Cyprus And The E.U.?

CUMHURIYET- Columnist Erol Manisali comments on Turkey’s relations with the EU. A summary of his column is as follows:
In November 1995, the EU Commission presented a report on Turkey to the European Parliament because the March ‘95 document was due to be voted on. The report read, ‘Approve the Customs Union, or it will be very hard for us to solve the Cyprus issue.’ By ‘solve,’ they meant accepting the Greek Cypriot administration as representing the whole island and having Ankara accept this ‘solution.’ In a speech last April, retired Foreign Ministry Deputy Undersecretary Inal Batu said, ‘In 1999, the EU made Turkey a candidate country in order to easily win the concessions it wanted.’ Thus, he explained one of the reasons why the EU accepted Turkey as a candidate country merely for show. In November 1994 at the end of the Essen Summit, it was decided that Slovenia would become an EU member. At that time, the Slovenian government was an unelected one and this country was in a worse situation than Turkey in every area, including socially and economically. However, the EU said that Slovenia would be part of its future ‘United States of Europe’ because the EU’s decision represented a ‘political preference.’ Meanwhile, Turkey would become dependent on the EU; it would be kept outside the EU and ‘in reserve.’ For this purpose a one-sided Customs Union agreement was arranged, and the for-show-only candidacy was arranged by certain Turkish officials who traveled to the European capitals in 1999. Then the for-show-only candidacy with conditions concerning Cyprus and the Aegean which Ecevit uneasily signed onto appeared. In December 2000, certain people used various tricks to the Cyprus and Aegean conditions in our EU Accession Partnership Document. Who were they? Which politicians they were? As with the Karen Fogg e-mail scandal, the facts about these events will eventually be uncovered and nothing will be secret anymore. The disagreement on the Cyprus issue might not be a problem in Turkish-EU relations, but a ‘reason for including Turkey in the EU.’ The EU might have said that by including Turkey, we can solve the Cyprus and Aegean problems; but it doesn’t and can’t say so because it will not make Turkey an EU member, this is the main problem. However, the important thing here is ‘the silent blow from the centers of power who want Turkey linked to the EU in a one-sided way.’ As they are afraid that this silent blow might not connect, they are worried about the Cyprus issue. They began to paint a rosy picture of EU issue so the storm that will break out at the end of the year can be welcomed. The main problem between Turkey and the EU is that the EU will never make Turkey an EU member. If the EU is to accept Turkey as a member, there would have not been the Cyprus and Aegean problems, the Armenian and southeastern issues would have been discussed and there would not be deep worries about the nature of the Turkish Armed Force (TSK) and the European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP). No matter what Turkey does, it will not be able to become an EU member because the reasons for it being rejected do not depend on Izmir, Cyprus or Diyarbakir, as Mesut Yilmaz says. Those who wants to paint it this way must have ulterior motives.

SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION