Ankara needs cultural revolution to join EU, says Chirac

[Bullika]

Ankara needs cultural revolution to join EU, says Chirac

· French leader warns bid for membership may fail
· Officials accept reforms need to go much further

Nicholas Watt in Brussels and Helena Smith in Istanbul
Wednesday October 5, 2005
The Guardian


Turkey will have to undergo a "major cultural revolution" if it is to realise its 40-year dream of joining the EU, Jacques Chirac warned yesterday.
As a leading Turkish politician spoke of a "rocky" road ahead, the French president said that Ankara's membership talks could last up to 15 years and might fail. "Will [Turkey] succeed?" Mr Chirac asked at a press conference in Paris with the Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi. "I don't know. I hope so but I'm not at all sure." His remarks were echoed by Ilter Turkmen, a former Turkish foreign minister, who told the Guardian: "There's no doubt that Turkey's path to the EU is going to be very rocky." Their honesty highlights the huge task facing Ankara.


Article continues

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Turkey has already undertaken big reforms, such as abolishing the death penalty and opening its market to European goods, which allowed the EU to open membership talks. Over the next decade, however, it will have to open every area of its public life to EU inspectors. Turkey will have to show that across the board it is matching, or at least making irreversible progress towards, EU levels.
It faces the toughest test of any aspiring EU country because of fears that Europe cannot absorb such a large and relatively poor country. There is also the unspoken fear of up to 100 million Muslims - the country's population will soar in the coming decades - joining the EU.

In common with any country that wants to sign up, Turkey must satisfy the EU that it is meeting European standards in 35 areas known as chapters. These range from free movement of goods to judicial reforms. Its supporters hope that progress in these areas will ease Ankara's path. A steady flow of reforms, such as improving the rights of the Kurds and ending state subsidies to flagging industries, will soften opposition, they hope.

Unlike any other country, however, Turkey is offered no guarantee that the talks will lead to full membership. It also faces the real threat that negotiations will be postponed or called off at a moment's notice. The EU can, for example, refuse to open chapters unless Turkey proves that it is up to scratch in that area.

Supporters are hopeful that a strong momentum will soon build up, not least because Turkey's Islamic-oriented Justice and Development (AK) party has, since assuming power in 2002, passed reforms that have transformed the political landscape. With the death penalty abolished and cultural rights broadened for Kurdish, Arabic and Bosnian communities, analysts speak of a "rebirth". Last year, under pressure from Brussels, the government enacted a penal code that ended Turkey's semi-democratic past and aligned it with EU states.

But Turkish officials accept that immense headway is still needed. Human rights violations and curbs on freedom of expression persist; crimes against women remain widespread, and discrimination against minorities is a fact of life. Last year Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister, proposed criminalising adultery. Amid protests, this was dropped. An EU diplomat said: "It's our great fear that, under pressure from his traditional-minded support base, he could cave in again."

Most liberal Turks believe Mr Chirac was right to demand a "cultural revolution". Levent Korkut, of the Ankara branch of Amnesty International, said: "Across the bureaucracy the culture needs to change. Judges with very old mindsets remain a real problem. They need to be trained in EU laws, sensitised to human rights issues and stopped from always seeing national security as a priority."

With anti-EU feeling growing in Turkey, the task would be herculean for any government. Mr Erdogan, a devout Muslim with a pious following, could find it particularly hard. Many Turks already feel they have made too many concessions.

Added to this, says political commentator Cengiz Aktar: "Convincing the man in the street that Turkey is not a burden but an asset will be one of our biggest challenges. In the coming years, the most difficult issue will be for old Europe to mentally digest Turkey."

State of reforms

Completed

· Abolition of the death penalty

· Language rights for Kurds

· Greater civilian control over the military

· Release of political prisoners

· Start of economic reforms after customs union with EU in 1995. Both sides removed barriers to trade in industrial goods, while Turkey adopted EU's external tariffs for trade with non-EU countries

· Softened stance on Cyprus by backing UN-plan to unite island, though this was rejected by Greek half of island in 2004

· Adopted competition laws in 1996

Still to do

· Recognise Cyprus and open up Turkish ports and airports to Cypriot shipping and aircraft

· Loosen the military's grip on the government

· Speed up judicial reforms

· Prove that human rights are on a par with those in the EU

· Write 80,000 pages of the acquis communautaire - the EU's rule book - into Turkish law

· Scale down subsidies to industry

· Comply with EU laws in areas such as food hygiene and the environment

· Cut the budget deficit and inflation

· Open up services, such as telecoms and energy, to the EU

· Centre for European Reform

[garbitsch]

Just another cheap excuse to block Turkey's entry into the EU. Why did Mr. Chirac suddenly question the culture of Turkey after the country has been waiting in front of the gates of EU for 40 years? I would really like him to explain what is meant with the European culture and he should also make an analysis of the cultures of the people living in 25 member states, whether they fit to his explanation of European culture.

[brother]

[garbitsch]

And also remember France and Ottomans were great allies, and Ottomans actually saved the arse of French king from being invaded by Habsburgs! Turks were European then! Now what happened?

[brother]

[city]

[brother]

[Xenos 2Fan]

Has the EU come together to define what "European Culture" is?

[Crash Test Dummy]

[thebrix]