By Yusuf Kanli
TDN- Can Turkey brush everything aside and say 'No thank you' to Europe because of an unpleasant Cyprus condition or an unpopular date for the start of accession talks? Regarding the date, I am confident that a compromise will always be available, provided there is the will on both sides to find it. But as regards the Cyprus issue, it appears that some EU countries are merely hiding behind the terrorist-converted-president of the Greek Cypriot side and using the Cyprus card to scare Ankara
No one can ignore the fact that this country differs from Europe in many areas. It has a predominantly Muslim population, while European peoples by and large are Christian. Culturally -- apart from the peculiar Turkish culture that has resulted from the accumulation over thousands of years of diverse influences as well as from the strong impact of Islam and Sufism -- Turkey is a blend of Europe, Asia, the Caucasus and the Middle East. This country has a young and mainly unemployed population with a per capita income of less than one-third the European average, while Europe has an aging population and is pondering how to avoid a possible collapse of pension schemes within the next few decades.
Family bonds are very strong in this country, an asset that has helped Turkish society survive rampant annual inflation and economic crises that reoccur every few years.
Though they have proper roads, most Europeans prefer to travel by rail, while we ignore investment in the rail infrastructure and continue to die in traffic accidents on badly constructed roads, thus suffering from time to time -- particularly when we decide to introduce faster train services on old tracks that have not been maintained -- from humiliating mishaps in our rail system.
The individual is at the center of everything in Europe, but despite numerous changes, the concept of the “servant state” has yet to be established in this country of people who consider serving the state to be a sacred duty.
Naturally Turkey will maintain the values that constitute the backbone of this society: Family, a culture of tolerance, social solidarity and such, but we have to understand that Turkey cannot complete the long and winding road to EU membership with a mentality that -- despite an increase in the past few years thanks to the previous three-way coalition of Bülent Ecevit and the current Justice and Development Party (AKP) government -- sees fit to allocate only 8 percent of the national budget to education. Education remains the number-one problem of this country. We should stop considering people capable only of writing their own name as “literate” and really concentrate on this vital area irrespective of whether Turkey becomes a member of the EU or not, since for a better future for our people we need to have a higher standard of education, and for that we need to allocate a much higher percentage of funds to the education budget.
We have to understand that illiteracy is a far greater threat to our society than any foreign danger.
Over the past decades, but more so since the 1999 European Council decision declaring this country a full-fledged candidate for EU membership, many things have changed for the better in almost all spheres.
The Constitution and laws were amended to conform to EU norms, die-hard habits were abandoned, the traditional roles of various state establishments -- particularly the military -- in the decision-making mechanism were overhauled to consolidate civilian rule.
Has Turkey completed this massive transformation? Not yet. There is still a hell of a lot of business we have to attend to. To start with, implementation of the reforms enacted over the past several years has not yet been fully initiated. A change in mentality that would carry Turkey into the European sphere is still in its infant stages.
That is, we are fully aware of the problems at home, and it appears that not only the current government in office but also the entire society -- at least 75 percent of the Turkish people according to latest opinion polls -- are prepared to face this awesome task of change.
Can Turkey brush everything aside and say “No thank you” to Europe because of an unpleasant Cyprus condition or an unpopular date for the start of accession talks? Regarding the date, I am confident that a compromise will always be available, provided there is the will on both sides to find it. But as regards the Cyprus issue, it appears that some EU countries are merely hiding behind the terrorist-converted-president of the Greek Cypriot side and using the Cyprus card to scare Ankara.
For decades all of Europe's Turkey-skeptics hid behind Greece -- the traditional arch-foe of Turkey. Why should they take a position and risk lucrative deals with Turkey when there was Greece poised to blast Ankara for something? Realizing that it can best contain Turkey by pulling it into the same club, Greece has changed and has become a staunch supporter of an Ankara in the EU -- a development that has forced opponents of Turkey to reveal themselves and adopt a more transparent approach to Turkey’s EU bid, though this time again partially hiding behind the Greek Cypriots.
EU countries must all be aware of Turkey's limits. If they are sincere, they should stop playing this nasty Cyprus game. Dec. 17, therefore, will be a moment of truth in Turkish-EU ties.