Turkey rejects being dragged into debates on Europe’s borders

Erdoğan’s strongly worded remarks were made in Madrid during an official visit as he delivered a speech titled “Turkey-Spain: Joint Vision for Peace, Stability and Welfare” at a meeting arranged by Spanish think tank Nueva Economía Fórum.

“Turkey’s integration with Europe or the EU is an important project which surpasses the borders of our continent with its all political, economical and cultural resources, and beyond all of these resources, with its strategic resources,” Erdoğan said, while labeling Turkey’s EU membership as something which gives an answer to today’s global problems.

“An EU which has Turkey as a member has better access to a wide region from the Mediterranean to the Central Asia, from the Black Sea to the Middle East. Turkey has no place and cannot have any place in a puzzle called ‘Europe’s borders.’ Turkey cannot be and should not be questioned within the framework of such a hollow debate,” Erdoğan said.

Erdoğan’s remarks were apparently targeting French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who are the highest profile European politicians opposed to Turkey’s EU accession. Sarkozy claims that Turkey does not belong in Europe, while Merkel promotes a “privileged partnership” that falls short of membership. In Berlin in last May, Merkel and Sarkozy made a joint statement declaring that they shared a common position regarding Turkey’s accession to the EU, in that it should be offered a privileged partnership, not full EU membership.

Turkey says it categorically rejects any form of association with the EU other than full membership and it has urged the EU in clear terms not to water down its membership commitments. “Additionally, if we have some knowledge of geography, Turkey’s place on the map is obvious,” Erdoğan added.

In an interview conducted in May 2008, Sarkozy was asked where Europe’s borders end and what countries can and cannot join the 27-nation bloc in the future. In response, Sarkozy said that his position on Turkey’s membership is very well-known and that this stance has not changed. He said Europe must have borders which should not expand indefinitely and referred to the work of a “wise men’s council” on where these borders must end.

Without mentioning Greek Cyprus directly, Erdoğan reiterated his harsh criticism of the EU accepting Greek Cyprus as a member in 2004 without achieving a resolution on the Cyprus issue and despite the fact that it is not located in Europe geographically.

“If we consider the issue of the EU from this perspective, it is meaningful that at the moment those who are not in Europe with regards to geographical borders are in the EU,” Erdoğan said, while questioning what kind of political motives and decisions led to such a decision.

“Blocking Turkey based on these political decisions, by all manner of means, doesn’t comply with the EU’s acquis communautaire. And the puzzle does not only have geographical content, it is also based on cultural and sociological elements. I state this by highlighting once again that this puzzle is an extremely useless pursuit because Turkey already a part of Europe.”

In an interview with Spanish newspaper El Pais published on Monday, Erdoğan openly criticized the obstacles France and Germany are placing in the way Turkey’s EU accession “when there are 5 million Turkish citizens in Europe.”

“We are not losing hope, but what they are trying to do is wrong. Germany and France want to change the rules and place conditions beyond the European standards,” he told the daily.