MILLIYET- Columnist Sami Kohen writes on the EU deadline until when Turkey has to fulfil its commitments. A summary of his column is as follows:
The Czech Republic is preparing for elections which will be held in 10 days. The Czechs have successfully made the transition to a democratic system and are now holding the election campaigns in a surprisingly subdued atmosphere. Some 28 parties are competing for the 200 seats in their Parliament, but no one can speak of a notable excitement in Prague. The president of the Republic, Vaclav Havel, wants to see his nation in the EU. The present government and a majority of the people support this policy. Czechs have already completed the political criteria required for the EU. Their doubts are mainly focused on certain economic problems such as agriculture. However, a great majority would like this issue to be thoroughly discussed with the EU. As we well know, there can be no bargaining on the Copenhagen criteria. In Turkey, these political criteria are still being debated. It is a fact that Turkey has special problems such as terrorism. The EU may show understanding towards this problem but still require the candidate to fulfill its commitments. It has been this way for the candidates in Eastern and Central Europe. They also had problems peculiar to themselves. If problems pertaining to the abolition of the death penalty and broadcasting in Kurdish are solved, it is widely believed that the EU may give us a date for the start of accession negotiations before the end of the year. However, this is not in fact the case. On every occasion, EU diplomats are saying that setting a date for Turkey does not depend on just two or three problems but also on other conditions such as the implementation of laws and lifting of restrictions concerning freedom of expression. Otherwise, a great disappointment may lay in store for the people at the end of the year. Tuesday’s speech delivered by Deputy Prime Minister Devlet Bahceli has demonstrated how deeply contrasting views are held in Turkey regarding the policies to be pursued towards the EU. If this will be repeated at the summit in Cankaya on Friday, it will be very hard and even impossible to reach an agreement on two or three questions discussed for some weeks. Such a result will weaken our chances of catching up with the calendar regarding the EU. Certainly this is not the end of the world. However, like the Czechs, is not our aim to live in a civilized world and attain better living standards?
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION