I suppose it is not necessary to emphasize the importance of these questions to understanding the Muslim world, Turkey and relations between the West and the Muslim world, especially in the aftermath of Sept. 11. Last month the Open Society Foundation of Turkey published a study providing responses to the questions posed above. This most pertinent study deals with widespread perceptions in the Muslim world regarding Turkey and the Turkey-EU relationship, as well as the changes that have taken place following the coming to power of the post-Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) in 2002. The study, titled “Reflections of Turkey-EU Relations in the Muslim World,” has two parts. The first, co-authored by Yousef al-Sharif of Al Jazeera-Turkey and Samir Salha of Kocaeli University, reviews how the Turkey-EU relationship has been covered in the Arab media. The second, written by Rasul Bakhsh Rais of Lahore University, analyzes the debates on that topic among the Muslims of Pakistan and India. It is possible to summarize the conclusions as follows:
During the 1980s, Turkey was perceived, especially among the Arabs, as a society which had turned its back on Islam and a state that had become a lackey of the West and an ally of Israel, which occupies and oppresses the Palestinian people. The efforts of Turkey to join the EU, regarded as nothing other than a “Christian club,” were seen as an odd endeavor that would never be achieved. One could not come across even a single positive comment in the Arab media on Turkey's EU bid, which was largely reproached and ridiculed.
Beginning with the declaration of Turkey as a candidate for membership at the EU's 1999 Helsinki Summit and especially after the Brussels Summit, where the European Council decided to open accession talks with Ankara, perceptions in the Arab world regarding Turkey, the EU and the Turkey-EU relationship started to change. The AKP government, which initiated substantial political and economic reforms to fulfill the Copenhagen political criteria of the EU, began to be seen as an example which demonstrated that Islam, modernity and democracy are indeed compatible. The AKP was regarded as a party similar to the Christian Democratic parties of Western Europe. Ankara's refusal in 2003 to allow the deployment on Turkish soil of US troops to invade Iraq was taken as a sign showing that Turkey was not a lackey of the West, but a country that pursued its national interests.
The radically altered image of the country which increased interest in and respect for Turkey among the Arabs peaked when Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan protested the Israeli invasion of Gaza at the Davos conference in January 2009. The number of Arab visitors to Turkey multiplied, and “despite fatwas issued by religious leaders who frowned on the Western-style culture and values that these series inculcated,” Arab TV channels started buying, dubbing and broadcasting Turkish drama series of high demand among viewers.
The increasing interest of the Muslim world in the Turkey-EU relationship led to more than 200 reporters from Muslim countries covering the EU's Brussels Summit on Dec. 17, 2004, where the decision to open accession talks with Turkey was on the agenda. That decision also changed the image of the EU among Arabs. The EU began to be viewed not as a “Christian club,” but as a union of democracies, whatever their religion and culture. The EU would live up to its ideal of “unity in diversity” with Turkey joining the union. Turkish membership of the EU would help overcome the growing tensions between Islam and the West in the aftermath of Sept. 11, building a bridge between the two worlds. Arab liberals expected Turkish membership in the EU to boost democratization in neighboring Muslim countries.
Opposition to Turkish membership in the EU by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, despite commitments to Turkey by the EU, was heavily criticized in the Arab media. It was assessed as a sign of discrimination against Muslims by Europeans. The view that the exclusion of Turkey from the union would breed radicalism among Muslims was often expressed.
The day I concluded reading the study summarized above, Aug. 6, The Guardian published an article by Tariq Ramadan titled “Turkey is part of Europe. Fear keeps it out of the EU.” Ramadan was saying mainly the following: “It is time for the countries of Europe to overcome their fear of Islam; time for them to stop turning Turkish EU membership into a cultural battleground. … We need courageous European politicians who will develop a new vision of Turkish-EU relations, who will remind their citizens that Turkey, by virtue of its economic power, geography, history and natural position as go-between with the ‘Muslim world,' is a major asset for Europe and for its future.” Ramadan, surely, reflects how the Muslims of Europe view the Turkey-EU relationship.
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