STAR- Columnist Zeynep Gurcanli writes on the tour of European capitals beginning today of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, leader of incoming government party the Justice and Development Party (AKP). A summary of her column is as follows:
The honeymoon for Turkish-EU relations in the wake of the Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) landslide victory in last week’s elections has ended already, and even before the new government had the chance to take office. The first sign that the good times were at an end is the planned European capital tour of AKP leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, currently the most influential figure on Turkey’s political scene, a tour scheduled to begin today. Erdogan is expected to discuss a number of sensitive issues with EU officials.
The first message to be conveyed to Erdogan is expected to come from Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. According to diplomatic sources, Berlusconi will use a soft diplomatic line when discussing these sensitive issues with Erdogan, since he believes in the necessity of strong cooperation between Mediterranean countries. However, we know that despite his soft tone, his expectations of Turkey will be quite heavy. Berlusconi and other European leaders will request that Turkey comply with decisions of the European Court of Human Rights. Although this doesn’t look like much of a problem for Turkey right now, the main problem looming is the situation of some Democracy Party (DEP) members who are currently serving prison terms. The European leaders expect Turkey to reopen the cases of the DEP deputies with a view to releasing them.
The second message to be conveyed to Erdogan is that the EU expects a new vision from the Turkish government to be led by the AKP. What they really mean is that the AKP-led government should take every possible measure to end torture and violations of human rights. The European leaders want the Turkish government to take decisive measures to end the impunity of human rights violators.
The third request of the EU leaders will be the full implementation of the Counter-terrorism Act, which requires a number of important measures to address sensitive issues such as preventing arbitrary prolongation of custody.
The last two issues on Erdogan’s agenda will be the Cyprus problem and the European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP). The European leaders will try to persuade Erdogan to put pressure on the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). However, TRNC President Rauf Denktas expects Erdogan to avoid making any concessions for the sake of better relations with the EU. The EU leaders also want the ESDP issue to be solved before December’s Copenhagen summit. In brief, all of these issues, and the decisions that Erdogan will make on them, are extremely important not only or our own future but also for the future of our children...