Society + Culture

Turkey’s EU dream would remain a Chimera

Only at the end of a marathon two-day negotiations on 3 October in Luxembourg, where Austria dug in its heels to downgrade Turkey‘s full membership of the Europe Union (EU) and thus renege on the commitment made at the December 2004 Summit, was persuaded to give in, that Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul left Ankara to officially begin formal entry talks. In this act of duplicity, smacking of religious bias Austria had the tacit support from other members like France, Holland and Germany.

The latest drama only entitles Ankara an indefinite stay, say 10, 15 years, or more, at the European gates after an arduous long journey of 40 years, with incremental conditions being added on and yet with no promise of final admittance. Turkey must now begin discussions on 35 "chapters", covering everything from free movement of goods to judicial reform, with each chapter only to be closed with the approval of all 25 members, and others, if admitted before Turkey.

Turkey, which became in 1963 an Associate member of the Community, as the Union was then known, missed its best chance of joining the EU in 1978 when it was invited to join along with Greece. While Athens joined, Ankara declined unsure if it could withstand the economic changes required. It formally applied for full membership in April 1987 and was officially recognized as a candidate only in December 1999, and last December the EU agreed on a date for membership negotiations to begin.

In spite of all the pious talk of reconciliation between Christian and Islamic civilizations that the talks would usher, any chance of even a secular Muslim nation joining the Christian Club was irrevocably buried along with the debris of New York Trade Towers on 9 September 2001. Nor would Ankara be an example, as claimed by the West, as an ideal democratic Muslim nation for others in the region.  

Turkey under Kemal Ataturk fought a bloody war of independence and expels Greek, British, French, Italian and other foreign troops from its soil, while Arabs, who were encouraged to revolt against the Caliph in Istanbul by the likes of Lawrence of Arabia in the First World War, were soon colonized by perfidious Great British and France. Since then the Arabs have suffered one tragedy after another. Despite a secular republican Constitution since 1923, Turkey opted for multi-party system only in 1946. Its experiment in democracy goes wobbly from time to time and ironically brought back to the rails by its military.

The theatre at Luxembourg should be an example to those Indians , who support New Delhi’s vote against Iran’s nuclear power program which is in accordance with its obligations even under the inequitable  Non-Proliferation Treaty ,in the hope of relaxation for India of  Washington’s policy on non-proliferation, with USA’s known record of breaking treaties and written promises at will. As EU, USA is even more likely to change goal posts as was the case regarding supply of Uranium fuel for India’s nuclear power station at Tara pore.

EU is basically a union of Christian states, which its many leaders so regularly proclaim, including former French President Giscard de’Estaing, the architect of the now rejected European constitution. He said before the 2002 summit that Turkish membership would signal "the end of the EU". Turkey was "not a European country". It had "a different culture, a different approach, and a different way of life". In 2004, he told le Monde that the wording of the draft charter effectively diminished Turkey's chances of joining the EU. The French and Dutch voted out the Constitution with Ankara’s entry becoming the focal point.

France and Holland would hold referendums on Turkish entry when it suits them. French President Jacque Chirac has said the Turkey would need a cultural revolution to enable it to enter Europe. With Germany's Angela Merkel of Christian Democrats, wannabe Chancellor and France's Nicolas Sarkozy waiting in the wings it will remain a difficult road for Ankara to traverse. Now more than 50% of the European population is firmly opposed to Turkish membership.

Christian Europeans forget the violence they inflicted on Asians and Africans but cite Ottoman victories in Europe to arouse feelings against today’s Turkey. They talk of the siege of Vienna, 321 years ago, when the Polish king, John III, after a plea from the Vatican, marshaled a huge Roman Catholic army to save Christendom, Europe and Austria, by routing the Turks and halting the Turkish advance into the European heartland. This is the first school lesson children in Austria imbibe.

In Serbia, Bosnia, Kosovo, killing of Muslims was regarded as revenge against Ottoman violence. In Catholic Slovenia, the poster boy of post-Yugoslav success, integrated into the EU and NATO as a stable and prosperous democracy, Ljubljana is the sole EU capital city without a mosque. For decades, Slovene Catholics have thwarted attempts by the country's 50,000-strong Muslim community to build a mosque, even after the constitutional court last year finally threw out demands for a referendum to ban it. Recently USA suddenly discovered that Saudi Arabia has no religious freedom. Double standards of Christian nations who preach to others.

With no budget or a common foreign policy, EU remains an amorphous and confused body, without any clear direction. Petty countries resist dilution of their sovereignty while they claim to speak on behalf of the whole Union. Said a European commentator,"What has been happening in Luxembourg is dismaying. However, it is part of the bigger problem about where Europe is going. The votes on the constitution gave the impression of a shambles; the budget was another big blow. Both could have been avoided. “

Apart from genuine fears of Muslim terrorists, which could enter Europe, with free movement of 70 million Turks (which will be controlled even after entry), the historical enmity and wars between Ottomans and Christian Europe got revived again .In any case many European Christian democratic political parties would continue to exploit the fear of the Turk. As for the European’s claim that geographically Turkey falls outside Europe, Christian Greek Cyprus, now an EU member is tucked 60 km, south of Turkish coast in eastern Mediterranean, with Syria only 100 km, in the east. 

A cascade of slim minarets piercing the Istanbul skyline bring to the Western mind memories of 1453 when the Byzantine capital Constantinople became the Ottoman Istanbul with the 6th century magnificent St. Sophia Church converted into a mosque by addition of minarets. But Istanbul and Turkey have monuments and ruins from its millennium and half long Roman and Byzantine past too. It is home to 40 civilisations .Turkey has more Greek monuments than Greece and more Roman sites than Italy .

Among others it boasts of Izmir, the old Smyrna, Homer's birth place, the fabled Pontus Trabzon and Sumela monastry on  the Black Sea coast of the Golden Fleece, whence emerged Xenophon and his ten thousand after an arduous journey from Babylon and 6th century BC Miletus of Thales, Anneximender, Anneximenes, spiritual forefathers of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, where the Greek and Western philosophy first germinated , when Greek pirates came into contact with existing Asian civilisations. South of Konya is Catal Huyuk of 6250 BC , which may not be as old as Jericho ,but it had a community of 5000, living in crowded interconnected houses , with domesticated animals and some irrigated farming .

Asia Minor as Turkey was then known was also a cradle of Christianity with historic places like Chalcedon, Nicomedea, Nicea and all the churches of revelation. Also Testament's Mount Ararat and Noah's Ark , the Ephesus of St Paul's church and Antioch , where St Peter held the first Christian mass.

Austria, which made the last ditch stand, got its pound of flesh .Suddenly, The Hague Tribunal prosecutor Carla Del Ponte, reversed her earlier considered view that Croatia was not co-operating in hunting down war criminals, so the suspended talks with Zagreb were resumed. Catholic Croatia was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, while the Ottomans Empire included Albania, Serbia and Hungary, with the Turkish Janissary drums, beating twice at the gates of Vienna in 17th century. With grievances imagined and real, like say Cyprus, part of which is still occupied by Turkish troops, but which rejected a UN proposed solution last year, it would make Turkey’s EU journey an endless obstacles race.

By the end of the latest hiccup with conditions added incrementally and regularly, the Turks, a proud people, including the fervently westernized and secular, had had enough. The polls, which until last year showed over 70% Turks in favor of EU, now indicate a majority against joining. Even main opposition party CHP and right-wing parties DYP and ANAP opposed bowing down to the European demands .All these parties argue that the Turkish Government got nothing but compromised a lot, particularly on the Cyprus issue. If Turkey officially recognized Cyprus, (South) its occupation of the north would be declared illegal with possible punitive consequences.

However, it was a great relief to Prime Minister Erdogan Recep Tayyep Erdogan and his Islamic roots Justice and Development party (AKP), which took over the baton from secular establishment for EU entry and invested heavily into the negotiations.  "Either it will show political maturity and become a global power, or it will end up a Christian club," growled Erdogan when European Union leadership was dithering in Luxembourg. After the green light, said Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul “This is an historic moment.”