Italy understands Turkey better

At least that is what I sensed last week from senior Italian officials, who spoke to us during the Media Forum organized by the Italian Foreign Ministry and Agenzia Giornalistica Italia (AGI — the Italian Journalist Agency). When responding to questions posed by Turkish journalists, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini made it clear that Turkey is providing something valuable to the 27-nation bloc in Europe because, he said, it can talk frankly, at times bluntly, to all stakeholders in the Middle East region

Though recent signs indicate otherwise, Frattini sounded upbeat and hopeful about improving the frayed ties between Turkey and Israel, both of which he described as friends of Italy. He interpreted the sending of two firefighting planes from Turkey to tackle the forest fire in northern Israel as a strong indication that Turkey is there for Israel despite the problems that originated from the flotilla incident that resulted in the killings of eight Turkish activists in open seas. Focusing on the indirect negotiations brokered by Turkey between Israel and Syria on the eve of Gaza onslaught in 2008, Frattini said almost all issues over the Golan Heights were resolved during the talks and there was an important opportunity to move into direct talks between the two countries.

I also had a chance to talk to Giovanni De Michelis, who served as foreign minister of Italy between 1989 and 1992. He seemed to be quite convinced that Europe will not matter anymore if it has no courage to stand up and face challenges in the Middle East region. Leaving the problems unsolved will be a suicide for the EU, he said, while stressing the significance of the role played by Turkey in tackling the issues.

When I asked him how Turkey would back up the renewed dynamism in its foreign policy with necessary resources like financial aid, political leverage and human resources, De Michelis responded with an interesting but very convincing argument. He said this is exactly why Turkey needs the EU. “Turkey, strongly anchored with the EU, can utilize the resources and the political clout of Europe in promoting its own policies in the region,” he pointed out.

Both the current and former foreign ministers share the belief that Turkey would bring an added value to the EU because of its shared history, religion and cultural attributes with a number of countries in the Middle East. The problem, however, is that two other heavyweights in the bloc, France and Germany, do not share the same enthusiasm when it comes to membership prospects for Turkey. Both French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are vocal opponents of the predominantly Muslim Turkey’s bid for a full membership.

In contrast, Frattini, who is strong advocate for the Christian roots of the EU, argued that this is precisely why the EU should open the door to Muslim Turkey. He explained that Italian foreign policy focuses on dialogue and understanding among countries with different cultures and religions. He acknowledged that some European states have doubts about the Turkish bid because of the country’s Islamic character. “It is exactly because of this that I say Turkey should become a full member of the EU,” he said. Frattini noted that he would be fighting for the rights of Christian minorities in the Middle East as well as Muslim Turkey’s bid to become member of the club.

Yet he did not hide his frustration with the lack of progress in EU talks, describing the recent situation by saying that “things are not going well.” This is because of the fact that not a single negotiation chapter was opened in the talks during six-month Belgium presidency. It seems Turkey has almost run out of options to open further chapters with the EU. With only 13 chapters out of 35 opened, the EU suspended talks on eight chapters, France blocked five and Greek Cyprus is planning to veto five more chapters.

Frattini also underlined that the “energy chapter” is very important for Europe and hoped it would be opened soon. Italian companies have been very active in the energy market in Turkey, not only for internal demand but also as a means to utilize Turkey as a transit hub in oil and natural gas. The Italian company ENI participated in building the Blue Stream pipeline to transport gas from Russia to Turkey via the Black Sea. The company also engaged in a joint venture with the Turkish Çalık Group and Russian companies to build a pipeline linking Samsun to Ceyhan.

Another Italian company, Edison, is involved in the ITGI gas pipeline project to connect Italy, Greece and Turkey. The interest is not limited to the oil and gas industries but also that of renewable energy, in which Turkey has recently began to attract foreign and domestic investors. The Italian company Italgen is investing in this market with plans to build windmills in northwestern Turkey.

Turkish and Italian mutual interests cover quite an extensive area and overlap with each other on many occasions, prodding the latter to support the Turkish EU drive with much enthusiasm. The problem is how to make skeptics in the EU believe the notion that a Turkey, better integrated and tightly anchored to Europe will benefit all members of the club.