‘Shock Strategy with Detailed Plan’

A ‘warning’ from Spanish delegation to Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul before negotiations at the summit gave important hints as to how they should proceed. "They will stress you, drive you into corner. You should remain absolutely calm!"

The few pressured hours late at night and into the morning of December 17th in Brussels were crucial for Turkey because they were to determine a historic turning point for Turkey. Although the last draft presented by the EU leaders after dinner on Thursday evening had surprised the Turkish delegation, Ankara had gone Brussels well prepared for such a shock. This draft text presented to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was unacceptable in terms of the "red lines" that he had indicated. Erdogan asked for a "position document" from the Turkish Foreign Ministry in order to compare this "hard" text with the points, on which Turkey might compromise, and everything was conducted according to this. No backwards steps were taken.

A top-level diplomat summarized the negotiations with these words: "They were stressful hours. The government took a serious risk. We were also aware that they were the most important hours of our lives, but we were pleased with the result." The Turkish delegation’s experience from hard negotiations on the Cyprus issue in Switzerland was helpful, especially when combined with Prime Minister Erdogan’s own style, and a "success" was gained out of challenging bargaining. The Turkish delegation at the negotiations included 81 names, some of them parliamentarians. The politicians and bureaucrats divided into two at Thursday night. While the politicians were trying to calculate the dimensions of the risk they will take and conducting telephone diplomacy with their counterparts, the diplomats gathered to determine the state’s position.

The Foreign Ministry bureaucrats, meanwhile, met to discuss Turkey’s interests. In the meeting lasting until late at night, all the diplomats started to talk and conveyed their viewpoints. New Foreign Ministry Assistant Secretary Ali Tuygan and former Assistant Secretary Ugur Ziyal also shared their opinions with their friends. Tuygan summarized the latest situation and asked whether or not there was any objection. After a consensus was reached, the decision was presented to Erdogan as "Turkey’s position document" the next morning. The drafting of the text lasted until morning.

Turkey’s efforts and systematic work to obtain a date for the start of membership negotiations was an enlarged form of the negotiations held for Cyprus. Those long negotiations held in Burgenstock, which were completed successfully on behalf of Turkey, had contributed to the Turkish delegations ability to think more flexibly and become proficient in reaching conclusions though deconstructing several taboos.

‘They did not retreat from the text’

A diplomat discussing the night said, "We have friends working at different desks of Foreign Ministry who have different thoughts. Therefore we passed the first test by merging our thoughts on a common base. The opinions were aired in a very democratic atmosphere and a common attitude was determined. The government defended this attitude and I assure you that they did not retreat from the text of our position. The reason why Erdogan wanted to leave the meeting was that he saw the demands exceeding the text. EU leaders had to retreat when they saw our determined and careful preparation."

The communication between the intelligence team at the hotel and Erdogan’s negotiation team was achieved with messages over mobile phones. One message received by a diplomat, "Erdogan is leaving. It is all over now," created a cool atmosphere at Turkish delegation. Greek journalists also felt sorry when they heard the news. Greek journalists had expressed their anger by disclosing that the person responsible for this was Greek leader Papadopulous. Top names of the delegation joined Erdogan in the meeting. Erdogan said that they accepted the decision by taking a political risk as the EU leaders retreated. While a diplomat joining the negotiations said, "We are satisfied," the other one, said, "Papadopulous’s veto is stuck in his throat."

Denktas Congratulates Gul

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul informed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Rauf Denktas and Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Talat about the summit by telephone. Congratulating Gul over the result achieved, Denktas said, "You were so strong." He was satisfied that Turkey had held the red line regarding no recognition of Greek without a solution.