BY MERIC KOYATASI
AKSAM- Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday appointed Economy Minister Ali Babacan as Turkey’s chief negotiator for over European Union negotiations to start on Oct. 3. We wish him success. As a young politician, Babacan has taken on a heavy burden. He conducted relations with the International Monetary Fund following our economic crises very well. He also showed a very harmonious working relationship with Finance Minister Kemal Unakitan in terms of steadily implementing the economic program. I hope he will show the performance expected of him during the negotiation process as well. However, this time he has quite a difficult task. Germany’s decision to hold early elections and the strong possibility of anti-Turkish Christian Democrat leader Angela Merkel’s becoming chancellor and Sunday’s French referendum on the EU Constitution could hold up Turkey’s full EU membership and the negotiation process. However, what I mean by difficult concerns other issues.
There is a double standard in certain EU member countries’ stance on Turkey. There are many examples of this. For instance, back in March the EU lambasted Turkey when Turkish police treated badly some people who used Women’s Day as a pretext, most of whom were members of terrorist groups. The French police then treated students who were fairly protesting educational reform more severely, but nobody said a word about it. Their explanation is funny but true. They say we have an image problem. I’m not opposed to the EU. However, the Turkish nation’s culture and way of doing things are very different from those of Europe. In addition to different cultures, if you add the EU’s double standard, full membership seems a pipe dream to me. However, neither senior nor new Turkish politicians, nor our social structure are enough for us to take steps by ourselves. We enact certain measures under pressure from the outside and just because the IMF or EU wants us to. Therefore, I think the process of full EU membership negotiations will be beneficial for Turkey. Even the fact that our negotiations will start in October has made Turkey more attractive in the eyes of investors. Turkey’s harmonizing its penal law and commercial law to EU norms and its adoption to the Maastricht criteria are also very good developments. I hope the work of Ali Babacan and his staff goes smoothly.