He stressed once more that Turkey will not accept anything short of full membership. Any other offers will further derail Turkey's EU membership process and Turkey will look for other ways. This was the gist of Erdoğan's message on Monday.
Erdoğan not only rejected the privileged partnership offers of France and Germany, but also expressed his concerns over making Turkey a domestic political issue in Europe. The parliamentary elections in Europe resulted in big wins for the conservatives, most of whom oppose Turkey's EU membership. Unlike any other candidate country, Turkey was once more part of the election campaign debates. At a time of deepening uncertainties, job losses and economic crisis, some European voters may like the idea of excluding Turkey to secure Europe's future. But is this really in Europe's long-term interest?
In an excellent piece on June 19, Hugh Pope, a long-term observer of Turkish affairs and project director at the İstanbul branch of the International Crisis Group, asked a very simple question: What does privileged partnership mean exactly? German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier admitted to journalists last week that he does not know what privileged partnership means. Pope's search has yielded that those who advocate privileged partnership for Turkey have failed to explain its precise nature, scope and mechanism. The only document, Pope notes, is by Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, the current German minister of economics and technology. Zu Guttenberg's outline, which is the most detailed available, offers nothing more than an “observer status” to Turkey on key economic, political and security issues.
But Turkey is already a full member of many European initiatives and institutions. Turkey is a founding member of the Council of Europe and a long-term member of NATO. Turkey already signed the customs union agreements over 10 years ago. Privileged partnership brings no new incentives to Turkey and does not make Turkey-EU relations any better. Why would Turkey or any other country agree to such conditions?
There is a delicate balance between the technical and political sides of the EU process for Turkey. On the technical side, there is a lot of work to be done. Implementing the EU acquis -- chapters during the negotiation period -- is key to opening and closing new chapters, and this requires a lot of technical work on everything from trade and fishing to competition laws. There is a lot that needs to be done here and the Turkish side must move speedily with their European counterparts. We hope the Swedish presidency will witness the opening and closing of two more chapters over the next six months.
But the real problem, as everybody knows, is political. As Prime Minister Erdoğan said in his speech on Monday, some chapters have been blocked for purely political reasons. The Cyprus issue is the number one political issue. But there are others including the Armenian genocide claims and the opening of the Halki seminary. None of these issues are impossible to overcome. Turkey has shown its resolve to address the most difficult and sensitive issues in Turkey including the Kurdish and Alevi issues, the rights of religious minorities and constitutional reforms. The problem is that the steps taken in this direction have not helped the EU process in any significant way.
Those who argue that the government has lost its desire for the EU should remember what happened in Turkey in 2007 and 2008. The ideological opposition to the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government led to a crisis over the presidential elections, then early elections, then the closure case against the AK Party, then increased outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) attacks and then the economic crisis. All of these cost Turkey two precious years not only for the EU process but also for Turkey's democratization process.
There is no reason why the government should not move ahead with a renewed sense of excitement and zeal for the membership process. The question is whether the Europeans have the same desire and will.
