BY ANDREW FINKEL
TODAY'S ZAMAN- Germany is Turkey's biggest trading partner in Europe. There are 3 million people of Turkish origin living in Germany. Turkey is a European Union applicant. And it has been nearly four years since a German chancellor set foot on Turkish soil. What could be more natural than for Angela Merkel to pay a neighborly call, one might think. But the official visit has not got off to a flying start, at least from a public relations point of view.
It all started going pear shaped when the Turkish prime minister, in an interview with Die Zeit newspaper, made the case for Turkish schools in Germany. This was seized upon by the German tabloid press as further evidence of Mr. Erdoğan trying to command a sort of extraterritorial allegiance over the Turkish community abroad. Mr. Erdoğan has not backed off and pointed out that there are German-language lycées (high schools) in Turkey and that the government has just set aside a vast acreage for a new German-medium university - the launching of which was meant to provide the feel-good moment on the chancellor's visit.
Merkel was herself in no mood to flatter her hosts, with one eye on an important election in North Rhine-Westphalia, insisting that Turks living in Germany needed to attend German schools to get on in their lives. She also repeated her own views that Turkey would be far happier with some privileged partnership with the EU rather than full membership. In a previous interview she gave some indication of what 'privileged' meant - which is that Turkey would complete 28 of the 35 accession chapters, leaving out those which involve political integration. This, of course, raises the concern that Turkey abides by the rules of the club but has no say in how those rules are made.
This is all a bit discouraging. Turkey's new foreign policy watchword is 'zero problems with neighbors.' Yet even as it attempts to deal pragmatically with those with whom it has genuine matters to resolve, it has started to bicker with friends. We are now in that danger zone where Turkish progress toward full integration with Europe is no longer paved with milestones and good intentions, but land mines and one or two scarcely concealed grudges.
One might argue that now is not the moment in history for Europe and Turkey to be planning their common futures together. After all, Europe is busily trying to buoy up its currency and trying to staunch the current account deficit in Athens to prevent a hemorrhage down the line in Madrid or Rome. The German electorate are wary of having to bail out 'old Europe' and not in a sympathetic mood about an enlargement process as complex as Turkey's. Indeed, some of those within Europe may even be envying Turkey's happy status. It is a strange irony that Turkey in recent weeks has begun to look more attractive to investors precisely because it is outside the euro zone. Throughout the 'Naughties' Turkey's EU succession bid was hailed as an anchor of stability; now it might appear to be a guide rope to a historic cul-de-sac.
However, both Mr. Erdoğan and Ms. Merkel need to look beyond the next election, to a decade hence, when a very different Turkey will be in a more credible position to sign off on those seven political chapters. Europe needs a prosperous Turkey, both as a market and as an ally. And Turkey still needs Europe as a reference point as it negotiates a difficult process of constitutional reform. The argument when Europe entered into negotiations with Turkey is the argument now, that together Turkey and Europe are more than the sum of their parts.