Date:10/10/2002 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2002/10/10/stories/2002101002121400.htm

International

U.S. pushes E.U. membership for Turkey

By Batuk Gathani

BRUSSELS OCT. 9. The European Commission today urged Turkey to put "more vigorous and meaningful'' efforts into its reform process before negotiations for that country's membership of the European Union can resume.

According to current estimates, the process could take about a decade or two and if all goes well, Turkey could be a member of the E.U. before 2020, although European Commission officials are wary of citing any specific dates.

Meanwhile, the U.S. has stepped up pressure for Turkey's accession to the E.U. Apart from being a close ally of the U.S., Turkey is also a founder member of the NATO military alliance. A European diplomat said: "Hardly a week goes by without Washington telling the European Commission and E.U. member states to offer Turkey the perspective of eventual membership of the European Union.''

According to European observers, the Bush administration is bringing maximum pressure on the European Commission, mainly because of Turkey's strategic, geographic and logistical importance if the U.S. decides to strike against Iraq.

It is often argued that Turkey and European Union are both secular, although Turkey is predominantly Muslim and European Union is Christian. Hence, the seeming commonality of "secularism" could be a binding force between the E.U. and Turkey. Many Europeans are also concerned about the rising popularity of Islamic fundamentalists in the Muslim world in general and Turkey in particular. The country is often rated as being economically unstable with a high level of unemployment and poverty. Over four million Turkish workers live in E.U. countries. It is also realised that Turkey could be the second largest member of the E.U. after Germany, with a population of 80 million.

The European Commission gave Turkey candidate status in 1999 after the Clinton administration put pressure on European officials to speed up the membership process. The then U.S. Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, did some serious lobbying for Turkey at the Helsinki Summit of European leaders.

The Bush administration is doing the "follow up'' by maintaining pressure on the European Commission. A senior U.S. official, Weston, arrived in Brussels today to argue the case for Turkey's membership. Mr Weston expressed the hope that the European Commission would present an objective and fair analysis of Turkey.

European observers will closely monitor the outcome of Turkey's elections on November 3. Prominent anti-reform and pro-Islamic fundamentalist candidates like the Mayor of Istanbul, are discouraged, if not banned.

More progressive elements of the Turkish society fear that European Union-related reforms and liberalisation may benefit religious-minded politicians and the minority Kurds in the impoverished north-east Turkey.