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COPYRIGHT 2007 Professors World Peace Academy
Turkey's long road to EU membership is again strained. Turkey has, however, undertaken radical reforms over the past 50 years and has made consistent, albeit sometimes interrupted, progress towards greater legal and political symmetry with Europe. Nonetheless, predicated on a historical connection which binds Turkish and European history, as well as a repudiation of the four main areas of contention: population, geography, Islam and human rights, and economics, Turkey has the same right to ascend to the EU as any other potential member state. Moreover, the political weight of anchoring a Muslim nation into the democratic fold cannot be underestimated.
INTRODUCTION
The ongoing discussion of whether or not the Republic of Turkey belongs in Europe has finally reached its zenith. For almost fifty years now, successive Turkish governments have knocked on the door of Brussels only to be met with hostility, contempt, procrastination and languishment on the sidelines as European integration has taken on a new life in the past few years. While it may be true that the lingering movement of the past half-century cannot be entirely blamed on the European political elite, the time has come when a consensus must be reached amongst the European states on the future of both Europe and Turkey.
The former German Foreign Minister, Joschka Fischer, states in his now infamous speech in 2000 at Humboldt University that on the heels of the collapse of communism and the desire to re-unite Europe and heal the divisions of the Cold War the Union must expand East. Specifically, he says,
[t]he task ahead of us will be anything but easy and will require all of our strength; in the coming decade we will have to enlarge the EU (European Union) to the East and the south-east, and this will in the end mean a doubling in the number of members. (1)
Four years later, Fischer reaffirms his desire to see Turkey within the EU by indicating,
"Europe has been promising Turkey full membership since 1963.... If we fail to keep our promise which Europe has been making for 40 years due to reservations about allowing an Islamic country to join the Union, we will pay a very high price." (2)
European and world governments alike can no longer stand idle as Turkey rests on Europe's doorstep. Turkey has indeed made dramatic advances over the last forty years--especially within the past half decade--in democratic, environmental, cultural and economic concerns. The finality of Europe to which Fischer refers must include Turkey for, if it does not, an economic and strategic ally of the West could drift away. The people of Europe, along with the political elite in Brussels, must abandon their concerns about xenophobia, religion, population, and economic matters and come to the rationale that the long-term interests of both groups as well as peace in that part of the world may rest upon further and deeper collaboration and integration.
WHY TURKEY IS A PART OF EUROPE, THE HISTORICAL RELATIONSHIP TO TODAY
Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk), who is revered by the Turkish people as the founder of the modern Turkish state after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, once stated,
[t]he West has always been prejudiced against the Turks but we Turks have always consistently moved towards the West. In order to be a civilized nation, there is no other alternative. (3)
This statement is emblematic of Turkey's desire to evolve into modern state out of the ashes of the theocratic and bankrupt Ottoman Empire. To accomplish this, Ataturk upon taking control of the Turkish state immediately: abolished the caliphate, secularized all academic criteria and institutions, replaced the Turkish Arabic script with a Latin alphabet, disbanded religious courts, westernized the legal system, and bequeathed the right of universal suffrage to all men and women along with equal rights. (4) For the millions who follow Ataturk's ideals to this day, the continuation of policies based on the emulation of Western institutions will lead to the eventual acceptance of Turkey by the European states into the European fold.
Still, Turkey's connection with Europe is consistently questioned. Nonetheless, when viewed historically, it is hard for any rational scholar to argue that the Turkish state has not been and is not a consistent part of European history. While it might be acceptable to proclaim that Turkey lies on the edge of European civilization, it is nevertheless a part of it. In this light, Professor Meltem Muftuler-Bac argues, "[t]he identity of Europe is based on a common cultural heritage, with foundations in ancient Greece, Christianity, and Europe of Enlightenment." (5) If this is to be seen as the commonly held definition for a European state, then in all three areas Turkey shares its modern roots with Europe. Turkey was the keeper and protector of the Hellenic culture and western civilization while it was lost in the West during the Middle Ages. Istanbul also contains the most holy seat of Orthodox Christendom in the ruins of Constantinople and the Agia Sophia Church. Finally, the Ottoman empire was admitted into the same Westphalian system of states in the 17th century predicated upon European enlightenment. Therefore, based on these historical events, Turkey is firmly anchored to Europe.
Moreover, interaction between Turkish and European powers stems from the arrival of the Ottoman Turks into Asia Minor in the 11th century. Over the course of the next few centuries the Turkish Empire extended into the heart of Europe encompassing several of the key states involved in the birth of Western Civilization culminating in its greatest encroachment along the border of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. From this, Erkan Erdogdu outlines four main turning points in the course of Turkish and European relations that have resulted in their current orientation towards one other. Erdogdu cites that the initial inclusion of the Turkish state into the European system officially began with its membership in the modified Concert of Europe in 1856, owing in part to its alliance with France and England during the Crimean War. It is at this moment that Erdogdu claims that the proverbial Pandora's Box was opened since,
[f]or the first time, Europeans formally recognized the Turks as a part of the European Society of States, although this change was totally restricted to state-to-state relations and had nothing to do with cultural issues..., it was nonetheless a beginning. (6)
The second stage of the relationship was the establishment of the Republic of Turkey in the early 1920s. From this point on, the development of modern Turkey incorporated a rejection of the theocratic elements of government and a focus on converting Turkey into a modern Westernized secular state. (7)
The next turning point occurred with the ratification of the Treaty of Rome in 1957 and Turkey's subsequent application for membership in the European Economic Community in 1959. Even though the request to be considered was formally denied, the relationship between Turkey and the European states underwent a fundamental shift. From this point on, direct state-to-state interactions were trumped by the supranational characteristics of the European Community which began to encompass a dialogue between the European and Turkish peoples as a collective whole. (8)
The final turning point Erdogdu alludes to in the Turko-European relationship is the end of the Cold War in the late 1980s which led to a resumption in the supranational dialogue and the interaction between their respective civil societies after a period of inactivity. (9) The result of this ever-evolving relationship has been for Turkey over the centuries to continuously be pulled into the sphere of both European discourse and conflict, anchoring the state intrinsically to the development of modern Europe.
The Association Agreement to the Customs Union...
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