| Submit your comments on this article | |
| -Short Attention Span Theater- | |
| Turks Now Think The US Better Friend Than EU | |
| 2005-06-12 | |
| From the NY Times....EFL. Zeynel Erdem, a leading Turkish businessman, came to Izmit, a seaside industrial town, to give 400 of his prominent peers a message. "Don't count on the European Union," he told the crowd after a chicken dinner in a hotel ballroom here. "Look to the U.S.; they're our real friends." A bit slow on the uptake, ain't they? That view is spreading in Turkey, a sprawling land of 70 million people who have yearned for decades to become a part of Turkey's stated goal is still to Just as French and Dutch voters expressed dismay at the increasing European-level control over their lives and worried aloud about immigrants diluting their nations, many Turks are now questioning whether their country should see its future as part of Europe. Of course, few Turks have bought into the American program for reshaping the Middle East, and relations with the United States lost their pre-eminence during the Iraq war, which Turkey opposed. Turkey's focus shifted to Europe. But that is beginning to change. Prime Minister Recip Tayyip Erdogan's fence-mending trip to Washington this week played well here. He even won some support from Washington in ending the economic and political isolation of Turkish Cypriots. I can think of one real nervous Greek Army recruit right now.... European Union leaders agreed in December to begin membership negotiations with Turkey on Oct. 3, and the country has done a great deal to make that happen. It has put a new penal code into effect and agreed to sign a protocol extending its customs union to all the newest members, including the Greek-dominated Republic of Cyprus, which Turkey does not recognize. Yet despite all that, the prospects for Turkey's membership look gloomier than ever. Turkey will have a larger population than any member country by the time it completes its membership process - a projected 80 million - and will probably still be far poorer. More troubling to many Europeans is that Turkish membership would create a powerful Muslim presence and push Europe's eastern borders out to Syria, Iraq and Iran. Like there aren't any Muslims already in Europe? Some European politicians have started talking openly about offering a "privileged partnership" instead of full membership, something roundly rejected here. That's Eurospeak for "separate but equal", methinks. The idea, first suggested publicly three years ago by the former French president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, has most recently been taken up by German's Christian Democrats, whose leader, Angela Merkel, is expected to run against Chancellor Gerhard Schröder in September. Ms. Merkel's party has stated unequivocally that it will try to block Turkey's membership if it comes to power. Hanging in the background is the pledge last year by President Jacques Chirac of France to submit Turkish membership to a national referendum. After last month's rejection of the constitution, few believe such a referendum would pass. Many Turks say they are getting fed up with meeting Europe's manifold demands without some guarantee that they will become a part of Europe in the end. "Europe is playing Turkey's economic output surged nearly 10 percent last year and is expected to grow as much as 6 percent this year. The current 10 percent inflation rate is the lowest in more than 30 years. Foreign investment from the West, slow because of Turkey's chronic corruption, has picked up. While there is still strong support for membership, polls have recorded a decline in national enthusiasm to 63 percent before the French referendum in May from more than 70 percent a year ago. Hansjörg Kretschmer, the European Union's point man in Turkey, warns that without better understanding on both sides, Turkish attitudes could turn quickly. "Strong support based on ignorance is not good because it can collapse very quickly," he said before meeting Tuesday with representatives of nongovernmental organizations in Trabzon, on the Black Sea. "The key element is that Turkey does its homework and completes the necessary political and other reforms. No one will say no to a Turkey which has become a liberal democracy in the European understanding. "Well, except for the French...and the Greeks....Cyprus....maybe Germany....Luxembourg is a tossup...." Saban Disli, deputy chairman for foreign affairs in the ruling Justice and Development Party, said Europe should not try to project a decision of 10 years from now by looking at Turkey today. "Who knows?" he said, "Maybe in 10 years' time, it will be Turkey who holds a referendum to see if Turks still want to become a part of the E.U."
| |
| Posted by:Desert Blondie |
| #14 ...And this surprises them precisely how? Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2005-06-12 23:01 |
| #13 Turks Now Think The US Better Friend Than EU U.S. to Turks: "How do you like me now, bitch?" |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-06-12 22:35 |
| #12 I suggest applying the same Rule of Thumb that savvy expats learned in Saudi Arabia regards Muzzies: You can be his friend, but never make the mistake of thinking he's your friend. |
| Posted by: .com 2005-06-12 19:50 |
| #11 IF that happens, it will be based on natural resources -- not oil so much as WATER, which Turkey has and Iraq needs the uninterrupted flow of. |
| Posted by: too true 2005-06-12 19:30 |
| #10 As I said yesterday, Geography and the distribution of power and economics point to a Turkey aligned with Iraq as the heart of a Middle East Common Market. Importantly, with democracy as the most important prerequisite for membership, it would be a population and economic bloc in competition with the EU. Inclusive to the "Arab" nations, necessarily excluding Israel, and Iran being much as Russia is to the EU: too big, too powerful, and too divisive to belong. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2005-06-12 18:47 |
| #9 No worse ennemy, no better friend than a Turkish Marine. But there are no Turkish marines. |
| Posted by: JFM 2005-06-12 16:31 |
| #8 Amazing, 3dc. Don't know how I missed that in the news. Whatta pack of thieves! Perhaps Erdogan's next visit should be contingent on extradition. |
| Posted by: Tom 2005-06-12 15:51 |
| #7 Ask anybody who used to work at Motorola, their feeling about doing business in Turkey. A mild Motorola press release on the swindle |
| Posted by: 3dc 2005-06-12 15:44 |
| #6 Looks like the Turks are wrong yet again! Looking like the Tampa Bay Devil Rays of the Med here. New best friends for Turkey ares the Zionist Entity for awhile and what ever 'stan they can spook. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-06-12 15:05 |
| #5 AP is on to something. Turkey has been spending the decade, since the fall of the Soviet Union, building ties with the various Turkman stans of Central Asia. It flows with their historic 'identity'. Check where the national Turkish airlines flies to. An alternate Chicom approach for the Turks can't be any less fulfilling than with the EU. |
| Posted by: Ebbereck Uneregum5631 2005-06-12 15:04 |
| #4 AP, we'll do it in an instant. For better or worse, the alternative is that they go to the ChiComs. That'd be even worse for them and us than their little French flirtation. Besides, if they cross us again, Kurdistan becomes a reality. And we should tell them that while we exchange the first hug. |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2005-06-12 14:39 |
| #3 The Turks are on the take. They'll take from the EU, the US, the ChiComs or anyone else who will give. They have proven to be untrustworthy and it will require a long time to earn trust. We need to do to them exactly what the EU is doing to them: dangle a carrot on a stick indefinitely, just to keep them focused on not being a bother. |
| Posted by: Tom 2005-06-12 14:34 |
| #2 They still fantasize about nuking us, though. |
| Posted by: someone 2005-06-12 14:15 |
| #1 I would approach this news with a bit of caution. The Turks are hedging their bets. They have also been having high level meetings with the Chicoms. I will post an article I saw last week to the Rantburg Turkey Dept, page 2. When a government jacked us around like the Turks did in OIF, I would not go off and kiss and make up without some verification. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2005-06-12 13:28 |