BY CUNEYT ULSEVER
HURRIYET- It’s clear that the decision taken on Dec. 17 is a great success for Turkey. I’d like to thank all the politicians, bureaucrats and those who made efforts on our European Union membership bid. We wouldn’t be at this stage without their efforts, intelligence and negotiating skills. This stage should be neither despised nor exaggerated. It’s just an engagement, and there’s no guarantee that this reciprocal preparatory period should end up in marriage. Negotiations are negotiations, and that’s all! Accession talks will be the most difficult stretch for Turkey to navigate in its 41 year-old EU membership bid, because in this period we will strive to transform our ways of thinking into a Western mode. Transformation is the most difficult task any society can face.
But I’d like to point to something else. Ankara shouldn’t forget to do its duty to the EU, and should be ready to make efforts for this. We didn’t get our date for EU talks because we’re a European country. It’s clear that we made great efforts, but we weren’t invited because we’re a model for the rule of law. We were invited in order to answer the question whether Turkey can serve as a go-between for the direction of Western civilization and that of Eastern civilization, where Islam has emerged as an alternative since the collapse of communism. In other words the West gave us a date because it didn’t want to risk excluding Turkey after the Sept. 11 attacks. Turkey isn’t a Western country, but it’s the most Westernized country of the East.
In this respect, at a time when Turkey is preparing for Western norms, it also must strengthen its relations with the East more than ever. From now on our moves over Iran, Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Israel and Egypt will become more important. Turkey must bolster its relations with Russia, China and India. Otherwise we won’t have any function in the EU, and could get stuck in an EU trap.