MILLIYET- Columnist Sami Kohen comments on the European Commission’s Progress Report on Turkey due to be released today. A summary of his column is as follows:
The European Commission’s Progress Report has already been extensively leaked to the media. The report praises Turkey’s recent passage and implementation of harmonization laws and reforms, but it also lays out what it sees as deficiencies vis-a-vis our carrying out the Copenhagen criteria. The accuracy of certain items in the report’s ‘negative’ column is debatable, but it’s also clear that altogether it’s an objective document. We should discuss the report as a whole, with both its ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ aspect. However, the report didn’t set a date for Turkey’s EU membership negotiations, leaving this decision to December’s Copenhagen summit.
Now we should look beyond the Progress Report, that is, think about measures that can and should be taken from this point onward. The Copenhagen summit will be held in two months, and Turkey has to make good use of this time. Actually half of this period falls under our election campaign session. However, Turkish officials and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) should take out the time to wage an intensive campaign so that a positive result can be obtained at the Copenhagen summit. As part of this campaign, it would be in Turkey’s favor if the political party leaders -- particularly Justice and Development Party (AKP) leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal -- visit Brussels, Copenhagen and other important EU capitals during this time. In addition, if Turkey takes new steps concerning the issues that the Progress Report puts stress on, by, for example, expanding human rights and freedoms, it will be able to create a positive atmosphere leading up to the summit. Finally, it would be very beneficial for Turkey if certain parties declare their political determination to reach our national EU goal, just as hundreds of NGOs did some months ago.
The Progress Report didn’t give a date to Turkey for its EU membership negotiations. Can this be considered a sign that no timetable will emerge from the Copenhagen summit, either? Obviously if the report had included a date, it would have been argued that this would surely influence the summit. But frankly, now this possibility seems to be relatively weak. If a date isn’t given, then there are two possibilities. One of them is the setting of a ‘conditional timetable.’ Under this, the EU would closely follow developments in Turkey for a certain period of time (six months or a year) and if it considers the results satisfactory, it would start negotiations at the end of that period. The second possibility is giving Turkey the status of a ‘special membership,’ instead of full membership. Under this, Turkey wouldn’t be included in the certain EU organs but would be able to develop its political, military and economic relations with the EU in a privileged way. Right now brainstorming is being done on these and similar scenarios, but it’s the leaders who will make the final decision at Copenhagen.
As this will be a political decision, certain factors other than those appearing in the Progress Report will play a role. The result of Turkey’s elections is one of the determining factors. Another is developments on the Cyprus issue. Finally the third factor is Turkey’s location and its increasing importance in the international context. In sum, the political decision looming from the Copenhagen Summit depends on events which will unfold over the next two months.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION