Orhan Pamuk:«Lo que une a los pueblos es el sonido del corazón»

El Premio Nobel de Literatura de hace dos años aspira a que Turquía entre en la Unión Europea, a pesar de los inconvenientes que hay EFE / MADRID

efe / madrid El escritor turco Orhan Pamuk cree que «el nacionalismo ascendente» que se da en buena parte del mundo es uno de los motivos que impide el ingreso de Turquía en la UE, aunque su experiencia le ha enseñado que «lo que une a los pueblos no es la política, sino el sonido del corazón, la música de los cuerpos». Pamuk, Premio Nobel de Literatura 2006, lanzó hace unos días esta reflexión en un reciente encuentro con la prensa en el que tanto él como Juan Goytisolo defendieron con énfasis la necesidad de que la UE «abra sus puertas» a Turquía, porque así podría aflorar a la superficie «toda la riqueza, la belleza y la multiculturalidad de este país». El novelista turco, que desde el principio dejó claro que en España se siente «como en casa» y que su cultura no le es ajena, tuvo un doble motivo para estar en Madrid: lo han hecho doctor honoris causa por la Universidad Complutense, y por intervenir, junto con Goytisolo, en el programa Miradas turcas que se desarrolla estos días en la capital. A ambos escritores les une una fuerte amistad desde hace dieciocho años y una recíproca admiración. Uno y otro son también claro ejemplo de intelectuales «comprometidos con el tiempo que les ha tocado vivir», como puso de manifiesto la coordinadora de esta iniciativa, Concha Hernández. La creencia en la Alianza de Civilizaciones, «no en el choque» de las mismas, es otra de las cuestiones que une a Pamuk y a Goytisolo, si bien este último prefiere hablar de «alianza de valores» porque hay «civilizaciones distintas que comparten valores como la democracia y el concepto de ciudadanía». «Hay dos países musulmanes en los que estos conceptos tienen validez: la desdichada Bosnia, a la que la Unión Europea y el mundo dejaron machacar hace unos años por el simple hecho de ser musulmana, y Turquía. La relación con estas naciones es esencial para la UE», subrayó Goytisolo, cuya defensa del mundo y la cultura árabes es de sobra conocida. Uno y otro reconocieron que la situación otomana «es compleja» y que su ingreso en la UE lo puede dificultar la existencia de grupos ultranacionalistas o el que, como dijo Pamuk, su país «no es una sociedad libre, no hay libertad de expresión», tal y como muchos turcos desearían que hubiera. sin excusas. Pero esa falta de libertad de expresión no afecta sólo a su país y «no se debe utilizar como excusa» para evitar su ingreso. El autor de El libro negro -novela que impresionó profundamente a Goytisolo-, Me llamo Rojo o Estambul, está convencido de que, cuando se superen estos problemas, Turquía «aportará mucho a la Unión Europea», y viceversa. Lamentablemente, «y a pesar del esfuerzo que realizan muchos compatriotas», esos inconvenientes «aún no se han superado» y, además, «la emoción y el entusiasmo que había hace cinco o seis años en Turquía» por incorporarse a la Unión Europea «se va apagando», y eso le entristece. Esta «situación actual negativa» es transitoria y Turquía camina hacia «otro nivel de convivencia y de relaciones», aseveró Pamuk, a quien su propia experiencia vital le ha servido para sacar una conclusión: «La cultura oriental y la occidental no son diferentes; es una misma cosa con diferentes caras». Como las preguntas de tipo político fueron incesantes durante el encuentro con la prensa, recordó que sus denuncias sobre lo que sucede en su país le han acarreado problemas con el Gobierno y algún que otro castigo. Además, le gustaría ser conocido «no como un escritor activista que opina sobre la política actual», sino como «una persona sentada ante su mesa de Estambul que intenta crear un universo de ficción».

La larga travesía por el desierto

http://www.elpais.com/
F. C. 20/01/2008
Turquía cumple todos los requisitos técnicos para entrar en la UE, pero no logra completar sus reformas

La visita del primer ministro turco Recep Tayyip Erdogan a España ha reactivado el debate sobre el ingreso del país euroasiático a la Unión Europea. El propio presidente del Gobierno, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, manifestaba abiertamente su apoyo a la adhesión turca, mientras que Erdogan aprovechaba la ocasión para recordar que Turquía cumple con todos los requisitos técnicos de la Comisión, razón suficiente para que la UE "explique de forma científica por qué no se les acepta dentro del club comunitario". Para el jefe del Ejecutivo turco, su país cumple los criterios de Maastricht, a diferencia de muchos actuales socios de la UE.
Un largo camino
La adhesión de Turquía a la Unión Europea ha estado marcada por un largo y tortuoso camino de más de 40 años y que comenzó formalmente en octubre de 2004. Unas negociaciones que casi siempre han estado condicionadas por la política, la religión y los derechos civiles, pero también por la economía. Precisamente, el argumento que Erdogan ha tomado como referencia para agilizar su ingreso. Los datos indican que Turquía ha crecido a tasas que duplican a la Unión Europea en el último lustro, realizando importantes esfuerzos para adaptar su economía a estándares comunitarios.
Después de solventar la severa crisis del sistema financiero de 2001, el país ha tenido un crecimiento sostenido que le ha permitido casi triplicar su PIB en seis años. Con una producción de 500.000 millones de dólares, el país se ha colocado en el puesto número 17 de las economías más grandes del mundo y en el sexto del continente, después de los Países Bajos. Durante esta década, la Administración turca también ha logrado controlar sus elevadas tasas de inflación, un mal que ha afectado históricamente a las finanzas turcas, con tasas que en el año 1997 rozaron el 100% de crecimiento anual. En 2001, este indicador llegaba al 68,5%, producto de la fuerte depreciación de la moneda local, la lira, reduciéndose hasta el 8,6% en 2007.
Esta evolución ha ido acompañada con el control de las cuentas públicas que, de momento, le permiten cumplir con los criterios de austeridad presupuestaria establecidos en Maastricht. Después de una serie de acuerdos con el FMI, Turquía ha pasado de tener un déficit fiscal del 12,9% del PIB en 2002 hasta bajar del 3% exigido por Europa a partir del año 2005. En cuanto a la deuda pública, ésta se ha reducido hasta el 64% en 2006, desde el 104% de 2001. Datos que, según Turquía, le hacen cumplir adecuadamente los estándares europeos. No obstante, para el club comunitario hay una serie de reformas que aún están pendientes.
Descontando las disputas con Chipre, el problema kurdo, los escasos avances en materia de derechos civiles y mejoras del sistema judicial, hay trabas económicas que siguen siendo un problema. En sus sucesivos informes sobre la adhesión, la Comisión ha advertido que la autoridad monetaria no es lo suficientemente independiente del poder político y que las autoridades públicas no terminan de desligarse del sistema financiero. En al ámbito del empleo, la UE ha detectado incumplimientos relativamente importantes en lo que se refiere al respeto de los derechos sindicales, a la lucha contra el empleo no declarado y a las capacidades administrativas.
Temas pendientes
Otro de los temas aún pendientes para la UE es la fiscalidad y su escasa adaptación al acervo comunitario en temas como el IVA y los tipos aplicados, la estructura y los tipos de los impuestos especiales y la fiscalidad directa. No obstante, la Comisión reconoce que, en cuanto a la competencia, la armonización con el acervo en el ámbito de los acuerdos entre empresas está ya muy avanzada y que la adaptación legislativa en este ámbito continúa progresando. También destaca la consolidación de la intermediación financiera, aunque aún se detectan problemas en el avance de sectores clave como la energía y los transportes.
Por su parte, la OCDE agrega que se debe hacer más esfuerzos para atraer al inversor extranjero, además de trabajar para reducir los elevados tipos de interés y mejorar la flexibilidad de los mercados laborales, lo que debería ayudar a la economía a mejorar su competitividad. En su último informe de 2007, la Comisión advierte un panorama positivo para la constitución de empresas.
Esto ha permitido que la inversión extranjera directa (IED) haya tocado niveles récord durante 2007. Los últimos datos del Gobierno turco indican que este indicador pasó de los 1.700 millones de euros de 2003 a los 16.000 millones de euros hasta octubre de 2007. Un dato que en su mayoría se debe al proceso privatizador que se está emprendiendo y que podría disparar hasta los 30.000 millones de dólares la IED.
Precisamente la inversión es uno de los puntos clave para las empresas europeas y españolas. Durante 2006, más del 70% de las inversiones llegadas al país llegaron desde los países europeos, superando los 10.500 millones de euros durante 2006 y los 2.700 millones hasta abril de 2007. Los sectores más apetecidos son la construcción, el turismo y las infraestructuras. Pero no sólo eso. Con más de 80 millones de habitantes, los intercambios comerciales de Turquía con Europa van en alza. En 2005 se dirigieron a la Unión Europea el 52,3% de las exportaciones turcas. En importaciones turcas, en 2005, el 42,1% de las mismas procedían de la UE. El saldo comercial es tradicionalmente favorable a la UE.
La conexión española
La apuesta de Zapatero por Turquía, manifestada esta semana, no es una casualidad. En los últimos años, las cifras de intercambios comerciales entre ambos países marcan sucesivos récords. En 2007 se alcanzaron los 7.000 millones de euros, frente a los 6.000 millones del ejercicio anterior. El propio Erdogan ha señalado que su deseo es que esta cifra se eleve a los 10.000 millones cuanto antes. De esta manera, las exportaciones de la economía española hacia Turquía alcanzaron en 2006 un 2,8% de la cuota de mercado. De acuerdo con los datos de la Oficina Económica y Comercial de España en Ankara, España fue el sexto país receptor de exportaciones turcas en 2006 con un 4,3%.
Según el Instituto de Comercio Exterior (Icex), el punto débil en las relaciones económicas y comerciales entre España y Turquía es la inversión. La concentración de las inversiones españolas en países de Latinoamérica y la UE hace que Turquía no sea un objetivo prioritario. Con todo, los datos oficiales del país euroasiático indican que Turquía es el undécimo receptor de la inversión española al extranjero, con 333 millones de euros acumulados hasta marzo de 2007. Las posibilidades españolas están centradas en sectores como las infraestructuras, el turismo y la energía.

Turkey economy slowed sharply in '07-

Reuters
Tuesday January 15 2008
(Adds comments from interview with minister)
By Daliah Merzaban
DUBAI, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Turkish economic growth last year slowed significantly because of a doubling in energy prices and a drought, but growth of 4 to 4.5 percent would still be a good performance, Economy Minister Mehmet Simsek said on Tuesday.
"Growth has slowed down significantly in 2007. It is simply a number of supply side shocks; energy prices doubling and a drought," Simsek told an investors' conference in Dubai.
Economic growth of between 4 percent and 4.5 percent would be "quite a strong performance", he added.
Simsek told Reuters in an interview after the conference the government would speed up its privatisation programme and would decide by March how to sell its 75 percent stake in Halkbank.
Agricultural output in the first three quarters of 2007 shrank nearly 6 percent, he said at the conference organised by EFG Istanbul Securities.
Turkey had a 5 percent growth target for 2007, but third-quarter data showed gross national product growing at only 2 percent. The growth target for 2008 is 5.5 percent, and actual growth in 2006 was 6.0 percent.
Simsek said reducing inflation was critical to achieving the government's economic growth targets.
"Inflation is likely to trend downward ... If we continue to privatise, promote competition, attract foreign direct investment and make the labour market more flexible, I think that will help reduce inflation," he said.
Simsek said he was optimistic that inflation in the medium term would be in the low single digits.
Turkey's consumer price inflation in 2007 came in at 8.39 percent, twice the government's 4 percent target.
PRICE STABILITY
"Price stability is absolutely critical because without that it would be difficult to sustain these growth rates," Simsek said, referring to a medium-term 7 percent potential target rate for Turkey.
Simsek said he expected tourism revenues at $18-$20 billion in 2007 and this should rise to $30 billion in the next few years as foreign tourist numbers rise to 30 million from 22 million at present.
Simsek said the government would speed up its privatisation drive in 2008, when Ankara hopes to sell off tobacco firm Tekel, a 75 percent stake in Halkbank , electricity distributions grids and sugar factories.
The government would decide by March whether to sell its Halkbank stake to a strategic investor or via a secondary public offering, with a sale concluded by the end of the year, he said.
Turkey attracted $19 billion in foreign direct investment in 2007 including revenues from privatisation, and would at least match this figure this year, the minister said.
The Halkbank sale alone would generate $9 billion in revenues, according to EFG Istanbul estimates.
"Privatisation is gaining momentum," Simsek said. "While the global backdrop has somewhat weakened, Turkey plans to accelerate the privatisation programme."
Privatisation of the country's electricity production assets would be completed in 2011 or 2012, rather than an initial 2010 goal, he said.
Simsek said the government aimed to have a business-friendly new constitution in the second half of 2008.
"In the second half of 2008, we will have a brand new constitution that will be business-friendly and involve more individual freedoms," he said.
Simsek's ruling centre-right AK Party is drawing up a new draft constitution for Turkey, a European Union candidate country, to replace the current document, which dates back to a period of military rule in the early 1980s.
Turkey is also on target to pass a social security reform law through parliament by the end of the month, he said. (Editing by Selcuk Gokoluk and Stephen Nisbet)

Turkey and tolerance Deviating from the path

Jan 10th 2008 ISTANBULFrom The Economist print edition
A cross-dresser's troubles with a resurgent Islam

FOR more than 30 years a cross-dresser with a razor-sharp wit and a merciless tongue has won the affection of millions of Turks. And his success on television has been vaunted as evidence of the tolerance of Turkey's unique mix of Islam and secularism.
But for the past year Huysuz Virjin (the Petulant Virgin) has been replaced by his less exotic self, Seyfi Dursunoglu, in a show aired on a private television channel. The 76-year-old entertainer claims to have been forced to trade in his trademark blonde wig, silk stockings and sexy gowns for more conventional male garb after Turkey's broadcasting watchdog, the RTUK, put pressure on television stations to ban cross-dressing.
RTUK denies such censorship. But Mr Dursunoglu insists that he is the victim of a creeping conservatism that he believes has infected the country ever since the mildly Islamist Justice and Development (AK) party came to power five years ago. Although he was allowed to appear in drag for a special new-year programme, he says that “as a performer, I am no longer as free”. Similar concerns about artistic freedom and secularism were aired last month by Fazil Say, a Turkish pianist, who accused the AK party of being unfriendly.
Debate over whether Turkey is veering off the determinedly secular course laid down by Ataturk has intensified ever since AK was returned to power for a second five-year term in last July's parliamentary election, when it took 47% of the vote. Most Turks are plainly unfazed by such fears. Recent opinion polls suggest that support for AK has risen to a record 52%. “There is no evidence of a systematic plan by the government to make Turkey more Islamic,” concedes Nilufer Narli, an Istanbul-based sociologist. Yet she adds that “expressions of Islamic piety are becoming increasingly overt, indeed a vehicle for networking and social mobility.”
Awkwardly for AK, an openly gay fashion designer has emerged as its most passionate defender. Cemil Ipekci has declared that AK is the best government to have ruled the country in the history of the republic and that, had he been born a woman, “I would have covered my head [ie, Islamic-style].” Pressed to explain, a demure Mr Ipekci says “I am a conservative homosexual.”

Turkey must move fast to avoid EU setbacks

By Paul Taylor Reuters
Published: January 4, 2008
BRUSSELS: Turkey faces a potential "triple whammy" of blows to its European Union membership bid later this year unless re-elected Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan moves quickly to enact human rights reforms, EU diplomats say.
Ankara's accession talks, launched in October 2005, have already been slowed to a trickle by the suspension of part of the negotiations over its refusal to open its ports and airports to traffic from EU member Cyprus.
Now the Turks face a negative European Commission progress report, renewed pressure from Cyprus, and French demands for the EU to discuss setting final borders, with Turkey on the outside.
"Erdogan needs to push laws through the new parliament on freedom of expression, the rights of religious minorities and other fundamental freedoms quickly to give the Commission something positive to report," a senior EU official said.
Without that, the annual progress report due on Nov. 7 is bound to conclude that reforms have virtually ceased over the last year, he said.
EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn made the point forcefully in congratulating Erdogan on Sunday's landslide general election victory for his Islamist-rooted AK party.
"We need in particular to see concrete results in areas of fundamental freedoms such as freedom of expression and religious freedom," he told a news conference on Monday.
"I trust that the new government in Turkey will immediately relaunch the reform process so we can produce results (before) our next progress report in early November."
Joost Lagendijk, co-chairman of the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Assembly, said the top priority was to amend or abolish article 301 of the Penal Code, used repeatedly to prosecute writers and journalists for "insulting Turkishness".
That law was used to prosecute Nobel prize winning author Orhan Pamuk and to convict Turkish-Armenian editor Hrant Dink, later murdered, for expressing peaceful views on the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in 1915.
A long-stalled law on religious foundations giving more rights to Christian and other minorities and better treatment to the Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch in Istanbul is another priority, Lagendijk said.
Turkish political commentators say Erdogan will face resistance from a nationalist opposition, whose acquiescence he needs to get his candidate for president chosen by parliament. The presidency, though armed with few executive powers, is a potent symbol of secularism for a conservative establishment that suspects Erdogan of harbouring a secret Islamist agenda.
The prime minister must also tread carefully with a military suspicious of his Islamist past and nervous about some EU-driven reforms. The AK party has cut back the generals' formal state powers under these reforms, but they remain a force on the political stage.
Erdogan could win more European goodwill by withdrawing some troops from northern Cyprus, making a concession on trade with Cyprus or opening Turkey's border with Armenia, but such moves seem unlikely as they would inflame nationalist sentiment.
Diplomats said Cyprus and France would likely jump on a critical European Commission report to demand further sanctions against Turkey or a rethink of its candidacy.
That too could provoke a nationalist backlash among Turks.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has repeatedly said Turkey is in Asia Minor, not Europe, and has no place in the EU.
His foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, said on Monday that Paris had a problem with five of the 35 "chapters" or policy areas into which the accession talks are divided, because in French eyes they assumed the outcome of full membership. But it was willing to allow the rest of the negotiations to proceed.
Another senior French official, Jean-Pierre Jouyet, has suggested Sarkozy could be satisfied in December with a summit agreement to appoint a committee to study the future of enlargement and the capacity to absorb new members.
That might kick the problem into touch for a year, but the panel would report back under France's presidency of the EU in the second half of 2008, possibly fuelling Sarkozy's drive to move the goalposts on Turkey's talks.

After 'wasted year,' Turkey turns attention back to economic reform

By Selcuk Gokoluk Reuters Published: January 3, 2008

ANKARA: Turkey hopes to increase its growth rate while reining in inflation in 2008, but economists say that the government's plans are insufficient during a time of tighter credit in global markets.
As part of its plan, the government led by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to raise the retirement age, shake up the labor market and increase aid for research and development. But such changes will have a positive fiscal effect on a slowing economy only in the long term, according to some analysts.
Drought, high energy prices and political wrangling prior to parliamentary elections in July - won again by Erdogan's pro-business AK Party - trimmed the growth rate for Turkey's gross national product to just 2 percent in the third quarter. Economic growth averaged a gung-ho 7.4 percent in the years 2002 to 2006, but was expected to come in well below that for 2007.
"Growth will be the most important economic indicator in the next five years instead of public finances," said Pelin Yenigun Dilek, chief economist at Garanti Bank, a midsize Turkish bank. "Growth of 4 percent will worsen unemployment and stoke social and even ethnic tensions."
Turkey needs to keep creating jobs for a fast-growing, young population. Its big cities are also surrounded by large shanty towns occupied by rural migrants, often from the impoverished, mainly Kurdish southeast.
Faruk Celik, the labor and social security minister, recently called 2007 a "wasted year" because of political opposition that stalled much of the government's agenda in Parliament.
At the same time, inflation for the year came in at 8.39 percent - double the target set by the central bank, which cut rates four times since September to try to head off a slowdown amid global economic turbulence.
The government is expecting a 5 percent growth rate for GNP for 2007 and has set a 5.5 percent target for GNP growth in 2008, and is counting on pushing through its legislative agenda to underpin that target.
The draft bills are still in Parliament and subject to change, but they currently call for gradually raising the country's retirement age to 68. Now there is no standard age, but it can be as low as 40.
The government proposals include a program of general health care for all citizens to help head off protests. It also plans to cut social security contributions paid by employers as a way to encourage hiring.
The economy minister, Mehmet Simsek, also is planning to accelerate the pace of privatizations during 2008 and 2009, aiming to sell enterprises like Halkbank, the cigarette company Tekel, and energy production and distribution companies as well as highways and bridges.
Business groups and economists are not entirely convinced about the efficacy of long-term, gradual transitions.
"This is a 15-year plan and it will not have a serious positive impact in the short term," said Gulay Elif Girgin, an economist at Oyak Investment, a unit of Oyak Bank. "General health insurance will create an extra burden on the budget in the coming three to five years."
Business groups also fret that the deterioration in economic indicators might worsen as global liquidity becomes more scarce.
"Improvements in inflation, the budget deficit, the current account deficit and debt dynamics have stopped," Erdal Karamercan, a member of the leading Turkish business forum TUSIAD, said last month. "The improvements have gone into reverse in some areas."
Turkey could have difficulty financing its growth because of scarce liquidity in international markets, he said.
A government official said there were no plans yet to revise the economic targets, because the final data on the last quarter of 2007 could still change the overall picture.
"There was uncertainty and worries due to elections but now these have disappeared and the economy has started to recover," the official said on the customary condition of anonymity. "Our growth targets are certainly within reach."
Economists agree that more privatizations in 2008 could help. Turkey was aiming to attract $25 billion in foreign direct investment in 2007, but likely missed that target.
"Even if prices are not as high as in past privatizations, there will be interest," Girgin said. "There is serious money in the Middle East and Turkey is one of the markets" Arab investors like.

Turkey Inches Toward EU, Clouded by French Objections

By James G. Neuger

Dec. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Turkey inched ahead with its bid to enter the European Union, in talks increasingly clouded by French President Nicolas Sarkozy's determination to make sure the country never gets in.
Negotiations started today over aligning Turkey's regulations with the EU in the areas of consumer protection and transport and energy networks. Turkey has now started talks in six of the bloc's 35 policy areas and completed one.
Under French pressure, the EU has shifted the negotiations into a lower gear, a sign of rising opposition in the heart of Europe to letting in a predominantly Muslim country with a standard of living less than a third of the EU level.
``Certain member states are trying to erode our political and judicial position,'' Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan told a Brussels press conference. ``Such attitudes are not proper and do not reflect a responsible approach.''
Turkey has made scant progress toward joining since embarking on the EU entry marathon in 2005. The bloc froze negotiations in eight policy areas last year to punish Turkey for refusing to trade with the Greek-speaking Republic of Cyprus, part of the EU since 2004.
Negotiations in two or three more areas might get under way in the first half of next year, EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said.
Alternative Union
Sarkozy, elected in May on a wave of French anti-Turkey sentiment, says Turkey's place is in an alternative ``Mediterranean Union'' and has vetoed talks in policy areas that would lead directly to EU membership.
``Must Europe enlarge indefinitely and, if yes, what will the consequences be?'' Sarkozy said last week after persuading the EU to set up a blue-ribbon study group that he expects to challenge Turkey's fitness to join.
Only 21 percent of Europeans want Turkey to become a member, according to a September poll by the German Marshall Fund. European attitudes have darkened the anti-EU mood in Turkey, where only 40 percent of Turks think membership would be a ``good thing,'' down from 54 percent last year and 73 percent in 2004, the poll found.
Even Turkish schoolchildren are hearing of the broadsides by Sarkozy and other anti-Turkey politicians in Europe, making it harder for the government to amass support to modernize the economy along EU lines, Babacan said.
`Negative Impact'
Such ``provocations'' stir feelings among Turks ``that they are unwanted, and that in turn has a negative impact on their position toward the EU,'' Babacan said.
Babacan, Rehn and Portuguese Foreign Minister Luis Amado, the chairman of today's meeting, all backed the ``accession'' process, using the jargon that France forced the EU to strip from the preparatory documents.
Diverging public opinion in Turkey and Europe threatens to breed a ``dangerous situation,'' Amado said.
Rehn, the EU commissioner shepherding the talks, voiced concern that the ``political atmospherics'' between Turkey and EU capitals are damaging the entry process and said the EU needs to be fair to Turkey.
``At the same time, we need to be firm and emphasize conditionality and that's why we encourage Turkey to relaunch the reform process in full,'' Rehn said. As a sign of support for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's EU strategy, the European Commission's president, Jose Barroso, will visit Turkey early next year, he said.
Hammering home a point he often makes in Brussels, Babacan said the Turkish government's plans to upgrade the economy and enhance civil rights won't be blown off course by the souring mood.
EU Subsidies
For example, Babacan said, today's start of talks on linking Turkey's transport and energy networks to the European grid makes Turkey eligible for EU subsidies to upgrade its infrastructure.
Babacan gave no timetable for meeting the EU's demand that Turkey rewrite a section of the penal code that has been used to prosecute authors who challenged the Turkish orthodoxy that that the World War I massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turks was not genocide. One journalist convicted under the law, Hrant Dink, was later murdered by a teenage nationalist.
Divided Cyprus
The status of Cyprus also remains an obstacle for Turkey. Turkey's military has occupied the northern part of the Mediterranean island since a 1974 invasion in response to a Greek-backed coup.
The dividing line hardened in 2004, when Greek-speaking Cypriots rejected a unification proposal that had the backing of the Turkish side. As a result, Cyprus joined the EU without the Turkish-speaking north of the island, which remains fenced off in the only disputed border in the EU.
Skirmishes between the Turkish army and Kurdish rebels operating out of northern Iraq played no role in today's talks. The conflict with the Kurds didn't come up and Babacan said Turkey isn't relying on military force alone to pacify the border.
An EU statement yesterday called on the Turkish military to exercise restraint, while acknowledging Turkey's right to combat terrorists.
To contact the reporter on this story: James G. Neuger in Brussels at jneuger@bloomberg.net .

EU hails progress in Turkey talks

By Tony Barber in Brussels
Published: December 20 2007 02:41 Last updated: December 20 2007 02:41
Turkey’s efforts to join the European Union took a modest but measurable step forward on Wednesday when negotiations started on two more of the 35 policy areas that a candidate country must complete to gain membership.
The decision to open talks on consumer and health ­protection, and on trans-European transport, energy and telecommunications networks, was hailed by Olli Rehn, the EU enlargement commissioner. “The EU accession process of Turkey continues and it delivers results,” he said.
Turkey started formal EU membership talks in October 2005 but the EU froze negotiations on eight policy areas last December because of Turkey’s refusal to open its ports and airports to vessels and aircraft from Cyprus.
Turkey opened and provisionally closed one EU negotiating chapter, or policy area, in June 2006 – science and research. Talks on three other chapters – enterprise and industry, financial control, and statistics – were opened between March and June. Mr Rehn said it might be possible for talks in two or three more policy areas to start in the first half of 2008.
Mehmet Simsek, Turkey’s economy minister, said last month that Turkey could meet an essential requirement for EU membership by adopting the EU’s entire body of accumulated law – the so-called acquis – by 2014 “very comfortably”.
However, a new cloud gathered over EU-Turkish relations in May when Nicolas Sarkozy, an opponent of Turkey’s EU aspirations, was elected French president. Mr Sarkozy’s alternative proposal of a “Mediterranean Union”, which would combine various EU and non-EU countries around the Mediterranean Sea, has found few takers in Turkey.
Ali Babacan, Turkey’s ­foreign minister, took an implicit swipe at France’s stance on Wednesday, saying: “Certain member states are trying to erode our political and judicial position. Such attitudes are not proper and do not reflect a responsible approach.”
France agreed to let membership talks open on two new policy areas because it won approval from the EU’s other 26 countries last week for the creation of a “reflection group” to study the bloc’s long-term future. Although the panel does not have an explicit mandate to discuss the EU’s borders, Mr Sarkozy believes the question cannot be avoided.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007

Considering Greece and Armenia’s Support of Turkey’s EU Candidacy

Aside from the ongoing drama between the PKK and the Turkish military, a great deal of Turkey’s most recent foreign affairs activity has been tied to its potential accession to the European Union (EU). Most observers of Turkey derive the majority of their analysis of Turkey’s potential EU membership from the stoic proclamations of President Gul or the anti-Turkish rhetoric of President Sarkozy. However, an additional angle from which one can develop further understanding of the EU issue is by exploring the perspective of Turkey’s traditional foes, Greece and Armenia.
This past week featured Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan and Greek Foreign Minister Theodora Bakoyianni exchanging incredibly sugar-coated words concerning Turkey’s EU candidacy and also on the general subject of relations between their two countries. With Greece wholly behind Turkey’s EU bid, Turkey has gained a very valuable source of support given the fact that the relations between the two countries have been historically sour at best.
Some observers consider Greece’s strong support for Turkey’s bid as somewhat inevitable given the growing amount of humanitarian cooperation between the two countries since they were struck by the same earthquake several years ago. Cross-border investment is growing in both directions and young Turks certainly do not harbor the same acrimonious feelings about Greece that their grandparents possess. The recent inauguration of a gas pipeline between Greece and Turkey to serve European markets further highlights the growing strategic connections.
There is no question that the positive momentum that increasingly characterizes the relations of Turkey and Greece is real. While Turkey’s motivations are clear, it is nevertheless important to take a closer look at why Greece has chosen to extend its support. To understand Greece’s motivations in greater depth (and beyond their interest in seeing the Cyprus issue resolved at some point during this century), it is helpful to jump to Armenia in order to consult that nation’s conversation concerning Turkey and the EU. Whether due to the historical issue of the Armenian Genocide or the ongoing Turkish (and Azerbaijani) economic blockade, Armenia’s affairs and future are very much tied to those of Turkey.
While largely unnoticed by the Turkish media, there is a heated debate between Armenia’s long-time former president, Levon Ter-Petrossian, and the current president, Robert Kocharian, concerning Turkey’s future in Europe. While both are interested in greater normalization of ties with Turkey, Ter-Petrossian is much more aggressive about pursuing cooperation and dialog. Concerning Turkey’s candidacy for the EU, Ter-Petrossian’s views are quite logical as exhibited in the following article from armenialiberty.org.
“Isn’t it obvious that Turkey’s membership in the EU is beneficial for Armenia in the economic, political and security terms? he added. “What is more dangerous: an EU member Turkey or a Turkey rejected by the West and oriented to the East?“Or what is more preferable? An Armenia isolated from the West or an Armenia bordering the EU? Our country’s foreign policy should have clearly answered these questions a long time ago.”
Ter-Petrossian’s comments are just as applicable to Armenia as they are to understanding Greece’s interest in Turkey becoming a member of the EU. In addition to the regional economic benefits of Turkey joining the EU, both Armenia and Greece are very aware of the value of the horse-and-carrot strategy that the EU has used to prompt Turkey to pursue internal changes. This EU strategy has been implemented in order to force stubborn Turkey to pursue a path that is complimentary to the Western European system of political, economic and social values. Most Turks, in turn, have become embittered by what they see as a series of false promises, which have provoked a dizzying contortion of Turkey’s identity. Both Greece and Armenia could not be more pleased by this painful process and will rue the day that Turkey is no longer tempted to join the European fraternity.
It is of course irrelevant to either Greece or Armenia whether joining the EU is truly the best direction for Turkey. Both nations realize that Turkey would pose a bigger threat to their interests today if Turkey had not been under the EU microscope for roughly the past decade. As long as it continues to seek entrance, the EU will increasingly deny Turkey’s ability to pursue its traditional agendas. It therefore appears likely that Greece and Armenia are hoping to use Brussels as the means for realizing their own historic interests vis a vis their greatest rival.

Understanding both for EU and Turkey

New methods should be undertaken by Turkey, with the help of its friends in the 27-nation bloc, if it is to overcome the obstacles it faces on its way to European Union membership, said participants of a forum over the weekend.
Old prejudices still prevail in modern times, said Italian ambassador to Ankara Carlo Marsili at the forum organized by the Union of Italian Turkish Friendship that brought together Italian and Turkish politicians, businesspeople and members of the press
Marsili said that some Europeans still see Turkey as the historical enemy of Europe. "In the common memory, Turks are seen as the unchangeable enemy of Europe, but while the EU was being founded, Turkey took its place within the partnership mechanisms, “ he said.
“The Ottoman Empire considered itself as European,” said Turkish State Minister Mehmet Aydın.
Aydın said that 80 percent of all the talks on Turkey are based on ignorance and added that those who speak more about Turkey are those who know the least about it.
He emphasized that even if Turkey never joins the 27-member bloc, it will continue to adopt European standards and criteria, and will carry on with the reforms.
Meanwhile Marsili said that eventual membership to the EU is an acquired right of Turkey and not an issue to be renegotiated. He added that the term “privileged partnership” is not acceptable

Turkey's economy

A cloud no bigger than a hand
Dec 13th 2007 ANKARA AND ISTANBULFrom The Economist print edition
The Turkish economy is doing well, but it is also vulnerable

IN 2001 Turkey's president, Ahmet Necdet Sezer, flung a copy of the constitution at the prime minister, Bulent Ecevit, helping to plunge the country into its worst financial crisis since the war. This year Turkey has lurched from one political mess to another. In April a top general threatened a coup; an early general election was held in July; in August Abdullah Gul, a former foreign minister whose wife wears an Islamic-style headscarf, became president over the army's objections; then Turkey threatened to invade northern Iraq. Yet, in contrast to 2001, the markets have barely blinked through all the turbulence.
In truth, the economy is far healthier than it was, thanks mainly to a rigid adherence to IMF-prescribed reforms on the part of the ruling Justice and Development (AK) party. Since AK came to power in 2002 GDP growth has averaged 6.6%, inflation has fallen to single digits and foreign direct investment (FDI) has soared. AK's economic record is one reason why it won a sharply increased share of the vote (although fewer seats) in July.
Yet Lorenzo Giorgianni, the IMF's top man for Turkey, rightly says that this strong economic performance should not be taken for granted. Year-on-year GDP growth in the third quarter was the lowest for six years, at just 1.5%. The credit crunch and fears of an American recession are curbing investors' appetites for emerging markets. Turkey, with a huge current-account deficit, is especially vulnerable. Negotiations for Turkish membership of the European Union, the prospect of which is an anchor for investor confidence, have soured. The IMF programme itself is due to expire next May and the government has yet to decide whether to renew it.
The current-account deficit is being boosted by a rising energy bill. As manufacturers shift to higher value-added goods, they need costlier inputs. Coupled with an overvalued Turkish lira, all this has served to push up the import bill. In previous years the deficit was financed by hot money, making the economy more vulnerable. Now nearly two-thirds of the deficit is covered by FDI, which may hit $22 billion this year. Metin Ar, president of Garanti Securities in Istanbul, predicts that, with the privatisation of motorways and plans for new energy-distribution networks, FDI could rise to $30 billion next year. “Foreigners are so keen to get a foot into the market that they are happy to pay double, triple the real value of assets.”
With their dizzyingly high profits and much untapped retail potential, Turkish banks look appealing targets. New regulations can require capital-adequacy ratios to be as high as 20%, against the international minimum of 8%. “We don't allow any bank to go below 12%,” says Mehmet Simsek, the economy minister. He adds that the state-owned Halkbank is soon to be put on the block.
Mr Simsek, who was snatched into the job from Merrill Lynch in London, agrees that “markets like external anchors” and concedes that Turkey is not immune to external shocks. Yet he sees no crisis on the horizon. His main task is to push through a social-security reform that is a test of the government's commitment to reform. His biggest bugbear is high labour costs. He provoked an outcry when he complained that Turkey had one of the highest wage burdens among OECD countries. High taxes on labour, plus onerous welfare benefits, are a big obstacle to the creation of new jobs. Unemployment hovers at around 10%.
There is little doubt that Mr Simsek has the will and the brains to do what is needed. Ercan Uygur, an economist who taught Mr Simsek at Ankara University, says he was “one of my best students”. Yet some political observers worry that Mr Simsek, who is only 40, may not have enough clout. Unlike his predecessor, Ali Babacan, now Turkey's foreign minister, Mr Simsek is a newcomer to AK politics. His swift rise has provoked some jealousy within the party.
In truth Mr Simsek cuts an unusual figure in the government, and not only as a former investment banker with an American wife. He was born into grinding poverty in the mainly Kurdish province of Batman. He did not even learn Turkish until he was six. By his own admission, he is more comfortable speaking English. A big Shakira fan, he provoked mirth at a recent cabinet meeting when he misused the word transparan, meaning see-through, while talking about the budget.
Yet for now, at least, Mr Simsek has the full confidence of his prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. And it is Mr Erdogan who calls the shots. The concern is whether it may be Mr Simsek who gets the blame should the economy slow further and foreign investors take fright.

EU urges Turkey to do more on path to membership

BRUSSELS, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- Foreign ministers from the European Union (EU) on Monday urged Turkey to conduct further reforms on its path to earning membership of the 27-member bloc.
The ministers acknowledged the ongoing process of revising the Turkish constitution, but stressed that such process should not delay long awaited reforms, "in particular in the key areas of freedom of expression and freedom of religion where Turkey needs to proceed without delay."
During their meeting ahead of the EU summit on Dec. 14, the ministers also called on Turkey to make "significant further efforts" in other areas such as judicial reform, the fight against corruption, minority rights and the strengthening of cultural rights, women's and children's rights, trade union rights and civilian control of the military.
In a statement issued during the meeting, the ministers reaffirmed the need to promptly develop and implement a comprehensive strategy that will guarantee the economic, social and cultural development of Turkey's east and southeast region.
They urged Turkey to "unequivocally" commit to good-neighborly relations and to the peaceful settlement of disputes in accordance with the United Nations (UN) Charter.
"In this context, any threat or action which could negatively affect good-neighborly relations and the peaceful settlement of disputes should be avoided," said the statement.
Meanwhile, the ministers expressed their regret that Turkey has not made progress toward the normalization of relations with the Republic of Cyprus.
They urged Turkey to actively support efforts to implement the July 8, 2006 agreement reached between the two sides in Cyprus, in the presence of UN Undersecretary for Political Affairs Ibrahim Gambari, which is aimed at a comprehensive and viable settlement of the Cyprus problem within the UN framework.
The ministers condemned all terrorist attacks and violence in Turkish territory and expressed their solidarity with the Turkish people as well as their support for Turkey's efforts to protect its population and fight terrorism.
In the statement, the ministers regretted the limited progress achieved in political reforms in Turkey, but welcomed the Turkish government's declared intention and renewed commitment in continuing the reform process and addressing the existing shortcomings.
"It (the EU) looks forward to seeing these commitments soon translated into real and tangible actions," said the statement.
"Next year is crucial to further consolidate and implement the EU's enlargement strategy and support the transition process in the Western Balkans," it added.

Turkey's ambitions for EU membership suffer setback

Brussels - Turkey's ambitions to join the European Union suffered a setback Monday after EU foreign ministers, under pressure from France, dropped the term "accession" from a text referring to next week's talks with Ankara. Unlike a similar text approved a year ago, the "Council conclusions on enlargement" text approved by ministers on Monday refers to this month's "Intergovernmental Conferences with Turkey and Croatia" and omits the term "accession" when referring to such talks.
Council sources said the final draft of the text was amended to appease France, whose President Nicolas Sarkozy has emerged as one of the strongest opponents of Turkey's entry into the EU.
Britain and Sweden, which both want Turkey to join the 27-member bloc, are believed to have expressed strong reservations over the approved text.
In their conclusions, ministers also regretted "the limited progress achieved in political reform in Turkey in 2007."
"Significant further efforts are also needed in other areas such as judicial reform, the fight against corruption, minority rights and the strengthening of cultural rights, women's rights, children's rights, trade union rights and the civilian control of the military," the statement said.
Ministers also expressed disappointment over Turkey's failure to make "progress towards normalization of relations with the Republic of Cyprus" and called on Ankara "to unequivocally commit to good neighbourly relations and to the peaceful settlement of disputes" - a reference to the current problems it is facing with Kurdish rebels on its southern border with Iraq.
While ministers also dropped the term "accession" when referring to forthcoming talks with Croatia, the text commended the country "for the overall progress it continued to make in the past year," saying negotiations between Brussels and Zagreb were "on the right track."

Turkish reform seen tied to progress in EU talks

By Evren Mesci
ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey will reform a law the European Union says unfairly restricts freedom of speech when the EU allows its stalled membership talks to resume, Turkish officials said on Friday.
Turkey has been under heavy EU pressure to amend or scrap article 301 of the penal code which makes it a crime to insult "Turkishness", but Ankara is frustrated by French President Nicolas Sarkozy's efforts to block the negotiation process.
Sarkozy opposes allowing Turkey, a large, relatively poor, Muslim country, to join the 27-nation bloc. German Chancellor Angela Merkel this week also reiterated her opposition to Turkey's membership.
"There is full political will to change article 301, that has been decided on, but the details and timing depend on the EU taking certain steps," said a senior government official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"It will be difficult to press the button on new reforms (if no new chapters are opened)."
French diplomats have been fighting backroom skirmishes in Brussels to keep any reference to "accession" or "membership" in connection with Turkey out of an EU foreign ministers' statement next Monday on enlargement policy, EU sources said.
EU ambassadors met for several hours on Friday to try to resolve that drafting dispute but failed to reach agreement, meaning ministers will have to take up the issue on Monday.
Turkey hopes to open talks on at least two more chapters, or policy areas, under Portugal's EU presidency, which ends on December 31.
A meeting to launch negotiations on health and consumer affairs policy and trans-European networks is set for December 18, diplomats said, provided EU leaders agree next week on creating a "reflection group" to study the bloc's long-term future.
The ambassadors provisionally agreed on the bloc's mandate, which does not mention either enlargement, Turkey or the question of where Europe's final borders might lie.
"WIDER REGION"
Sarkozy initially wanted the group to debate the final borders of Europe, but the draft mandate likely to be adopted at a summit next Friday speaks of examining "how the stability and prosperity both of the Union and of the wider region might best be served in the longer term".
In French eyes, it does not prejudge whether Turkey will be in the Union or the "wider region" in 2020-30. Ankara's friends in the EU are fighting to include a reference to "commitments entered into", to underline the bloc has given its word to Turkey that the objective of the talks is full membership.
Brussels says Turkey should press on with reforms regardless of negative comments by Sarkozy and others in Europe. They say progress on reforms will be Ankara's best argument in trying to overcome opposition to its bid.
But France has been blocking the opening of chapters, diplomats say. Some other EU member states, notably Britain, Spain and Sweden, strongly support Turkey's EU drive. Ankara is not seen joining the bloc before 2015 at the earliest.
A Turkish diplomatic source said Ankara may push through another reform sought by the EU before an expected visit to Turkey by Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis in January.
But he said the reform, which would ease property restrictions on non-Muslim religious minorities in Turkey such as the Greek Orthodox community, could hinge on Greece's steps to bolster rights of its own Turkish-speaking Muslim community in the western Thrace region of northern Greece.
In another reform move, Turkey's ruling AK Party signalled on Friday it plans to ease a ban on the wearing of the Islamic headscarf under a new draft constitution.
"This (new) constitution will solve the headscarf problem in a more libertarian spirit," Dengir Firat, a deputy chairman of the AK Party, told CNN Turk television.
The AK party has hinted many times that it wants to modify or if possible remove the headscarf ban, which also applies to government offices.
Turkey's secularists view the headscarf as a symbol of political Islam and a challenge to the country's separation of religion and state.
(Writing by Gareth Jones; Editing by Michael Winfrey)

Turkey flexes diplomatic muscle as economy booms

By Gareth Jones
REUTERS
6:14 a.m. December 6, 2007
ANKARA – The frenetic travel of President Abdullah Gul highlights Turkey's new self-confidence on the global stage as its economy booms and foreign investment pours into the European Union candidate nation.
Gul's election to the presidency in August has reinforced a growing commercial and diplomatic trend to reach out beyond traditional Western partners to Turkic Central Asia, Russia, Iran, the Arab world and east Asia.
Turkey's expanding ties with these regions, often driven by energy needs, should be seen as complementing, not replacing, its decades-old drive to join the EU, analysts say.
Gul, who as foreign minister helped start EU accession talks, has been in Pakistan and Turkmenistan this week, he goes to Kazakhstan next week. He was in France last week and before that in Georgia.
'This new multi-dimensional foreign policy does not come at the expense of our European vocation, but our place in the world is changing,' said Suat Kiniklioglu, a member of parliament for Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's ruling centre-right AK Party.
'We lack the clout to broker big international deals, but we are getting to a point where Turkey is recognised as a player in places like the Middle East and Central Asia,' he said.
Muslim, secular and democratic Turkey – a NATO member that for decades tended to box well below its diplomatic weight – clearly has much to offer, and the world seems increasingly interested in its perspective.
Almost uniquely in its region, Turkey has good relations with both Iran and Israel, for example, and its peacekeepers are active from Kosovo and Lebanon to Afghanistan.
In the past month alone, the foreign ministers of Iran and the United States have rubbed shoulders at a conference of Iraq's neighbours in Istanbul and the Israeli and Palestinian presidents have jointly addressed Turkey's parliament in Ankara.
Erdogan has also cleverly and confidently used threats to send troops into northern Iraq to fight Kurdish rebels hiding there to push President George W. Bush into sharing intelligence with Turkey to help combat the rebels.
Aware of Turkey's strategic importance as an ally in a difficult region, the United States – and the EU – have turned a blind eye to Turkish cross-border strikes against the rebels.
PRAGMATISM
'Turkey is not a prime mover, it is in the second division, but it is being increasingly listened to across the region,' said Hugh Pope, author of books on Turkey including 'Sons of the Conquerors' about the Turks and Central Asia.
'Turkey has shed some of the former arrogance it showed in its dealings with the Middle East and Central Asia,' he said, emphasising the pragmatism and entrepreneurial spirit displayed by Turkish businessmen, engineers and educators in the region.
Ottoman Turks ruled the Middle East, the Balkans and north Africa for centuries from Istanbul.
Turkey's more active diplomacy is not without its problems. The United States, in particular, is vexed by Turkey's growing energy links with Iran, though Ankara has made clear it shares Washington's opposition to Tehran building nuclear weapons.
The Islamist-rooted AK Party is also respected perhaps more in the Arab world than previous Turkish governments because of its Muslim piety as well as its success in overseeing annual economic growth in Turkey of around 7 percent. Gulf Arab money has been pouring into Istanbul. Analysts say Ahmet Davutoglu, Erdogan's chief foreign policy adviser, is the mastermind behind Turkey's growing diplomatic dynamism during the past five years of AK Party rule.
Like Gul, Davutoglu hails from piously conservative central Anatolia but sees no contradiction between Islam and democracy, between Turkey's EU bid and building closer Middle East ties.
EU STILL KEY
Gul's own approach stands in stark contrast to that of his predecessor, Ahmet Necdet Sezer, a shy, ascetic former judge, who rarely left Ankara and had no interest in foreign affairs.
'Gul really wants to make up for lost time and re-engage, especially in Central Asia,' said Kiniklioglu.
Turkey aims to become an energy hub for Caspian and Central Asian oil and gas exports transiting to Western markets. Existing and planned pipelines across Turkish territory, the West hopes, will reduce its reliance on Russian energy exports.
Analysts said Turkey's central foreign policy goal would remain its EU accession negotiations, launched in 2005.
'Europe is still number one priority, there can be no substitutes... More than 50 percent of Turkey's trade is still with the EU,' said Pope.
'Turkey's higher profile on the world stage is directly linked to its EU candidacy... If Turkey repudiated the EU connection, it would frankly lose much of its prestige with other countries. And Gul understands this very well.'

Merkel Says German Christian Democrats Oppose Turkey's EU Bid

By Andreas Cremer
Dec. 3 (Bloomberg) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel said her Christian Democratic Union opposes Turkey's bid to become a full member of the European Union, the first time she has articulated outright opposition to Turkish EU membership.
``We are, have been and will remain in favor of a privileged partnership with Turkey, but we're against full membership in the European Union,'' Merkel said in a speech to the Christian Democrats' annual convention in Hanover today.
Merkel's CDU party has until now said that accession talks between the EU and Turkey mustn't rob Turkey of the eventual possibility of becoming a full member. The CDU is now ``right to clarify'' its opposition, Merkel said.
Turkey has made little headway toward joining the EU since it started membership talks in October 2005. Rising European opposition to admitting the predominantly Muslim nation has triggered a backlash against the 27-nation EU in Turkey. Sixty- eight percent of Germans oppose Turkey's EU entry, according to a Forsa poll on Aug. 10.

Debating Turkey and the EU

ANKARA, Turkey. -- In the past two years, the suburbs of Paris have twice witnessed violent clashes between non-native French citizens and the police. Whether religious and cultural differences or poverty, unemployment and racial discrimination are the root causes of these incidents is open to debate. But what's interesting is that in September 2006, before he was elected president, Nicolas Sarkozy visited Washington and argued that then the first French riot stood as one of the reasons he opposes Turkey's European Union membership.
"[I] have often been asked about the place of Muslims in France, because of concern in the United States," Mr. Sarkozy said at an event organized by the French-American Foundation. "My dear friends, let's be consistent. What's the point of worrying about our ability to integrate Muslims in France or in Europe if at the same time, and just as forcefully, the United States asks us to accept Turkey in Europe? Even if you consider that we have a problem with Islam, in which case, you have to give us time to find the ways and means to create a European Islam and reject an Islam in Europe. But don't then give equal support to the integration of a country like Turkey, with 75 million inhabitants. Consistency is part of the relations between Europe and the United States." Indeed, Mr. Sarkozy's point of view is shared by many Europeans.
It's true that Turkey is becoming more Muslim than European — particularly since the Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) took power in 2002. Since then, 2006 the Pew Global Attitudes poll found out that 51 percent of Turks define themselves first as Muslim. Being religious is not the problem, but there is a lack of sincere debate about what exactly scares people when they are faced with Islamic practices taking a role in governmental life. If freedom of religion is measured by allowing headscarves in governmental buildings, would it also consider new interpretations of those practices by others? Or whether AKP's understanding of secular government is consistent with European secular rule?
Mr. Sarkozy is right to say that he needs time to "find the ways and means to create a European Islam." But it is also a fact that Europeans allowed political Islam in Turkey to make headscarves the one and only problem with freedom of religion; now, it's time they look deeper into the issue. Turkey's most trusted public opinion survey group, KONDA, led by Tarhan Erdem, yesterday announced the results of a new survey that shows a significant rise in numbers of covered women. According to this survey, in the last four years, there are a million more Turkish women wearing headscarfwhile the ones with turban, which is a sign of political Islam has quadrupled.
Unfortunately, Turkey's secular and liberal elites have denied the role of religion in public life in such a way that they have created a huge mess by not investing in theological education to allow an open-minded approach to matters — understanding what Islam means in the modern world, rather than a strictly literal interpretation. There are a limited number of those theologians, but they are not enough to change a traditionalist mindset.
AKP's insistence on traditionalist practices like the headscarf stands as proof that it refuses to allow open debate on religious interpretations. Mr. Sarkozy may have strange bedfellows with respect to his concerns about Turkey's EU membership; secular Turks may also be worried about their future.
If the AKP is proud that Turkey has opened accession talks with EU on its watch, it is now disinterested in moving forward with reforms of governmental institutions. The European Commission reported "limited progress" in Turkey's political reform process.
According to the Pew Global Attitudes poll, the EU's favorability rating in Turkey dropped from 58 percent in 2004 to 27 percent in 2007. There are a number of thorny issues in Turkey's relations with the EU — including Cyprus, the Armenian genocide allegations and the Kurdish dilemma. Yet not all of the EU's issues are related to those matters. And while the AKP is determined to keep Turkey on track to join the EU, it is sending a number of paradoxical signals. These raise concerns, as the AKP is a relatively new party and it is almost impossible to judge how its rule will affect Turkey. The Turkish scenery, however, looks in absolute chaos for the time being.
Against all the odds it seems that Mr. Sarkozy understands that Turkey's Westernization process is not only limited to its borders and its politicians' responses; it is very much a European project. Yet he may take a more constructive approach in dealing with Turkey. Still, although Mr. Sarkozy said he would end Turkey's accession talks with the EU when he was elected, he has done no such thing. Yet he continues to express his opposition loud and clear, which is only fair it represents the sincere opinion of some of the European population. But the outgoing and the incoming EU presidents, Portugal and Slovenia, continue to express full support to Turkey's membership.
Tulin Daloglu is a freelance writer.

Turkey warns on 'dilution' of EU goal

By Tony Barber in Brussels

Turkey warned France on Wednesday against trying to bury its aspirations to European Union membership by manipulating a "wise men's committee" that is expected to pronounce on Europe's long-term future.
Mehmet Simsek, Turkey's economy minister, also re­affirmed his government's promise to remove an obs­tacle to Turkish entry by changing a much-criticised article of the penal code that makes it a crime to insult Turkish national identity.
Mr Simsek's remarks amounted to a forceful assertion of Turkey's rights as an official candidate for EU membership and of its readiness to take politically difficult measures to achieve its goal.
"Purely technically, in terms of adopting the acquis [the EU's body of accumulated law], I think Turkey can do this by 2014 very comfortably," Mr Simsek said. "But we don't really have an entry date in mind, and what is importantis that we keep the process alive. We hope that common sense will prevail."
Mr Sarkozy's proposal for a "wise men's committee" of 10 to 12 people to study the EU's future up to 2020 or 2030 is expected to win approval from fellow EU leaders at a summit in Brussels next month.
Some EU states, such as Austria and France, oppose Turkey's entry, even though accession talks started in October 2005. Angela Merkel, chancellor of Germany, the EU's biggest country, says she would prefer a "privileged relationship" with Turkey to full membership.
EU countries sympathetic to Turkey, such as Sweden and the UK, want the committee's members to be carefully chosen and its mandate to be precise, so that it does not turn into a vehicle for critics of Turkey.
Mr Simsek made clear in no uncertain terms that Turkey would accept no recommendation from the "wise men" involving a privileged EU relationship, partnership in a French-proposed Mediterranean Union, or anything else short of full EU membership.
"We cannot accept dilution of the commitment to Turkey. Dilution sends an extremely poor message," Mr Simsek told a meeting of the European Policy Centre think-tank.
Referring to the association agreement that Turkey signed in 1963 with the European Economic Community, the EU's forerunner, Mr Simsek said: "We waited in the anteroom for 40 years. Trying to find a way to dilute the commitment doesn't serve French interests."
Mr Simsek said the ruling Justice and Development party was strong enough after its comfortable election victory in July to amend Article 301 of the penal code, a step that the European Commission said this week should be a precondition of Turkish entry into the EU.
"My government would like to amend it, and we will. But I'd like to highlight that it's easy to change legislation but it takes a long time to digest the changes and to change the mentality," he said.
"More importantly, we'd like to make fundamental changes that would secure these freedoms in a more fundamental way. Things don't happen overnight," he added.
Discussing a recent spate of attacks on Turkish targets by the separatist Kurdish PKK movement, Mr Simsek said Turkey preferred not to launch a military incursion into northern Iraq, but stressed that it remained an option.
"If there is a military incursion, it will be aimed purely at rooting out terrorists on Iraqi soil. It will be limited in scope," he said.
Copyright The Financial Times Ltd. All rights reserved

Ban on free speech keeping Turkey out of EU

David Charter in Brussels
A growing number of prosecutions against writers and academics is damaging Turkey’s case to become a fully fledged member of the European Union, an annual assessment report said yesterday.
The country has made little progress in the past year and its failure to end torture, improve minority rights or guarantee freedom of expression were all highlighted as significant stumbling blocks to EU membership.
Britain joined the European Commission in arguing that only the offer of full membership would bring real reform inside Turkey, but President Sarkozy Sarkozy of France, has led calls for the Muslim nation of 71 million to be offered only associate membership.
Olli Rehn, the Enlargement Commissioner, signalled a battle with those who want to end Turkey’s hopes of membership, however, declaring: “Conditionality only works if the EU respects its own commitment to the prospect of accession. Without this, we can always demand reforms but this would be as if we were speaking to the wall.”
Population growth would probably make Turkey the EU’s largest member if it joins, as it hopes, by 2020, and give the Community borders with Syria, Iran and Iraq. But there are many hurdles yet to overcome, the European Commission’s progress check said.
One of the key demands was for the repeal of Article 301 of the Turkish penal code, which makes it a crime to insult Turkish identity. The article has been used to prosecute the Nobel prize-winning author Orhan Pamuk and the murdered journalist Hrant Dink for commenting on the killings of Armenians by Turks in the early 20th century.
The report cautioned: “The prosecution and conviction for the expression of non-violent opinions under certain provisions of the Turkish criminal code are a cause of serious concern. The number of persons almost doubled in 2006 compared with 2005 and there was a further increase in 2007. The Turkish legal system does not fully guarantee freedom of expression in line with European standards.”
Mr Rehn added: “It is not acceptable that writers, journalists, academics and other intellectuals . . . are prosecuted for simply expressing a critical but completely non-violent opinion.”
Yielding to pressure from the EU Mehmet Ali Sahin, the Turkish Justice Minister, said last night that a new Bill repealing Article 301 would be put before Parliament in the coming days.
“Several drafts have been prepared in line with proposals by civic groups. The Cabinet will discuss them at first opportunity, select one and submit it to parliament,” Mr Sahin told Anatolia news agency. Other issues remain outstanding, however. The EU repeated demands that Ankara normalise relations with Cyprus and honour a 2005 agreement to open its ports and airports to the EU member.
The pace of reforms had slowed since Turkey’s membership negotiations opened two years ago. “Cases of torture and ill-treatment are still being reported, especially during arrest and outside detention centres,” it added.
It commended the Turkish Government for solving a constitutional crisis before President Gül was elected this year, but said that the military still exerted “significant political influence”.
In the southeast of the country: “Turkey needs to create the conditions for the predominantly Kurdish population there to enjoy full rights and freedoms.”
Mr Rehn would not be drawn on the consequences for Turkey’s membership ambitions if it invaded Iraq to quash Kurdish separatists.
Wider community
EU enlargement candidate countries Croatia The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Turkey
Potential candidates Albania Bosnia and Herzegovina Montenegro Serbia Kosovo (under United Nations Interim Administration Mission)
Source: European Commission

Pace of Turkey's reforms slowing down, EU progress report says

BRUSSELS, Belgium: The European Union will urge Turkey on Tuesday to press ahead with reforms crucial for its bid to join the bloc, singling out freedom of expression, democratic oversight of the military and rights for Kurds as key areas where more progress is needed.
In an annual report on the progress in Turkey's membership bid, the EU's executive Commission will also repeat that Ankara must normalize its relations with Cyprus and honor a 2005 pact to open its ports and airports to the island republic.
The pace of reforms "has slowed down" since Turkey's membership negotiations opened two years ago, and "significant further efforts are needed" in the crucial areas, said a draft of the report seen by The Associated Press.
The talks stalled last year when the EU froze negotiations on eight out of 35 policy areas, because of Turkey's refusal to open its ports to trade with Cyprus, an EU member since 2004. But EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn said last month that negotiations in two new areas could be opened "in the coming weeks."
On Tuesday, Rehn planned also to present reports on the efforts of six Balkan nations to join the EU.
The draft report on Turkey commends the country's government on solving a constitutional crisis earlier this year, but says the military — which has vowed to safeguard Turkish secularism — still exerts "significant political influence." The draft report calls for a better civilian oversight of the armed forces.
Abdulah Gul, a former foreign minister in Turkey's Islamic-oriented government, was elected president in July after months of confrontation with the secular establishment, with the military threatening to intervene when Gul was first nominated for the post.
The draft report says serious concerns remain over freedom of speech restrictions, particularly Article 301 of the Turkish penal code that make it a crime to insult Turkish identity or the country's institutions.
Nobel Prize-winning author Orhan Pamuk and slain ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant Dink are among those who have been prosecuted under the controversial article.
The report also mentions the need to improve religious and cultural rights for non-Muslims, but it lauds Turkey's economic reforms.
The 27-nation EU is divided over whether Turkey, a mainly Muslim country of 71 million, should one day join the EU. The prospect faces opposition from some member states, such as France or Austria, and the accession talks are expected to last at least a decade.
Turkey is under intense pressure from the EU to allow Greek Cypriot planes and vessels to use Turkish ports and airports, but Ankara has said it would not agree to any concessions on Cyprus until the EU keeps to a promise to end the isolation of Turkish Cypriots.
Cyprus has been divided between a Greek Cypriot south and a Turkish-occupied north since 1974, when Turkey invaded after an abortive Athens-backed coup by supporters of union with Greece
The European Parliament said last month that Turkey's refusal to comply with the commitments made when it opened its accession talks with the EU would seriously affect the negotiations.