Call for pragmatism on Turkey membership issue

Politicians and academics participated in a frank debate at the EPC conference "Turkey's accession to the EU: The Final Countdown" on 23 June 2004 in Brussels.

Dr. Heinz Kramer, Director at Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, Berlin, warned against unhealthy "ideologicalisation" and the notion that EU was now "taking in Islam". He backed the idea of starting EU accession talks with Turkey. Not doing so could create a "serious political backlash, Turkey needs the anchor of the EU," he said.

Kramer pointed to a certain hesitance and the feeling of a need to consolidate after the recent enlargement with ten new countries among the EU governments. This highlighted the need for more political leadership if the EU is to be able to successfully start the negotiations, he said.

Kramer also had critical remarks concerning conditions in the Kurdish part of Turkey and even more so on the lingering influence of the military on politics in Turkey: "The day the chief of general staff has to consult with his defence minister before speaking out to the press" has still not come, he said with a reference to a recent debate on the access of religous scholars to universities.

Murat Mercan, Turkish MP, and vice-president of AK party and chairman of the Turkish delegation to the Council of Europe, took some of the criticism on board, and said: "I understand the concerns, but changes will not come overnight, it is about changes of lifestyles and ways of doing business."

Mercan added, half jokingly: "If we had solved all the problems we would not have to be a Member State of the EU. Turkey will improve faster and faster. But do not expect all problems to be solved by the end of 2004."

Joost Langendijk, the Green Dutch MEP and co-chairman of the Turkey committee, warned against mixing the geo-strategic argument for letting in Turkey with the main question of it's eligibility according to the Copenhagen criteria. He called for a much pragmatic honest debate: "EU should drop the expectation that Turkey will be able to comply a 100 per cent with the criteria, and Turkey should drop the claims that it will."

The European Council is set to decide in December 2004 on whether or not to start membership negotiations with Turkey.