Turkish FM: “Turkey seeks EU membership by 2015″
Posted by meb at October 3rd, 2009
Turkey is counting on joining the European Union by 2015 to bolster both its and the EU’s global role, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said on Friday. “Even 2015 is too late, not only for us, it will be too late for the EU as well,” Davutoğlu said at the European Policy Centre in Brussels.
The Turkish foreign minister also said Turkey and the EU were sharing a common destiny, history and fate, adding: “Our vision is to make an EU, including Turkey, a global power in 2050.”
Turkey has made piecemeal progress toward becoming the EU’s first predominantly Muslim member since the process started in 2005, opening talks in 11 of 35 policy areas and completing one. The EU froze talks in eight areas in 2006 to punish Turkey for its trade embargo on Greek Cyprus, which joined the bloc in 2004. The dispute with Greek Cyprus has dogged entry talks since the debut.
The Turkish foreign minister blamed Greek Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias for stalling unity talks after 42 meetings within a year. “Unfortunately, Christofias is trying to slow down the negotiations,” he said. “Nobody can blame Turkey. We did everything and continue to do everything.”
Davutoğlu said he saw Europe as a sub-continent or an extension of Eurasia like the Indian Peninsula, instead of a continent that had borders or walls like that in Berlin during the Cold War era. “As the Berlin Wall has been demolished, nobody can talk about cultural, political or economic walls separating Europe from Asia, Africa and even America,” he said.
Davutoğlu said Europe, a center of power in the world in the 19th century, felt it necessary to lay the foundation of the EU after it started to lose power due to clashes within its borders after the World War II. “Establishing the EU was a right solution to end the recession of Europe. It was a positive, creative and proactive answer,” he said. But, he said, the rest of the world also exerted efforts, and China, Russia and the United States had entered into a new transformation. “Therefore, Europe did not have the option of stopping in this rapidly changing world,” he said.
Two alternatives
Davutoğlu said Europe should choose between the two alternatives of becoming a global power or a continental power. “If we, the Europeans, want to become a global power, there are two obstacles – faced by all European powers from the first ages until today – we should overcome,” he said and enumerated them as a strategic connection with Africa and Asia and multiculturalism.
He said the EU definitely needed two key countries, Russia and Turkey, to become a global power. The Turkish foreign minister also said he could not say Turkey reached its final borders after the Lausanne Treaty was signed.
“Of course, our borders are obvious since we have the strongest army in our region from the perspective of international law and real policy, and since we have strong international legal references,” he said.
Davutoğlu said Turkey’s geography was multidimensional and defined Turkey as a European country with extension to Asia; a Balkan country; a Caucasus country; a Black Sea and Middle Eastern country; and a Mediterranean, Caspian and even a Gulf country. The minister said Turkey did not have the luxury of ignoring any of those regions and was behaving with this “historic responsibility.”
He said Turkey, which was opening new representations every year and which was asked to be a mediator in many world problems, wanted to play a global role – not just deal with regional problems. The foreign minister said the EU’s neighborhood policy also covered Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, the Middle East and North Africa.
“At the same time, Turkey wants to achieve synergy by cooperating with the EU in this region,” he said. The minister also said Turkey’s benefits in diplomacy would become the benefits for the union after Turkey became a member.
“Everybody has been convinced that Turkey would bring stability to the EU, not problems,” he said.
source: Hurriyet daily news
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