BY YILMAZ OZTUNA
TURKIYE- Let’s congratulate Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul and other members of our team in Brussels. Now we’ve moved onto an important process on our road to EU membership. Neither European nor world conditions will allow us to wait for 10 or 15 years at the EU’s door. Maybe we can become an EU member in a few years. It’s up to us. Now we have a little time before the beginning of our membership talks. We shouldn’t squander it. We didn’t win a victory, despite what Erdogan said. We only were successful. Erdogan shone like a leader and politician who swayed the world’s intentions. This might anger the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) enemies. Our political leadership should avoid missteps over domestic politics. If it doesn’t, foreign countries which don’t favor reforms in Turkey might put this leadership into a difficult situation.
We should work hard with Parliament. In the past, mistakes were made. That’s why 600,000 Greek Cypriots can now hinder the development of 70 million Turks. Nobody should forget that foreign policy is no love-in, but an exercise of power and will. Leaving the negotiating table is out of the question. We will remain there to work through problems with patience and knowledge. Europe knows the difficulties and dangers it will face concerning Turkey better than we do.