TR PLUS – CENTRE FOR TURKEY IN EUROPE
EU – TURKEY UPDATE
ISSUE 6, JULY 2009

TR PLUS – Centre For Turkey in Europe shares news of political, economic and cultural developments relevant to Turkey's internal and foreign politics agenda and international economic relations.

This monthly "Turkey – Europe Agenda" is prepared by the Brussels and Istanbul offices of TR PLUS - Centre for Turkey in Europe with the support of Euractiv.com.tr.

· Swedish EU Presidency urges Turkey to move forward on reforms and Cyprus issue
· Rising tensions as Turkey's government acts to curb the influence of the Armed Forces
· EU, Turkey open taxation chapter of EU membership talks
· EP election results worry Turkey, but analysts say concerns may be overdone
· Turkey-EU Blame Game: Turkey should work harder to improve its image in Europe
· Turkey to press for visa clarification following Germany's partial easing
· ECHR ruling puts Turkey on notice to curb violence against women
· Turkey moves to stimulate its economy, further measures expected

IN THIS UPDATE:
TR PLUS – CENTRE FOR TURKEY IN EUROPE
EU – TURKEY UPDATE
ISSUE 6, JULY 2009

Turkish hopes for support from the new Swedish presidency of the European Union for a revival of its EU accession bid have been countered by warnings from the Swedish side that progress in the negotiations will depend to a great extent on Turkey itself.

Sweden has long been one of the strongest supporters of Turkish accession, and officials have said they hope to open at least one or two new chapters in the EU membership negotiations during the next six months.

However, they have also emphasized that progress on the Cyprus issue will be one of the main conditions for taking the negotiations forward. "A resolution of the Cyprus conflict would have a positive effect on Turkey's advance towards the EU," a policy statement on the Swedish presidency website said. http://www.se2009.eu

Continued progress in Turkey's accession negotiations is "an important ambition", it noted, adding however that the second half of this year will see a review of Turkey's commitment to fulfilling the Ankara Protocol - including opening ports and airports for Cypriot traffic.

Speaking to journalists in Brussels on June 9, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt noted that the outcome of the recent elections to the European Parliament, in which far-right and antiimmigrant parties made gains in some countries, had made things more difficult for EU-Turkey relations.

Hostility to Turkish accession had become a campaign issue in some countries, raising the pressure Sweden, despite its pro-enlargement stance, to be "tough on conditionality," he said.

Calling for both faster movement on reforms in Turkey and for progress on Cyprus, he said he had told the Turkish government "to remember that this in your own hands; you need to speed up the reform tempo." A resolution of the Cyprus dispute would be 'the most important door-opener," he affirmed.

As one of the next steps, Reinfeldt said he favoured opening the energy chapter, but noted that this would depend on support from other EU countries. Cyprus has blocked the energy chapter because of a dispute with Turkey over offshore oil exploration rights. Turkish Environment and Forestry Minister Veysel Eroğlu, meanwhile, said the Turkish government is planning to intensify efforts to open the environment chapter in negotiations during the Swedish presidency.

SWEDISH EU PRESIDENCY URGES TURKEY TO MOVE FORWARD ON
REFORMS AND CYPRUS ISSUE
TR PLUS – CENTRE FOR TURKEY IN EUROPE
EU – TURKEY UPDATE
ISSUE 6, JULY 2009

Tensions between the Turkish government and the Turkish Armed Forces are rising as opposition leaders criticise allegations of coup plotting and moves by the government to bring the military under the control of civilian courts.

In a late-night vote that caught opposition parties by surprise, Turkey's Parliament passed a bill on 26 June which paves the way for civilian courts to try members of the military accused of threats to national security and constitutional violations such as coup attempts in peace time.

Representatives of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) maintain that the bill – which still has to be signed into law by President Abdullah Gül -- is designed to bring Turkey into conformity with European Union requirements.

But opposition politicians have attacked the move as yet another step that undermines the role of the military as guardians of Turkey's secular constitution. In a debate that strikes at the heart of the Republic of Turkey's identity, the controversy opposes some liberal intellectuals who assert that democracy requires ending what they deem to be a system of "military tutelage" of Turkey's elected government against others who fear that an Islamist government could take Turkey down a road of Islamization under the alibi of "responding to the will of the people", cutting short a process of modernisation and Westernisation.

Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal accused the AKP of staging a "midnight coup" in putting the bill to a vote without any prior warning. If it is passed into law, the CHP has said it will seek to have it overturned by Turkey's Constitutional Court. For the CHP, which regards itself as the protectors of the heritage of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, modern Turkey's founder, the military are the nation's ultimate guarantor of secularism and bulwark against religious fundamentalism and extremism.

The controversy comes amid ongoing investigations into the murky so-called Ergenekon case, in which some 140 people, including retired generals, intellectuals, lawyers and journalists, are on trial for allegedly seeking to provoke a military coup.

A new twist to the Ergenekon investigations came in mid-June when a newspaper published what it claimed was a document showing that a senior naval officer, Dursun Çiçek, was leading a plot to undermine the AKP by manipulating the media and whipping up nationalist unrest.

Under Turkey's current constitution, Turkish military authorities have jurisdiction over members of the military, and on 24 June they rejected the purported evidence against Çiçek on the grounds that there is no proof that it is genuine.

But the controversy has divided Turkey, prompting accusations that the alleged coup plots are part of a witch hunt targeting government critics. Turkey's military has ousted four governments in the last 50 years, but it has denied any links to Ergenekon, and in today's political climate few consider that a Turkish military coup would have any chances of success.

EU, TURKEY OPEN TAXATION CHAPTER OF EU MEMBERSHIP TALKS
TR PLUS – CENTRE FOR TURKEY IN EUROPE
EU – TURKEY UPDATE
ISSUE 6, JULY 2009

The rise of centre-right and right-wing parties in the June 4-7 elections to the European Parliament marked an apparent a setback for Turkey's EU membership bid. But the Ankara government pledged to continue negotiations and commentators said concerns over the election results may be exaggerated.

Turkish newspapers greeted the voting outcome with headlines such as "All We Needed was More Racists," "Europe forms a blockade," and "European dreams shattered."
But Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan insisted Turkey would continue on its EU path and stressed that the EU has to stick to what it has promised.

"The membership criteria are there. Complying with the promises, principles and rules that have been established is the basis of the spirit of unity," Erdoğan said. "Those who display behaviours that do not comply with this spirit, loyalty and pact, would, before anything else, take an approach contrary to the founding principles of the EU."

Echoing that analysis, EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn called on Turkey to continue with reforms aimed at qualifying for future EU membership.

"The EU should keep its promises and Turkey must continue to implement democratic reforms.

Those reforms must involve providing basic rights, including freedom of speech, addressing the Kurdish question, and strengthening religious rights," he said.

Speaking in Berlin on 16 June, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu insisted that Turkey remained committed to EU membership. "We do not think there is any other alternative for Turkey but EU membership," he told a joint press conference after a meeting with his German counterpart,

Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who will run against Angela Merkel later this year as the Social Democrat Party (SPD) candidate for the office of Chancellor.

As a next stage in Turkey's EU membership negotiations, Steinmeier said that the chapter on "taxation" will soon be opened. "The EU negotiations are open-ended," he said. "Yet the goal of the negotiations is Turkey's full membership in the EU."

The Socialist group in the European Parliament, of which the SPD is part, broadly favours Turkish membership. Although they lost support in the recent elections amid concern over prospects for employment and the economy, the Socialists remained the biggest opposition group with 21.9% of the vote against 35.9% for centre-right the European People's Party. http://www.elections2009- results.eu/en/index_en.html

In elections in which only 43% of eligible voters chose to cast a vote, the outcome has been widely interpreted as a demonstration of public protest at the effects of the economic crisis and of the gap between European people and European institutions.

EP ELECTION RESULTS WORRY TURKEY, BUT ANALYSTS SAY CONCERNS
MAY BE OVERDONE
TR PLUS – CENTRE FOR TURKEY IN EUROPE
EU – TURKEY UPDATE
ISSUE 6, JULY 2009

Once economic conditions improve, analysts predicted, sentiment is likely to change. If in the meantime Turkey can introduce necessary reforms and resolve long outstanding issues such as the Cyprus question, prospects for its EU membership bid may improve.

İsmail Ertuğ, from the EP's Socialist Group, acknowledged that critical statements by French and German leaders and the rise of the extreme right in countries like the Netherlands had sent disturbing signals.

"But as long as Turkey carries out reforms, relations will remain in place," he said. "What is
important and crucial for Turkey is the 2014 elections of the European Parliament. Turkey should not lose its motivation and continue with the reforms."

Hugh Pope, senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, expressed a similar view. "The result should not be exaggerated. Turkey is the symptom and not the cause of the problem," he said.

"This is not a debate about Turkey; this is a debate about domestic politics in Europe. I think Turkey should be aware that the victory of the right wing has much less to do with anything real about Turkey, which is a kind of proxy for Europe's domestic concerns. When the economic situation becomes better in three or four years time, the EU will turn back to enlargement, and Turkey has to wait for that moment."

In an article published on CafeBabel, the multilingual online European current affairs magazine http://www.cafebabel.com/eng/article/30252/situation-turkey-membership-eu-swedenpresidency.html , Anna Patton likens the EU-Turkey relationship to a "blame game" in which each side blames the other for perceived faults with neither taking action to remedy the problems affecting the relationship.

Looking back over the history of Turkey's relationship with the EU, Patton observes that "2005 marked the end of a decade-long 'golden age' of relations with the EU. However, Turkey remains bitter about Cyprus being granted EU membership, and a solution to the island's division, which continues to block EU-Turkey negotiations, is unlikely before the end of 2010."

In the meantime, she notes, citing Sabine Freizer, a Turkey expert at the Brussels-based
International Crisis Group, negative statements by French and German leaders have reinforced the view that Turkey "does not deserve to become part of the EU." The blocking of some chapters – the different areas of negotiations where reforms are needed – by some member states has only added to Turkey's disappointment, she observes.

Quoting Sevinç again, she notes that "the Turkish side also has a responsibility to fulfill
requirements. Since 2005, we haven't seen enough effort or enough motivation."

TURKEY-EU BLAME GAME: TURKEY SHOULD WORK HARDER TO IMPROVE
ITS IMAGE IN EUROPE
TR PLUS – CENTRE FOR TURKEY IN EUROPE
EU – TURKEY UPDATE
ISSUE 6, JULY 2009

Can this be changed? On the negative side, "Turkey's image is still seriously compromised by its human rights record and its treatment of minorities. But there are opportunities to improve European perceptions in other areas," Patton allows.

"Turkey's increasing international role – as an important player in Nato, and in Middle East
diplomacy – could help counteract negative perceptions, as could current steps towards
normalisation of relations with Armenia. The impressive performance in recent local elections of the CHP, a secular social democratic party which places more emphasis on women's rights, may also
promote a more balanced image of Turkey abroad. And one should not forget Turkey's role as a popular holiday destination: in January, the world tourism organisation revealed it was one of the few countries to resist the global downturn of tourism during 2008. Istanbul, increasingly seen as a cosmopolitan – even 'European' city, has been named European capital of culture for 2010."

So who's to blame? In a subsequent posting on her blog http://viabrussels.blog.com/, Patton acknowledges that "there is a shared responsibility for the slowdown in the accession process – the EU's inconsistent approach is really not helping."

But Turkey needs to do more on its side to communicate its position and to improve its image abroad, and therefore influence public opinion in the EU, which would in turn impact the position of EU leaders, she concludes. "Turkey needs to show that it is committed to the reforms required, but it must also make much more effort to show its good sides to the rest of the world. The question is, why isn't it doing this already?"

In the wake of a key European Court of Justice ruling, Germany announced a partial easing of visa requirements for Turkish citizens. But the move was criticized in Turkey as insufficient and the two countries are expected to hold discussions to resolve the issue.

At a joint press conference in Berlin on June 16 after a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said that "as every European country, we do respect the decision of the European Court of Justice. I believe that the interior ministers of our two countries will soon begin discussing the issue".

The German visa exemption announced on June 5 allows Turkish artists, academicians, sports people and drivers to enter Germany for providing services of artistic, scientific and sportive value, on condition that they maintain their place of residence in Turkey and their stay in Germany does not exceed two months.

However, businessmen from Turkey, the EU's seventh-biggest trade partner, would still not be allowed to travel to EU member states without first obtaining a visa. What is more, Germany's ambassador to Ankara, Eckart Cuntz, said the visa exemption had no legal backing and border police would not be forced to let people enter Germany without visas.

TURKEY TO PRESS FOR VISA CLARIFICATION FOLLOWING GERMANY'S
PARTIAL EASING
TR PLUS – CENTRE FOR TURKEY IN EUROPE
EU – TURKEY UPDATE
ISSUE 6, JULY 2009

The partial German easing followed a European Court of Justice ruling in February that two Turkish claimants, Mehmet Soysal and İbrahim Savatlı, working for a Turkish international transport company had the right to enter Germany without visas under Article 41 of an Additional Protocol signed by Turkey and the European Economic Community on Nov. 23, 1970.

The Young Businessmen's Association of Turkey (TÜGİAD) accused the German government of not being sincere in its response to the ECJ ruling. "We call on the (Turkish) government to adopt a stricter policy and strain every sinew claiming its rights," it said.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Burak Özügergin said the ECJ ruling had given Turkey legal backing for demanding visa-free access to EU countries. The government is ready to work to solve the problem, he said.

The issue is all the more sensitive because the European Commission is expected shortly to come forward with proposals for Schengen visa-free travel for citizens of Western Balkans countries, including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. Serbia already fulfils most of the conditions required for liberalization and officials predicted that visa abolition could become a reality for Serbia before the end of this year.
A ruling by the European Court of Human Rights condemning Turkey for failing to protect a woman and her mother from physical violence by her husband has raised hopes for tougher action in Turkey to combat domestic violence against women.

http://cmiskp.echr.coe.int/tkp197/view.asp?

A spokesman for the court said this was the first time that it had ruled a government violated Article 14 of the European Convention of Human Rights, which prohibits discrimination in connection with a domestic abuse case.

According to the court's decision, Nahide Opuz was a victim of discrimination when judicial
authorities failed to protect her from her husband, Hüseyin Opuz, after repeated instances when he abused her and after he murdered her mother. Ms. Opuz had tried to get her case noticed ever since 1995, when her stepfather and husband began to beat her and threaten her mother.

"The ruling is pretty clear," said Stefano Piedimonte, a spokesman for the court. "If domestic authorities know about this type of situation and don't do anything to prevent them, to protect the people, they're likely to be brought before our court and it's likely the court will rule in a similar way."

Domestic violence is not only a problem in Turkey, and the decision will also have implications for other European governments which are signatories of the European Convention on Human Rights.

However, campaigners have long expressed concern at the way women are treated in Turkey, and women's rights have become one of the key issues in Turkey's EU accession negotiations.