Turkey: Is the EU Shutting Out Ankara?

Our newest correspondent, Fulya Inci, notes difficulties over Turkey's application to join the European Union:

Talks over Turkey's accession to the European Union have recently been frozen. Indeed, in Turkey, the issue has been eclipsed on the agenda by domestic problems and Ankara's pursuit of engagement withe neighbouring countries. Some European leaders, meanwhile, continue their campaign against Turkey’s accession. Although a new chapter in Europe opened last month with the Treaty of Lisbon, the hostility of Nicolas Sarkozy in France and Angela Merkel in Germany over expansion to include Ankara is unabated.

David Cronin from The Guardian tries to break the deadlock of “unresolved questions”, the advising European leaders to stop acting like a Christian club and deviating from their claims of democracy and “cherish[ing] diversity.” Cronin suggests that Turkey take positive steps over Cyprus and human rights while the EU offers an advance on membership status:

Istanbul is haunted by a unique type of melancholy, Orhan Pamuk writes in his wondrous book on Turkey's largest city. Known as hüzün, "the black mood shared by millions of people together" is particularly dense on cold winter mornings "when the sun suddenly falls on the Bosphorus and the faint vapour almost rises from the surface".

Many Turks must be overcome by a comparable weariness (this one not mitigated by beautiful scenery) when they hear of their country's never-ending quest for membership of the European Union. More than 22 years after Turkey first applied to join, the prospect of its EU entry seems as remote as ever, even if formal accession talks began in 2005.

With progress in those negotiations already sluggish, primarily because of unresolved questions over the future of Cyprus, there is now a new hurdle to be overcome. Bulgaria has indicated it will block Turkey's membership unless compensation is paid for the expulsion of Thracians by Ottoman forces in the early 20th century.

It is only right that Turkey should be required to improve its human rights record in order to join the union. The aforementioned Pamuk is among those to have fallen victim to its restrictions on free speech; the Nobel laureate was prosecuted over a 2005 interview in which he discussed the genocide perpetrated by Ottoman forces against 1.5m Armenians nine decades earlier. While charges against him were eventually erased on a technicality and while important gestures of friendship towards Armenia have been made by the present Turkish leadership, the Ankara authorities continue to muffle voices of dissent. This has been illustrated by a ruling from the Turkish constitutional court last month, banning the Kurdish Democratic Society party.

Such curbs on expression, however, have nothing to do with the antipathy directed at Turkey by Nicolas Sarkozy in France and Angela Merkel in Germany. Rather, their opposition to Turkey's bid for EU membership is explained by what a columnist in the Turkish newspaper Hürriyet accurately described as "basic facts not pronounced openly" on Monday. "Turkey is a Muslim country," Mehmet Ali Birand wrote. "And Europe is not ready yet to accept a Muslim country in the EU."

This anti-Turkish bias is tantamount to racism. Even though the EU institutions officially claim to cherish diversity, there is a tacit agreement among some of their most powerful leaders that the union must remain predominantly Christian. Herman Van Rompuy, the EU's new president, is one of the few to have voiced this desire in a public forum (and that was long before his recent elevation in status). "The universal values which are in force in Europe, and which are also fundamental values of Christianity, will lose vigour with the entry of a large Islamic country such as Turkey," he told a meeting at the Belgian parliament in 2004.

As a Christian myself (albeit not a devout one), I am not sure what teachings of the poor Nazarene that Van Rompuy professes to follow provide a justification for slamming the door on adherents to another faith. If a golf club adopted a similar policy of exclusion, there is a strong likelihood it would be sued for breaching equality laws. The EU is nominally a club of democracies; why is it allowed to discriminate on religious grounds?

Comments

[Barry]

The EU is the European Union - or in other words, the Union of European States.

Just exactly what is Europe? Where does it start and end.?

Is Turkey today, in any way, a European State? - has it ever been a European State? Historically, socially, culturally, ethnically, religiously???

Barry

[Cassius]

Barry: you can make the argument both ways really - Turkey in the form of the Ottoman empire had a large presence on European soil for many generations, and still retains a small presence in the form of Istanbul. It played a large part throughout the history of Europe - many European states allied with it in wars etc.
During the reforms of ataturk it became heavily Europeanised (in culture) and secularised and the consequences of that are still visible today. They are a democratic and largely functioning state (i.e. not the best but there are worse countries in the eu now).

On the other hand they have always been considered to be the enemy and invaders to be driven out by Christian Europe. They are a majority Muslim country with a government that is Islamic leaning if not more. The majority of their landmass sits in the middle east. They have minorities who they are treating very badly and are still in denial about the Armenian genocide.

At the end of the day it comes down to politics - the Germans don't want more Turkish immigrants - the French (As well as others) are concerned about the Muslims. Some hope including them will ensure they don't end up going the way of the rest of the middle east and provide a functioning Muslim-majority state as an example to the rest of the middle east.

[Dave]

"As a Christian myself (albeit not a devout one), I am not sure what teachings of the poor Nazarene that Van Rompuy professes to follow provide a justification for slamming the door on adherents to another faith. If a golf club adopted a similar policy of exclusion, there is a strong likelihood it would be sued for breaching equality laws. <<>>

*********

Because Europe doesn't have religion. It's a post-Christian Europe. The EU is made up of *secular* democracies, and that is what Europe believes in -- secularism. Turkey is not secular enough.

Can you imagine the EU annexing America's 'Bible Belt'? Neither can I....

[Bill]

For a state that denies the Armenian genocide, its leader say their is no evidence of genocide in Darfur, and again its leaders says Muslim assimilation in Europe is a crime against humanity would you want to let them in? No way. The fact remains this current regime in Turkey clearly demonstrates they have no business being in the EU.

[Dave]

"I would like to have Turkey in the EU, mainly because I hope for a civilising influence of Turkey’s membership on European countries."

*******

Huh?

[Outsider]

Hi Dave!

Still shell shocked?

After nearly 24 hours I guess I should give you a tiny hint: Istanbul is a „European Capital of Culture“ in the year 2010. By the way, Taiwanese media realised this:
http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1157484&lang=eng_news
Programme of events: http://www.en.istanbul2010.org/index.htm

What? Istanbul? Aren’t they Muslims? Don’t we all know that Muslims are uncivilized barbarians?

Well, it’s just this parochial Western view that hopefully might be enlightened at least in Europe (if not in backwater Texas) when Turkey would become a member of the EU.

[Bill]

Outsider says,

Thank you for your response. I will respond to Ali's other article on the issue rather than duplicate it.

Thx
Bill

[Dave]

Beg to differ.... When it comes to human rights, the European Union is a beacon to the rest of the world. Ankara must changes its policies and attitude toward its minority peoples. Non-Muslims are treated as second class citizens in Turkey. Allowing Turkey into the Union would be a step in the wrong direction, undermining the EU as a champion of human rights.

[Outsider]

@ Dave
Beg to differ... I named two links about violations of human rights against Turkish minorities in only two European countries:
For example Bulgaria:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turks_in_Bulgaria
For example Greece:
http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/greec991.pdf

I could have named dozens of other violations in dozens of other minorities in dozens of other European countries.

But as long as you prefer to cut out reality and just reiterate the same old declarations without discussion of any reservations I see no sense in doing so.

By the way: You don't do any favour to Europe by breeding complacency through flattery.

Last but not least: Civilisation comprises more than only human rights.