STAR- Columnist Zeynep Gurcanli comments on European Union countries’ recent efforts to increase their economic dynamism on the world market and what Turkey’s possible role might be in these efforts. A summary of her column is as follows:
Two days ago, Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit commented on Turkish-EU relations by declaring, ‘Europe will never give up on Turkey. Just Turkey needs the EU, the EU also needs Turkey.’
We can understand how correct Ecevit’s statement is when we compare it to another recent statement by the National Security Council (MGK) Secretary-General Gen. Tuncer Kilinc arguing that Turkey should improve its relations with Russia and Iran instead of trying to establish close contacts with the EU.
Let’s consider the general’s remark: The first alternative for Turkey is Iran, a country under a conservative Islamic regime which has long been unable to surmount its domestic instability for. The second alternative is Russia, a country which does not shrink from pursuing undemocratic, aggressive policies in order to retake power on the world stage, and a country which is itself also suffering from an economic crisis. For all these reasons, it is undeniable that Turkey has no alternative to the EU since it needs the Union to protect its own domestic stability as well as help it develop sound foreign relations.
What about the EU? Does it really need Turkey?
The EU is busy now trying to develop its economy to be able to compete with the US on the world market. That’s what the current Barcelona meeting is all about. The meeting will focus precisely on developing a more flexible labor market capable of creating more jobs, improving the education and training of Europe’s students and workers and increasing their room for mobility and liberalization, interconnection of the electricity and gas markets, and integrating Europe’s financial markets. In brief, Europe is trying to increase its economic dynamism.
Turkey was invited to the Barcelona meeting as a candidate country. Going back to our crucial question as to whether or not the EU needs Turkey, we can say that our trump card is our strategic position. That’s why the most important message Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit will convey to Europe in Barcelona will again stress the fact that Europe cannot achieve its above-stated goals without Turkey.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION