Berlusconi: There Is A Seat For Turkey At The E.U. Table

Berlusconi yesterday met with Turkish Prime Minister Abdullah Gul and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan as soon as he arrived in Copenhagen. Stating that he was striving very hard to persuade the EU to set a date for Turkey’s accession negotiations, Berlusconi added, ‘I’ve been dealing with this issue as if it were a national issue of my own country.’

Europe is again holding a significant summit focused on Turkey. The streets of Copenhagen are full of foreign visitors and journalists. The largest room is booked for Turkish journalists since they make up the biggest single group from the foreign media. It’s easy to understand why Europe is so very hesitant to open its doors to our country. Size does matter.

The German government has serious concerns about Turkey’s EU membership bid. Look at the difficult phase the Europeans are currently going through: Their governments have to tackle racism, xenophobia and unemployment along with economic problems. Which is why Europe isn’t sure if such a large country should join the Union.

The EU members discussed their opinions on Turkey’s membership bid up until the last minute at yesterday’s meeting. The main issue at the center of these discussions was the Cyprus problem. Sir David Hannay, the veteran British diplomat who made significant contributions to the UN’s Cyprus plan, was also in Copenhagen and held a series of meetings with Turkish and Greek officials.

The discussions on Turkey were so heated that no diplomat wanted to comment on them, fearful of destroying extremely delicate balances. However, the statement Gul made after his meeting with his Greek counterpart Costas Simitis was quite interesting. Gul remarked that he believed all problems would be solved if Turkey is admitted to the EU, but he chose to stay silent on the Cyprus issue. For his part, Simitis told reporters that Greece wanted the Cyprus problem to be solved as soon as possible, adding that the coalition between Greece and Turkey would continue even in the absence of a permanent settlement on the island.

‘It’s all right to be born into a duck family if you aren’t a swan,” said the favorite storyteller of my childhood, Hans Christian Andersen, in his famous fairy tale ‘The Ugly Duckling.’ I recalled this fairy tale yesterday when I looked at both Europeans and ourselves in Denmark, Andersen’s homeland.

SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION