But these considerations are now part of the past. Ankara is particularly happy about Sweden's taking the helm of Brussels as of July 1. The most obvious hint of this positive atmosphere was given by chief negotiator Egemen Bağış. Attending the reception hosted by the Swedish Embassy, Bağış removed his own tie to wear the one made by Sweden on the occasion of being the EU term president.I have always wondered how Sweden shifted from an extreme anti-Turkey stance to sober friendliness with Turkey. If the dynamics of this change can be better analyzed, the same approach can be used in the face of other European countries raising objections to Turkey's EU membership.
The Swedish officials tend to attribute this change of heart in their perspectives concerning Turkey's membership to the improvements in Turkey's report card in human rights. For instance, Swedish Ambassador to Turkey Christer Asp stresses that in the past, his country had some doubts about Turkey's EU membership and one reason for this was the issue of human rights. "When Turkey set out on the reform process, Sweden's position quickly changed. Form this hesitant position, Sweden turned into a strong supporter of Turkey's membership. This strong support will continue both during and after Sweden's EU term presidency. This support will continue until Turkey becomes a member of the EU," he explains. The ambassador's mind is so clear about Turkey's membership that he asserts that he is certain that Turkey will become an EU member, adding that it would be strategically erroneous to exclude Turkey.
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, too, voices his support of Turkey in the same strong tone. Bildt has not refrained from engaging in polemics with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in this regard, and in a statement he made to German state radio Deutsche Welle, he cautioned that France's and Germany's anti-Turkey stance is dangerous for the security of Europe.
Obviously, this chance can partly be attributable to Sweden's concerns for the increased domination of big countries like Germany and France in EU policies. In the face of these countries, Turkey is a player that can blunt federal tendencies and compensate for the big powers. When you lend an ear to the ordinary people in Stockholm who talk about their fears for a Germany that is becoming increasingly powerful, you can better understand this feeling. The rules of the new game of power in Europe: Small countries do not want to be eaten while the big ones do not want to see new partners that will share their power...
With respect to the change of Sweden's position, we must also note some people who made great contributions to the understanding of the realities of new Turkey. In this framework, we can name Ingmar Karlsson, who was the Swedish ambassador to İstanbul for a long period, and Ann Dismorr, who served as the Swedish ambassador to Ankara between the critical years of 2002 and 2003. These diplomats served their terms at the peak of their career in Turkey and wrote books that would be eye-openers to all Europeans should they read them. It is obvious that these books which relied on their personal observations and analyses were highly influential on Swedish intellectuals' perceptions about Turkey. If this were not the case, not all seven of the parties in the Swedish Parliament would agree on Turkey's membership.
In this respect, "Islam and Europe," a book by Karlsson, who likens the EU with Turkey to the case of Andalusia in Europe, and "Turkey Decoded" by Ann Dismorr, are particularly important. In this book, Dismorr depicts the new Turkey and how a conservative party led by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan guided Turkey's modernization process. By the way, we must note that Mrs. Dismorr is still a foreign policy adviser at the Swedish Parliament.
Turkey's chief EU negotiator Egemen Bağış, who had attended many of Erdoğan's foreign talks as a translator/adviser, related a historic detail about this change in Sweden's stance toward Turkey. In 2002, Ambassador Dismorr visited Erdoğan before he assumed office as prime minister and conveyed a message from Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh. Known for her harsh remarks concerning the Kurdish issue, Lindh noted that she had wanted to pay a visit to Turkey one year ago, but she canceled her visit since she was not allowed to go to Diyarbakır. She said that she had wanted to come to Turkey, but she wanted to know if she would be allowed to go to Diyarbakır. Erdoğan was warm to her request, but had one condition: she could come two years later in order to see Diyarbakır under the governance of the Justice and Development Party.
Lindh accepted Erdoğan's condition, visited Turkey one week later and went to Diyarbakır. However, she could not comply with her promise to come again as she was assassinated one year later. But, for Bağış, her visit was the breaking point in the Swedish stance toward Turkey.
European countries like Sweden, which started to understand Turkey, as well as European intellectuals like Bildt, Karlsson and Dismorr have played critical roles in the success of the trouble-laden democratization process that we are going through. Thank God Sweden is at the helm of the EU in this critical process.
