It is not enough to say that EU membership is not a government but a state policy here in Turkey. The Western mind wants to see the “state” in action. In the past we had the inability to communicate the action on this side of the relationship. Recently this inability was coupled with inaction in Ankara.For about two weeks we observed EU Minister Egemen Bağış hosting European bureaucrats and journalists in İstanbul. It seems that these visits were not only efforts of public diplomacy. They were part of a greater package of EU reforms and action. The Zaman daily’s headline yesterday read “EU campaign in July.” According to the article, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu will visit Portugal, Germany and the UK to emphasize that EU membership is an indispensable state policy for Turkey. On July 13, high-level EU bureaucrats will join the foreign minister and the EU minister to participate in the Political Dialogue Meeting in İstanbul. Turkey is going to push Belgium to be as active as Spain during its EU presidency, which will start on July 1, in order to overcome politically motivated blockades in front of new chapters to be opened for negotiation. Spain’s constructive role in the opening of the Food Security Chapter for negotiations yesterday is well understood and appreciated among Turkish diplomats and Turkey wants to see other friendly countries be as proactive as Spain.
I had the chance to join one of the Turkish and European journalists’ meetings in İstanbul. There I realized that many people here in Turkey and there in the EU have questions in their minds not about whether Turkey really wants to be a member of the EU, but about why on earth Turkey wants to be a member of the “messy and sick EU.” I heard similar questions from Israelis and Americans. Seeing Greece going bankrupt and Spain, Portugal, Italy and the UK on the verge of massive financial crises, these people question the willingness on the part of the Turkish government to continue with its EU membership drive. The explanations they have are not about what EU membership means to Turkey, but about what Ankara may be trying to do through the membership process. In fact, many people on this side of the table, including Bağış himself, seem to have prioritized the process on the end result.
This is wrong. For Turkish democracy to evolve to the level of Western democracies, the EU membership process provides an external pull. This is true. But EU membership is not about Turkey only. It is also about the EU. Turkey is in no position to keep aloof to the developments in Europe.A significant part of Turkey’s foreign trade is made with EU countries. An even larger part of foreign direct investment in Turkey comes from EU sources. EU foreign policy decisions influence Turkey in direct and indirect ways. Turkey is inescapably influenced by the way the EU machinery is run. And it wants to have a say at the captains’ lodge. Europe may be going through a deep financial and, inevitably, through an identity crisis, but Turkey cannot decide to stay on the sidelines and leave Europe to its fate. Turkey and the EU are on the same boat. Ankara cannot passively watch the Europeans sink the boat that we are also in.
Ten years ago, EU membership promised Turkey material gains and instruments to solve its own problems. To some extent this can still be the case. But Turkey’s membership in the EU is increasingly becoming more important to solve Europe’s own problems -- not because the Turks love to solve problems wherever they mushroom, but because the messiness of the EU is going to contaminate Turkey unless it is contained in Europe.
