Turkey getting most of what it wants

President Jacques Chirac, despite the pressure he was put under by his party and the public, has ordered people to refrain from backing any resolution that would isolate Turkey.
The French attitude on Dec. 17 will be this, I was told.
1. A clear negotiation date in the second half of 2005 will be given, in accordance with Turkey’s wishes.
2. The aim of the negotiations will be clearly stated as full membership, as Turkey desires, and no mention of privileged partnership will be made. The negotiations will be open-ended and the objective of the negotiations may be changed later on as per Turkey’s wishes.

If this stance is approved by the others, Turkey will breathe a sigh of relief. These matters, together with how Cyprus will be mentioned in the summit statement will be formulated on Dec. 16 and 17 by the leaders. The rest will be smoothed out at the Foreign Ministers’ Council on Monday.
Turkey wants the statement to give a clear date for the start of negotiations with the aim of full membership. The rest will be subjects European Union members want to include for domestic political reasons.
In short, both sides will say they got what they wanted. EU leaders will tell their people that the negotiations will last a long time and that the negotiations do not necessarily mean membership.
We need to get used to this. Both sides have to give and take. At the end, the problem will be solved.
Turkey is not used to such debates, and its harsh stance has already made some capitals uncomfortable.
No matter what happens, we always look at the empty half of the glass. At least this time, we shouldn’t be bogged down in the details. Let’s just enjoy Dec. 17.

Everybody is talking about Turkey

I spent the whole week in Brussels. I will remain here until Dec. 17 and I am enjoying my stay immensely.
Everybody is talking about Turkey.
Some are frightened and don’t know what this means. I have never seen Turkey being discussed so much.
In the past, they didn’t even know we existed. We were news only when there was a coup or an earthquake. If people are frightened, it’s because of the bad news they are used to getting from Turkey.
It doesn’t matter why Turkey is being talked about. There is no such thing as bad publicity.

Turkey is domestic political material

Some just look at how people are discussing Turkey and say they are against us. We say: “They are our enemies. They don’t want us and they don’t love us.”
We are taking these statements so seriously. We take them so personally that it seems like we believe these people are out for our heads.
Actually, things are not as they seem.
These debates are a part of domestic political wrangling and Turkey is a hot issue.
We can see this in France. Discussions over Turkey have divided both the left and the right. Chirac’s opposition within his party used Turkey to initiate a campaign against him.
The same can be said about Germany, Austria and to an extent in Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg.
That’s why we need to be calm and be deaf to certain things said. We need to take things less seriously.

We say strategy, EU thinks about today

I visit the conferences, seminars and colloquiums and I am amazed.
We are living a world apart. Europeans think differently. We see Turkey’s admission to the EU from a different perspective and think about a larger strategic vision. We note the waking up of the Chinese giant and say that without Turkey, the EU will be forced to remain a midget.

We think big and produce more abstract conclusions.
We say if Europe doesn’t open its doors to Turkey, it will be feeding the clash of religions. We argue that the Muslim world would see this in a different perspective and that tension between the two civilizations will increase.
Most Europeans look at the matter from a day-to-day perspective. They believe if Turkey joins, they’ll lose their jobs. They calculate how much small and medium-sized enterprises will suffer from Turkey’s membership. They see how much influence Turkey will get within the EU institutions and fear a loss of power.
We live in such disparate worlds.