Speaking at a Brussels conference organised by the 'TR Centre for Turkey in Europe', a think-tank, Turkish academics warned that it would be "impossible" for the country to accept any other kind of relationship with the EU than full membership.
"A privileged partnership will not provide an incentive for deep political transformation," said Şevket Pamuk from the London School of Economics. Pamuk - who is the brother of Nobel prize winner Orhan Pamuk - argued that if EU leaders keep saying that Turkey will never become an EU member, it will be very difficult for the country to tackle its internal problems successfully.
Binnaz Toprak, from Bahçeşehir University, argued that there was a feeling in Turkey that "whatever we do, the EU will never accept us, because we are a Muslim country". She explained that the Turkish Islamic movement has never attempted to install an Islamic state, but rather to make room for itself in the power and status hierarchy of the society.
"Unlike other Islamic movements elsewhere in the Islamic world, a strong radical Islamic movement never emerged in Turkey. Today the division between Islamists and secularists is not about whether the secularist state will remain. If you look at surveys, only 8% of the population would say they want an Islamic state," she argued.
"Islamists were kept out of society to such an extent that until recently, they were talking about themselves as 'the blacks' of Turkey, versus the secular 'white'," the Turkish scholar further explained. She said the Justice and Development Party (AKP) of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had built its success on its grassroots activities during the AKP's founding period, and on its capacity to bargain and compromise.
Professor Pamuk called on the EU not to invest all its efforts in its relationship with the ruling AKP. "During the early years of the AKP administration, when the EU found a willing ally in the AKP, which was willing to go ahead with reforms, I think the EU abandoned Turkey's Western-oriented secular elite and dealt primarily with the AKP. After 2005, these Western-oriented elites were disappointed by the EU. I think it is time for the EU to bring these Turkish secular elites back," Pamuk said.
Pamuk also commended the present Turkish government for pursuing an agenda of "zero problems with neighbours".
The Cyprus challenge
Constantionos Eliades, the Cypriot ambassador to Belgium, challenged Professor Pamuk to specify how the present government had improved its relations with all its neighbours.
"Turkey has to remember that with its present policies, it will never get accession. When you have a candidate country, behaving as the EU has 26 countries, occupying European territory and having hostile policy toward an EU country, [..] you need a reversal of the tide," the diplomat said.
In response, Pamuk reminded listeners that it was the Greek Cypriot community, not the Turkish one, who in 2004 rejected the UN secretary-general's reunification plan, suggesting a two-part federation with a rotating presidency.
Pamuk used the opportunity to call on the EU to take a more active role in the settlement of the Cyprus problem. At present, talks are ongoing between Cypriot President Demetris Christofias and Cypriot Turkish community leader Mehmet Ali Talat, under the watch of Alexander Downer, the UN's special advisor on Cyprus and a former Australian foreign minister.
