Turks bitter over exclusion from EU big bang expansion

ISTANBUL (EU business) – "Of course I was sad and envious" when the European Union welcomed into its ranks eight ex-communist states and the islands of Cyprus and Malta in pompous ceremonies, said 43-year-old Adnan Tarhan, who works at a finance company here.

"I believe Turkey is way ahead of those countries, but as long as European countries maintain the mentality of the Crusades, we will never get in," he added.

For Turkey, integration with the Western world is a much-coveted target set by the country’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, when he built the secular republic on the ashes of the theocratic Ottoman Empire in 1923.

But it looks unlikely to happen anytime soon as the county, declared a formal candidate only in 1999, is still struggling to obtain the go-ahead to begin membership talks with the Union.

EU leaders are set to decide in December 2004 whether Ankara has made sufficient improvement on its crippled democracy and poor human rights record to sit down at the negotiationg Turkey.

Observers say the failure to get a date would cast a shadow on bilateral ties, cause public outrage and have political repercussions for the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan which has declared EU membership as its primary foreign policy target.

Many Turks are united behind their country’s persistent drive for EU membership which they say will help push forward the economy, but do not foster much hope they will get a date from the December summit to begin accession negotiations.

"EU leaders will not give us a date because they actually do not want us inside their bloc. They are just keeping us at the end of the line because we are Muslims," said Huseyin Sevinc, a 40-year-old street vendor scraping a meager living by selling eggs and yoghurt.

His words come to the backdrop of doubts expressed by some European leaders that the bloc cannot absorb Turkey, a vast and relatively-poor country of some 70 million people with a strong Islamic faith.

But there are also leaders, such as German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who voice support for Turkey’s bid and urge the country to adopt and implement EU-inspired refroms to make good on its aspirations.

The Turkish government has in recent years passed a raft of reforms which it says are enough to win the nod from the European Union for membership talks.

But in early April the European parliament adopted a highly-critical report in which it said Ankara must adopt a brand-new constitution and ensure the proper implementation of reforms among other things in order to show it is serious about becoming an EU member.

For some Turks, the blame for the delay in Turkey’s bid lied with politicians who have failed to overhaul the country to fully embrace European norms and wasted years.

"Let us not deceive ourselves. We are at this point in our ties with the EU because we did nothing to meet the Union’s criteria and just lay around after making our application," 55-year-old lawyer Akin Nesat Bohca, said.

Murat Polat, a 27-year-old newspaper agent agreed, underlining the vast difference between the wealthier and urban west of the country and its underdeveloped and largely rural east.

"I did my military service in the east. There are places there where there are no schools no teachers. People cannot even find wood to light a fire to warm themselves. Why should the EU let in a country that still lacks in welfare?" he said.