Hot reasons to end EU coolness to Turkey
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Hürriyet Daily News
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mayıs 09, 2009 00:00
ISTANBUL - The Open Society Foundation has published the views of four prominent personalities on the cost of keeping Turkey out of the European Union as it commemorated its foundation. On May 9, 1950 Robert Schuman presented his vision for the EU and since then May 9 is celebrated as Europe Day.
"We believe Turkey becomes a more open society as it gets closer to the EU," Hakan Altınay, executive director of the Open Society Foundation said.
The realization that the consensus in Turkey and the rest of Europe on the fundamental desirability of Turkey’s accession to the European Union evaporated, has led the Open Society Foundation to remind why progressive deepening of EU-Turkey relations and the eventual membership of Turkey are beneficial for all concerned, according to Altınay. "We decided to ask people who we respect for their analytical insights an intellectual candor to articulate their perspectives on what the cost of no EU-Turkey would be," said Altınay in the introduction of the publication.
Carld Bildt, Sweden’s minister of Foreign Affairs, Norbert Walter, chief economist of Deutche Bank, Paulina Lampsa, international relations secretary of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement, or PASOK, and Hakan Yılmaz, professor of political science at Boğaziçi University shared their views on the cost of keeping Turkey out of the EU. While Bildt warned against Europe’s character as being open and Europe’s capacity to be a force for good in the world being hampered if the EU turns its back to Turkey, Walter argued that Europe could not turn itself into a museum and called attention to Turkey’s medium-term prospects for sustained growth. Lampsa underlined the costs to a stable and prosperous eastern Mediterranean. Yılmaz, on the other hand, claimed that Europe would forego a vital opportunity to engage with differences and Turkey would miss out on a crucial opportunity to resynchronize with Europe if EU-Turkey relations failed.
The introduction of the publication was written by Micheal Lake, former EU ambassador to Turkey. He underlined the importance of maintaining political and public interest in the process and to "keep reminding ourselves of a commitment by the EU to negotiate with Turkey in good faith and a concomitant commitment by Turkey to maintain a steady process of reforms in order to meet the terms of membership." Lake drew attention to the fact that out of all the countries in the EU and the current list of candidates, Turkey has survived and is surviving better than most, if not all, in the current crisis. "It would be folly of the most ignorant irresponsibility to undermine this," he said.
The realization that the consensus in Turkey and the rest of Europe on the fundamental desirability of Turkey’s accession to the European Union evaporated, has led the Open Society Foundation to remind why progressive deepening of EU-Turkey relations and the eventual membership of Turkey are beneficial for all concerned, according to Altınay. "We decided to ask people who we respect for their analytical insights an intellectual candor to articulate their perspectives on what the cost of no EU-Turkey would be," said Altınay in the introduction of the publication.
Carld Bildt, Sweden’s minister of Foreign Affairs, Norbert Walter, chief economist of Deutche Bank, Paulina Lampsa, international relations secretary of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement, or PASOK, and Hakan Yılmaz, professor of political science at Boğaziçi University shared their views on the cost of keeping Turkey out of the EU. While Bildt warned against Europe’s character as being open and Europe’s capacity to be a force for good in the world being hampered if the EU turns its back to Turkey, Walter argued that Europe could not turn itself into a museum and called attention to Turkey’s medium-term prospects for sustained growth. Lampsa underlined the costs to a stable and prosperous eastern Mediterranean. Yılmaz, on the other hand, claimed that Europe would forego a vital opportunity to engage with differences and Turkey would miss out on a crucial opportunity to resynchronize with Europe if EU-Turkey relations failed.
The introduction of the publication was written by Micheal Lake, former EU ambassador to Turkey. He underlined the importance of maintaining political and public interest in the process and to "keep reminding ourselves of a commitment by the EU to negotiate with Turkey in good faith and a concomitant commitment by Turkey to maintain a steady process of reforms in order to meet the terms of membership." Lake drew attention to the fact that out of all the countries in the EU and the current list of candidates, Turkey has survived and is surviving better than most, if not all, in the current crisis. "It would be folly of the most ignorant irresponsibility to undermine this," he said.