meet this and that condition” for accession, then this country must be able to deliver those compromises, of course, after some bargaining regarding the overall shape and timing of such moves and after preparing Turkish society. We have to understand that it’s Turkey who wants to join the EU, not the EU wanting to join Turkey.
Thus, to put it in the style of Donald Rumsfeld, there are legal matters that might be immoral, legitimate matters that are illegal and moral matters that are neither legitimate nor legal. But in international relations it is the interests of the countries that shape what is legal, moral and legitimate rather than international law, which in and of itself has lately fallen victim to the influence of the powerful.
The Greek Cypriot state has no moral or legitimate right to claim that it is the sole government on Cyprus, but according to international law -- the March 1964 Security Council resolution dispatching U.N. peacekeepers for the first time to the island -- it is the “sole legitimate government” of the Republic of Cyprus and the sole internationally recognized state on the eastern Mediterranean island.
According to the founding treaties of the Cyprus Republic, which was established in 1960, Cyprus “cannot join in part or in whole” any political, economic, or military establishment unless Turkey and Greece are already members. Greece is a member of the EU, Turkey is not, but still Cyprus has become a member of the union in contravention of its founding treaties. It’s illegal, but it has become legitimate under international law because although illegal and immoral, southern Cyprus is recognized by the United Nations as the government of Cyprus.
Since the April referendum on the U.N. plan, we have been saying that efforts to ease the international isolation of northern Cyprus -- in a bid to reward the overwhelming Turkish Cypriot “yes” vote and punish the Greek Cypriots because of their massive “no” vote, which killed the settlement opportunity -- are doomed to fail unless a new reality that constitutes the basis of a new legal situation on the island is created.
What can this be? Recognition of northern Cyprus or de-recognition of the Greek Cypriots as the “sole legitimate government” on the island.
As long as this situation remains unchanged, the international isolation of northern Cyprus cannot be ended nor can Turkey escape from recognizing -- sooner or later -- the Greek Cypriot side as the Government of Cyprus.
Reality may be painful, but it can’t be ignored.
Now Turkey is coming under pressure to recognize the Greek Cypriots immediately after getting a date on Dec. 17 for the start of accession talks. Can Turkey say, “I will never do it,” and continue the accession talks with the union if the Greek Cypriot side is a full-fledged member of that club?
Let’s be realistic. We can't. That’s what Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul was trying to say at a press conference following his meeting with the EU Troika: “This is a matter of process.”