BY SAMI KOHEN
MILLIYET- Does Turkey really have to make a choice between the United States and the European Union? I don’t think so. However, the question is currently discussed by some circles. There are two fresh developments bringing the issue to the agenda:
The EU is in crisis now because France and the Netherlands said ‘no’ to the EU’s constitutional treaty, intensifying debates on Turkey’s EU membership bid. Second, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan paid a visit to the United States to mend fences between the two countries.
Some argue that Turkey will have to make a choice between the EU and the US. Especially foreign press including the British Observer and the Times recently claimed that Ankara is unlikely to join the ranks of the EU and therefore losing its enthusiasm about becoming a EU member. In addition, the New York Times argued that Turkey has already begun to question whether it should exert more efforts to join the EU and therefore the Turkish government has decided to turn itself to Washington rather than Brussels.
I believe that these evaluations are nothing but exaggeration. The New York Times quoted Erdogan saying that Turkey attaches the greatest importance to its relations with both the EU and the US. Erdogan may try to mend fences with Washington but this does not necessarily mean that his government is suspicious about the EU’s intentions.
Some EU nations may oppose our membership bid but it is a fact that the EU’s decision-making organs already decided to start our membership negotiations. As the negotiations process will be a very long one, it is too early to predict that Turkey will never be able to succeed. In this very early phase, Turkey prefers preparing for the negotiations, and this is what it should do.
The EU might experience radical developments during this period. Many US officials including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have often called on Brussels to open its doors to Turkey. This is very meaningful to us.
Washington wants to see Turkey in the Western camp. Washington believes that Turkey’s EU vision overlaps with Ankara’s strategic relations with the United States. In other words, according to Washington Turkey doesn’t need to make a choice between the two.