Turkey pins hopes on Spanish presidency to renew vigor in EU voyage

Amid growing concerns on the Turkish side that the accession negotiations were becoming increasingly politicized and the chapters requiring completion are subject to veto and blockages, Turkey embarked on shuttle diplomacy to test the waters in European capitals and initiated a drive to convince the political actors for more engagement on behalf of Turkey. Spain is set to take over the rotating presidency of the European Union starting on Jan. 1, 2010 for a duration of six months.

Davutoglu’s visit to the country covering four major cities apparently aimed to engage Spanish officials in the Turkish process in advance of assuming this leadership role and urge them in favor of the Turkish position on a number of issues between Ankara and Brussels.

Speaking to Sunday’s Zaman on a flight to Cordoba to meet his counterpart Miguel Angel Moratinos, the Turkish foreign minister described relations with Spain as “excellent” and expressed his hope for movement on the stalled negotiation process once Spain takes over the presidency. He criticized some EU member countries for trying to halt the process or at least slow it down, saying this was discouraging to the Turkish side who wanted to move as fast as possible.

Turkey began EU membership negotiations officially in 2005, but has so far opened talks in only 11 of the 35 policy areas that candidates must complete. While France and Germany lead the pack in opposition to Turkish membership, Spain, in contrast, says it fully backs Turkey’s bid to join the bloc. Speaking to reporters after the meeting with Davutoğlu, the Spanish foreign minister vowed to keep Turkey’s membership process as “irreversible” during their presidency and pledged to do everything possible to boost Ankara’s drive to be a full member.

Turkey hopes to be able to open at least two chapters during the Spanish presidency. The EU has suspended the opening of eight chapters, claiming Ankara refuses to allow Greek vessels and aircraft to use Turkish ports and airports. France, fiercely opposed to Turkish membership, has also unilaterally blocked five chapters. Ankara was especially infuriated when it learned the environment chapter, for which it had prepared a 1500-page strategy document for compliance with EU environmental policies, will be blocked politically by some EU member states.

Davutoğlu said in Spain that an attempt to thwart the opening of new chapters is simply not understandable. “We are criticized by the Europeans for not being fast enough, but is it because of us or them?” he asked the crowd in a well-attended breakfast meeting in Madrid’s Carl Ritz hotel on Monday.

Earlier on the plane, speaking to Today’s Zaman, Davutoğlu said: “We are faced with a political blockade from some countries on the opening of the environment chapter. Trying to block the process for political reasons is unfair.” Turkey has been planning to open the environment chapter next month at the Intergovernmental Conference. “In the beginning of the negotiation process, we were told that the chapter on the environment was one of the hardest to open,” he said. “But we fulfilled the opening criteria in less than a few months. Instead of encouraging, they indirectly discouraged us,” he said.

Multi-tiered strong relations with Spain

Davutoğlu stresses that Turkey’s relations with Spain are not limited to the EU dimension and goes beyond that to cover bilateral relations, regional and global affairs as well. He said both countries that once fought as rival naval armadas to dominate the Mediterranean for centuries, are partners in the same place today.

The prime ministers of both countries agreed in September 2008 to hold bilateral annual summits which have upgraded relations to a new level. The first Spain-Turkey summit was held in April 2009 and the next is scheduled to take place in February 2010. On a side note, Turkish diplomats underlined that Spain had decided to postpone intergovernmental meetings because of the heavy burden of implementing the new Lisbon treaty when Spain takes over the rotating EU presidency next January, but has kept the meeting with the Turkish government on schedule. “That shows our relations are on solid ground,” said one diplomat, asking not to be named.

Davutoğlu also conveyed the strong message to a group of businessmen and industrialists at a prestigious Nueva Economia Forum meeting. He said, “The dramatic growth in our bilateral trade and the development of our economic relations perfect match our political relations perfectly.” The trade volume between Turkey and Spain grew significantly in the last couple of years and has reached 8.6 billion dollars in 2008. Spain is the tenth most important trading partner of Turkey.

According to government data, there are currently more than 240 Spanish companies doing business in Turkey and around 70 Turkish companies in Spain. Spanish direct investment in Turkey has significantly increased in the last four years.

On a cultural level, the Turkish foreign minister pointed out the Alliance of Civilizations, launched in 2004 by Spain and co-sponsored by Turkey as part of an initiative to bridge different cultures in the world, has become a political reality enjoying the support of 88 countries and 16 international organizations.

The Madrid Forum held in January 2008 and the İstanbul Forum organized in April 2009 have laid the foundations of an action-oriented alliance. “I am confident that the next forum to be held in Rio de Janeiro in May 2010 will help us to continue to build upon that sound basis,” Davutoğlu said.

Turkey is also hopeful that Spain will use its influence on the southern Cypriot government to push the ongoing talks between the north and south community leaders into bearing fruit. Spanish Foreign Minister Moratinos, who has very close personal ties with Greek Cyprus, is thought to be able to help in overcoming the problem.

Cyprus will continue to become an important issue during the Spanish term presidency. The upcoming elections in northern Cyprus will put more pressure on the EU to find some kind of settlement as it became obvious that moderate President Mehmet Ali Talat is certain to lose his seat to a hard-line candidate in the April 2010 elections.

“We believe that the situation is appropriate for a solution. We are going to use all our creativity and experience toward a possible settlement,” Moratinos told reporters after his meeting with Davutoğlu in Cordoba on Sunday. The Greek Cypriots, on the other hvand, are avoiding rushing to an agreement in order to first see the European Council’s decision on the fate of the negotiations with Turkey by the end of this year. The council will review the negotiations on the basis of its 2006 decision after Turkey refused to open its ports to Greek Cyprus.

“With Spain’s continuing support, we believe we can inject a new vigor into Turkey’s accession process, which would create positive spillover effects in many fields,” said Davutoğlu, who was on three-day four-city tour across Spain last week.