Turkey and its Role in Europe
The European Affairs Committee
Association of the Bar of the City of NY
The Turkish American Chamber of Commerce & Industry
The American Turkish Society
Consulate General of the Republic of Turkey in NY
September 20, 2007, NY
Reporting
Mustafa Dogru, ATAA Capital Forum Volunteer, New York City
George Bermann, Director of European Legal Studies at Columbia University, moderated the event. Program Chairman, Richard H. Langan II, and the Honorable Turkish Consul General Mehmet Samsar made opening remarks, emphasizing that the integration of Turkey in Europe commenced during the Ottoman Empire and was initiated by Associate Membership in 1963, the process of which continue to date.
Maria-Francesca Spatolisano
Economic and Trade Counselor for the European Commission Mission to the UN
Spatolisano discussed the EU’s enlargement process and temporary absorption problems related to larger countries or blocks of countries. Spatolisano added that the EU is more prosperous now since the enlargement started. Spatolisano compared Turkey and the most recently admitted states of Bulgaria and Romania, stating that while Turkey had a far better infrastructure and higher growth rate, the two Balkan states were smaller, thus easier to absorb.
Dr. Bahadir Kaleagasi
Director of TUSIAD Brussels Office
Kaleagasi stated that Turkey’s private sector was already in the EU via the Customs Union and other free-trade arrangements. Kaleagasi stated that Turkey was a European Democracy by virtue of the EU Associate Membership, as well as a Member of the European Council and European Court of Human Rights. Minor temporary problems are being addressed, as the private sector was doing its homework by asking the government to accelerate the reform process. Kaleagasi also addressed certain long term issues such as the high percentage of unregistered economic activity in Turkey, the situation of the Turkish Cypriots following the rejection of the UN Plan by the Greek Cypriots, and environmental challenges. He concluded that support for EU entry in Turkey is complicated by growing public opinion that the EU’s treatment of Turkey’s application is discriminatory.
Nuri M. Colakoglu
Managing Director of CNN-Turk and VP of Dogan Media Group
Colakoglu stated that understanding Turkey is difficult because circumstances change frequently. The fluidity of circumstances are, to an important extent, a product by the difficult neighborhood in which Turkey is situated. Colakoglu commented on the progress on the Kurdish issue and the unacceptable passivity on PKK Kurdish terrorism.
Semih Idiz
Columnist for Milliyet and Turkish Daily News
Idiz stated that earlier, Turkey was considered to consist only of the major metropolises of Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir. Idiz stated that today, a new conservative Anatolia is emerging and the political and economic base of Turkey is diverse and complex. He also said that the US and the EU mischaracterize Turkey as a “moderate Islamic state”, but that Turks do not identify themselves as a particular shade of Islam but as a secular public which respects an individual religious freedom at a private level. Unless this mischaracterization of Turkey is corrected, serious mistakes will be made in planning for the future, for one cannot deny reality, and reality controls. Idiz concluded by expressing his optimisim about Turkey’s future.
Prof. Yakup Atila Eralp
Director of the Center for European Studies at METU
Eralp focused on Turkish foreign policy regarding its neighboring states in the last decade. Eralp mentioned that Turkey’s relations with its neighbors Greece, Bulgaria, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Syria and Iran underwent a slow but a substantial positive change during this period. Also, with respect to Cyprus, Eralp added that Turkey is now seen more as a source of reason and stability – a political perception that is consistent with Turkey’s humanitarian military intervention that stopped the ethnic massacres of Turkish Cypriots on the island in 1974. Eralp concluded that Turkey has transformed itself from a frontier state to a regional keystone.
Gerald Knaus
Director of European Stability Initiative in Istanbul, Turkey
Knaus, an Austrian national who resides in Istanbul, stated that the public opinion for Turkey’s entry into the EU has an unfavorable downward trend, which does not speak well for the fact that each of the states of the EU must approve every facet of Turkey’s membership application for Turkey to accede. Knaus stated that European public opinion about Turkey does not reflect the facts on the ground. He explained that statistical analyses, such as the lowest percentage of female MPs in Parliament, the highest female unemployment rate -- are narrow and meaningless if they are not accompanied with an analysis of the legal, cultural and social developments in Turkey over the course of time. If one is nit-pick about Turkey (and not other candidates and members), it should nit-pick comprehensively to render a more just, and in Turkey’s case, a more favorable assessment. Knaus urged that Turkey should find a way to communicate its success stories to the EU public in order to stop this downward trend, for the good of Turkey, as well as the goof of Europe.
Steven A. Cook
Douglas Dillon Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations
Cook talked about the French President’s recent idea of forming a Mediterranean Union. Cook commented that this idea was not taken seriously by any Mediterranean states other than Israel. Cook added that the Middle Eastern states follow Turkey very closely – a double edged sword if Turkey does not receive the appreciation and commendation it should. Lastly, he believed that Turkey’s renewed interest in the Middle East was not because of AKP’s Islamic roots, but because Turkey has transformed itself from a frontier state to a regional keystone.
Q&A:
Dr. John Brademas, the former Greek-American Congressman from Indiana and the former NYU President, said that he was not satisfied with the treatment of the Cyprus issue and the situation of the Greek Orthodox Church in Istanbul which is demanding an extra-territorial status as an Ecumenical Order. Michael Parlamis, a Greek-American businessman, added that Turkish Americans and Greek Americans should increase their interaction and relations, as they are both Americans and share the same culture. Observers, however, commented, that it was not Turkish Americans who were advocating resolutions and bills that fuel ethnic feuds on Capitol Hill. |
