HURRIYET- Columnist Ferai Tinc comments on the EU Progress Report released earlier this week. A summary of her column is as follows:
Will the EU set out a date for its accession talks with Turkey to begin, or won’t it? Since the EU released its progress report on Wednesday, it’s become apparent that this is no longer a meaningful question considered in isolation, since there are many other questions awaiting immediate answers. Turkey would be very much pleased if the EU said at December’s Copenhagen summit: ‘Alright! Turkey’s accession talks will begin on Jan. 1, 2003.’ However, this wouldn’t be the right attitude for Turkey to take, since from now on it’s not simply a matter of receiving some kind of date.
Everything changed when the EU declared that Greek Cyprus, too, was among the 10 countries put to the front of the queue in its enlargement policy. This was not a great surprise, yet it all boiled down to Greek Cyprus officially receiving a date for its EU membership. However, Greek Cyprus’ membership cannot be assessed in the same way as Poland or Hungary’s. Brussels has to recognize the difference between Greek Cyprus and the other candidates. Otherwise, the EU setting out a date for Turkey would mean nothing. As is known, since 1981 the EU has itself failed to abide by the reservations made on Greece’s EU (then European Community) membership documents. On these documents, it was stated that Greece could in no way take the advantage of its membership to work against Turkey. Yet Greece, whenever it has the opportunity, hasn’t hesitated to use its veto against Turkey in its relations with the EU. Turkey, when it reminded the EU of all the promises it made, got this response: ‘Sorry, old boy, but Greece is a member country.’ Brussels is sadly misinformed if it believes that Greek Cyprus’ membership would do any good towards solving any problem. The EU has never been an appropriate platform for settling disputes between Turkey and Greece. On the contrary, the EU has turned out to be another card in Greece’s hands to play against Turkey. And, if the EU grants the same privilege to Greek Cyprus, Turkish-EU relations will no doubt grow even more problematic. Unless Brussels officially comes to resolve that Greek Cyprus will not be given the chance to abuse its membership status against Turkey, Turkey’s receiving a specific date for accession talks would completely be worthless. True, the EU has relatively minor factual errors on Turkey in its progress report. But the report also rightfully observes that Turkey has failed to fully comply with the criteria the EU put forth.
Turkey should take the following three steps up until the Copenhagen summit convenes. Firstly, it should urge the EU to correct the factual errors in the Progress Report. Secondly, Turkey should continue reiterating that it is determined to comply with the Copenhagen criteria. And lastly, it should remind Brussels that a proper approach on the Cyprus issue is as important as receiving a date for accession talks.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION