By the end of his visit, Erdoğan must have felt exhausted. On Sunday night he spoke in the Flemish town of Hasselt to over 10,000 Turks. On Monday, while his wife was sightseeing in Bruges, Erdoğan, together with Foreign Minister Ali Babacan, State Minister Said Yazıcıoğlu, new EU chief negotiator Egemen Bağış and a number of other dignitaries had a nonstop program. It began with a breakfast event followed by meetings at the European Commission, the European Parliament and the European Council. In the evening the prime minister attended a VIP dinner. I was responsible for organizing the breakfast event, which was attended by over 400 people. In fact we could probably have had double that number, such was the popularity of the event, but due to space constraints we had to stop taking registrations several days earlier.
Of course, I was expecting Erdoğan to go over his allotted speaking time (30 minutes) because he usually does and he did indeed make a speech which was almost one hour long. In true Erdoğan style, his official speech, which no doubt a minion in Ankara had spent hours sweating over, was seemingly discarded and he spoke freely in his usual charismatic and energetic style. Given that he was supposed to be talking on Turkey-EU relations, some in the room were surprised that he launched into a very passionate speech about the tragic events in Gaza and the important role that Turkey has in this region. After half an hour, some people were actually beginning to think the whole speech would be on Gaza, but he did finally get on to the issue of Turkey's relations with the EU as well as the Nabucco gas pipeline project and the important role that Turkey has in the South Caucasus and other parts of its neighborhood.
He reiterated his support for the EU, saying it was a top priority and that 2009 would be the year Turkey would make a "leap" in the reform process. At the same time he complained about the EU's unconstructive role, citing a conversation which he had had with President Nicolas Sarkozy of France on precisely this topic. At the same time he also pointed the finger of blame at Turkey's opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) for not supporting the reform process, which had a knock-on effect on Turkish public support for the project. Not surprising, he never criticized the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) in all of this. Erdoğan also stressed that Turkey does not ask for privileges from the EU -- "What we ask for is equal and fair treatment." This is something the EU should bear in mind and give Turkey a fair playing field to kick-start its reform process.
His remarks on Nabucco (which would pass through Turkey on its ways to the EU market) were immediately picked up by the international media as Erdoğan linked the opening of the energy chapter to Ankara's support for Nabucco, implying that the EU should be smarter than to back tiny Cyprus over big Turkey. Although the energy chapter does not have any opening benchmarks, it has not yet been brought to the table because the Republic of Cyprus would block it, citing that Turkey violated Cyprus' sovereign rights last year when Turkish ships harassed hydrocarbon research vessels involved in oil exploration in Cyprus' exclusive economic zone; however, later in the day during his press conference with EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso, Erdoğan backtracked somewhat, stating that he entirely supported the Nabucco project. Barroso himself made it very clear that there was absolutely no link between Turkey's accession negotiations and the political project that is Nabucco. In fact, blocking Nabucco would be just as costly for Turkey as it would for the EU because Turkey stands to gain considerably in its role as a transit state.
As much as I would like to believe the prime minister, for me his words are not enough; I want to see concrete action. While I am very happy that Erdoğan came to visit Brussels, he needs to prove himself by shaking things up back in Ankara and I am still left wondering how he is going to do this because, unless a miracle occurs, he should not count on any additional support from the EU. Also, rallying strong support from the opposition parties in Turkey will probably be almost as difficult. He therefore needs to take a leap of faith and move things forward alone. The next few months will give us the answers. At least now he has a full-time chief negotiator who, as a trusted friend and advisor, will have Erdoğan's ear and therefore more room to maneuver.
