{"id":394,"date":"2014-01-22T21:02:23","date_gmt":"2014-01-22T21:02:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/?p=394"},"modified":"2014-01-22T21:02:23","modified_gmt":"2014-01-22T21:02:23","slug":"turkey-and-the-eu-principle-versus-pragmatism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/turkey-and-the-eu-principle-versus-pragmatism\/","title":{"rendered":"TURKEY AND THE EU- PRINCIPLE VERSUS PRAGMATISM"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan\u2019s first visit to Brussels in five years went smoother than expected on the surface but there were tense moments and heated exchanges behind the scenes.<\/span><\/p>\n

As the European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso put it \u201cPrime Minister Erdo\u011fan, in a very frank and open manner, addressed all the issues and gave reassurances\u201d.<\/p>\n

Sources from both sides referred to the talks as \u00a0very lively.<\/p>\n

In diplomatic language, that means the EU has raised its concerns clearly but privately. First among them were the restructuring of the The High Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK), the need to respect the rule of law, the independence of the judiciary and the separation of powers.<\/p>\n

Mr Erdogan is said to have given the EU assurances of his intention to fully respect these fundamental principles.\u00a0 When asked about discussions on the judiciary, Turkish prime minister said that certain recommendations have been made by their European friends and they have taken them into account.<\/p>\n

Yet, while these words were uttered in Brussels, 97 judges and prosecutors were removed from their posts in Turkey.<\/p>\n

Speaking after his meetings with the senior EU officials, Turkish Prime Minister, nevertheless, said he would go ahead with his plans to restructure the top judicial body, the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors.<\/p>\n

Mr Erdogan\u2019s insistence that there is no single pattern or standard for the judiciary in Europe was politely pushed aside.<\/p>\n

There may not be a single model for the EU countries but the independence of the judiciary and the separation of powers are, indisputably, the fundamental principles for all member states.<\/p>\n

No matter how well argued, the Turkish government\u2019s recent attempts to take control of the judiciary cannot find much sympathy in Brussels.\u00a0 However, long-term systemic infiltration of the legal system and the police force by an unelected, opaque religious community such as the Gulen movement is equally abhorrent for the Europeans.<\/p>\n

Whilst they are quite rightly criticising the Turkish government for its disregard for the rule of the law, there is a growing realisation in Europe that there really is a problem with the independence of the judiciary in Turkey.<\/p>\n

Of course, they should have seen this much earlier.\u00a0 During the Ergenekon trials and when journalists, politicians and other critical voices \u00a0were put behind the bars, based on fabricated evidence, it should have been \u00a0clear to them \u00a0that the judiciary was less than impartial and independent and serious right infringements were taking place. .<\/p>\n

It is equally disingenuous of Mr. Erdo\u011fan to complain about a parallel state, led by the followers of Fethullah Gulen, when he has been at the helm of the country while all of this happened, with his full knowledge and approval, in the days of their happy alliance with the Gulenists.<\/p>\n

Even if one accepts that there were political calculations by the Gulen sympathiser- judiciary in its attempts to pursue the government ministers and their allies, the corruption allegations still need to be dealt with seriously.<\/p>\n

It was very clear that the EU officials did their best to avoid a public confrontation with Mr Erdogan. Equally, unlike their bellicose statements earlier, Turkish Prime minister and his officials also took care to avoid a showdown with the EU.<\/p>\n

Signs of that were seen a few days earlier. \u00a0Last Sunday, two days before the Brussels meetings, Ahmet Davutoglu, the Foreign minister sent a conciliatory message saying that Mr Erdogan was ready to address all issues.<\/p>\n

Despite the Turkish media reporting that Mr Erdogan used a very strong language on Cyprus, the tone of his speech in general and on this particular issue, was relatively mild. Though, at one stage, the President of the European Parliament, Martin Shulz had to remind the Prime Minister not to debate openly with him when Mr Erdogan intervened during Shulz\u2019s reply to a question on Cyprus.<\/p>\n

All in all, whatever went behind the closed doors, both the EU and Turkey chose to maintain their 27-year long accession process.<\/p>\n

With its economy in crisis and its power and influence waning, the European Union is in no mood to burn bridges with an important trade partner and ally as Turkey.<\/p>\n

Turkey, too, despite Mr Erdogan\u2019s repeated comments about wanting to be a member of the Shanghai Economic Corporation, is well aware that there is no other bloc that would be a political and economic alternative to the EU.<\/p>\n

The EU is under pressure to open its doors to more refugees from Syria but it is not willing to do so. With more indisputable evidence of atrocities coming out of Syria, and worries over radicalisation of their citizens fighting alongside the \u00a0jihadist forces eventually\u00a0 bringing violence back to their own countries,\u00a0\u00a0 the civil war in Syria poses a serious security risk for the EU.<\/p>\n

Picking a public fight and antagonising Turkey which hosts more than 700 thousand Syrian refugees is not seen as a good idea.<\/p>\n

Turkey had been resisting the readmission agreement in return for visa liberalisation for Turkish citizens in Europe for years.\u00a0 The readmission agreement requires Turkey to patrol its borders with the EU better.\u00a0 If illegal immigrants from third countries, stateless persons or Turkish citizens cross into the EU via Turkish territory, Turkey is obliged to take them back. In return, when the agreement is ratified and put into effect, Turkish citizens can travel to Schengen countries without a visa.<\/p>\n

Turkey gave up its long-held objections to the agreement and signed it quietly in December. That was another factor in making Turkey-EU talks in Brussels more cordial than expected.<\/p>\n

Turkey-EU relations are far too important to be left to the present government\u2019s whims. \u00a0The EU was and still is an important anchor for Turkey\u2019s democratic processes.\u00a0 This was, quite wisely, recognised by the main opposition party, too. The Republican People\u2019s Party (CHP) leader Kemal K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7daro\u011flu wrote a letter to Martin Schulz, the President of the European Parliament last week and said that the Erdo\u011fan government should be forced to adopt EU standards more and that to cut EU links with Turkey would be a mistake.<\/p>\n

Of course the EU is in deep economic trouble. It has been losing some of its influence on the global scene and yes, for many years, due to its failure to develop a coherent policy towards Turkey, it alienated even the most enthusiastic supporters of Europe in the country.<\/p>\n

But it remains the most successful experiment in political and social institution building globally since the Second World War and it is still the area of the world where peace and prosperity, creativity and innovation flourish.<\/p>\n

In the not-so-distant past, the EU has been instrumental in encouraging reform in Turkey. At a time, Turkey has shown to lack effective checks and balances internally, maintaining the European \u00a0Union membership ideal still represents the best way forward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan\u2019s first visit to Brussels in five years went smoother than expected on the surface but there were tense moments and heated exchanges behind the scenes. As the European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso put it \u201cPrime Minister Erdo\u011fan, in a very frank and open manner, addressed all the issues and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[4],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}