Category: EU Members

European Council decided to open accession negotiations with Turkey on 17 Dec. 2004

Sarrazin under fire for anti-Muslim views

Bundesbank official Thilo Sarrazin faced increasing pressure from across the political spectrum due to his controversial views on Muslims and immigrants on Thursday, as calls grew for him to leave the Social Democrats (SPD) and his central bank post.

More politicians joined in the chorus of outrage over Sarrazin’s comments regarding foreigners in a new book he has written and which are widely seen as inflammatory and xenophobic.

In an excerpt from his book published by daily Bild on Thursday, Sarrazin said there were “good grounds” for reservations against Muslims across Europe.

“There is no other religion with such a flowing transition to violence, dictatorship, and terrorism,” he claimed, before making the equally provocative assertion that Muslim immigrants were “associated with taking advantage of social welfare state and criminality.”

Along with members of the Greens and the Left party, politicians from the conservative Christian Democrats are now calling for him to give up his seat on the central bank’s board. Members of his own party said Sarrazin was “abusing” the SPD’s name.

“Those who pour blanket scorn on individual groups are playing a perfidious game with fears and prejudices,” said SPD General Secretary Andrea Nahles on Thursday. “That has nothing in common with the values and convictions of the SPD.”

Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger of the pro-business FDP party called Sarrazin’s theories “confused and unbearable.”

“Germany is a country of immigration and we can be proud of the liberal values and openness of our society,” she said.

The head of the Social Democrats in Berlin, Michael Müller, said it was possible the party would take new steps to kick the 65-year-old former Berlin’s finance senator out of the party. Sarrazin survived a previous attempt this year to revoke his party membership for previous controversial comments.

Sarrazin’s new book, called Deutschland schafft sich ab – Wie wir unser Land aufs Spiel setzen, or “Abolishing Germany – How we’re putting our country in jeopardy,” is due to be released on Monday. In the book, Sarrazin warns that Germans could become “strangers in their own country” because of integration. He plans to begin a book tour beginning next week.

The Green party has said it wants to begin a parliamentary procedure in which the Bundesbank and the government recommend Sarrazin be dismissed from his central bank position, a motion which would then be accepted by Germany’s president. The Left party has also called on Bundesbank directors to distance themselves from their controversial colleague.

“A top official who tries to agitate people is unacceptable,” said Left party head Gesine Lötzsch.

This is not the first time Sarrazin has sparked controversy with his views. In September 2009 he made anti-immigrant remarks against Arabs and Turks in an interview with Lettre International magazine.

He claimed that “a great many Arabs and Turks in [Berlin], whose numbers have grown because of the wrong policies, have no productive function other than as fruit and vegetable grocers.”

Though he apologised for those remarks, Sarrazin refused to step down from the Bundesbank’s board despite pressure to do so. He was however symbolically punished when the institution stripped him of some responsibilities after the incident, which caused widespread outrage.

“With Thilo Sarrazin, it’s just a continual offence,” said Green party parliamentary group leader Renate Künast on Thursday.

, 26 Aug 10

August 28, 2010
Turkish community demands more government pressure on Sarrazin

The chairman of the Turkish Community in Germany (TGD) has called on Chancellor Angela Merkel to send a clear signal condemning anti-Muslim comments by Bundesbank official Thilo Sarrazin, according to a Saturday report.

“I ask the German government to initiate proceedings to dismiss Thilo Sarrazin from the Bundesbank board,” Turkish community leader Kenan Kolat told German daily Frankfurter Rundschau on Saturday.

Kolat said the Bundesbank official’s comments, which appear in Sarrazin’s forthcoming book, had crossed the line. “It is the culmination of a new intellectual racism and it hurts Germany’s reputation abroad,” Kolat told the newspaper.

In an excerpt from his book published by daily Bild on Thursday, Sarrazin said there were “good grounds” for reservations against Muslims across Europe.

“There is no other religion with such a flowing transition to violence, dictatorship, and terrorism,” he claimed, before making the equally provocative assertion that Muslim immigrants were “associated with taking advantage of social welfare state and criminality.”

Kolat praised the broader government response to Sarrazin’s statements, including criticisms voiced by the SPD leadership, the Green Party, the Left and integration commissioner Maria Böhmer, as well as Angela Merkel herself.

“I’m very pleased that the German chancellor spoke so clearly of defamation,” he said. Kolat also thanked the Central Council of Jews in Germany for its clear condemnation of Sarrazin’s comments.

Lest the Social Democrats alienate migrant voters, Kolat said he was confident that his party would take further steps to kick Sarrazin out of the SPD. “He’ll go himself, or he’ll be made to leave,” he said. The Bundesbank official survived a previous attempt this year to revoke his party membership for previous controversial comments.

Sarrazin’s book, “Deutschland schafft sich ab – Wie wir unser Land aufs Spiel setzen“, or “Abolishing Germany – How we’re putting our country in jeopardy,” is scheduled for publication on Monday. Kolat encouraged a media boycott of the press conference planned to announce the book’s official release.

, 28 Aug 10

August 28, 2010
Greek fighter jets collide in mid-air, pilot killed

ATHENS — Two Greek fighter jets collided in mid-air on Thursday, the defence ministry said, killing one of the pilots and leaving two other crew injured.

The collision between the two F-16 planes, a one- and two-seater respectively, happened south of the island of Crete during training in air fighting involving six aircraft, the air force high command said.

A fisherman engaged in a search of the area found the body of one pilot a few hours later, state television reported.

The two others were plucked from the sea after ejecting, one of them with serious injuries to his head and one lung.

The jets were from Souda air force base in the northwest of Crete, the defence ministry said.

Greek fighter pilots are in constant readiness over the Aegean Sea due to frequent incursions by Turkish aircraft into Greek-controlled airspace disputed by Turkey.

In a similar incident in 2006, a Greek pilot was killed when his plane collided with a Turkish jet during one of the regular mock dogfights in the area.

26.08.2010

August 27, 2010
Interview with Israeli FM Avigdor Liberman

Interview with Israeli FM Avigdor Liberman on Reka Radio (Russian)

Under no conditions or provocations can any flotilla or ship harm our
country’s political independence and reach the Gaza Strip.
(Translation by Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

INTERVIEWER: Despite Nicosia’s warning, the Lebanese ship with 60 women on board – Lebanese, Palestinian and European activists – will set sail on
Sunday, August 22, with the infamous mission of trying to breach the naval
blockade on the Gaza Strip. And the Cyprus authorities have unequivocally declared they will not allow the ship to enter Cyprus’s territorial waters and will turn the ship away as soon as it approaches its shores. Mr. Minister, is this declaration the result of Cyprus’s policy or an achievement by Israel’s foreign policy?

FM LIBERMAN: This declaration is without a doubt part of the new relations between us and Cyprus. It reflects our new approach of a multilateral policy. Suffice it to say that over the past year and a half I met with Cyprus’s foreign minister on six occasions, including twice when he visited Israel and on my visit to Cyprus. Our ministers of tourism and social affairs also paid visits. In the autumn, the president of Cyprus is scheduled to make the first ever visit to the State of Israel. In general, this entire spectrum: the Middle East and Balkan states, meaning Cyprus, Greece, Bulgaria and Romania – all these are countries with which we are developing especially close ties. It’s no secret, I paid my visits and just recently the prime minister of Greece visited here, and President Peres visited Bulgaria and Romania. So despite the relative deterioration in our relations with Turkey, we do have other alternatives.

INTERVIEWER: In other words, Israel’s handprint, in the positive sense of
the word, is today being made in many places, including in Cyprus. Is Israel
ready for the next wave of history, which will take place after the women
equipped with medicine for suffering Palestinian cancer patients are
prevented from reaching Gaza?

FM LIBERMAN: I hope we do indeed succeed in foiling this next flotilla while
it is still in Cyprus. However part of Cyprus is Turkish, so there’s a
chance they will use Famagusta port, where we have a lot less influence. If they anchor in Limassol, they probably won’t be able to sail out of there. At any rate, our position is absolutely clear and firm – under no conditions or provocations can any flotilla or ship harm our country’s political independence and reach the Gaza Strip.

INTERVIEWER: There is another interesting angle here. The Lebanese prime
minister and chairman of parliament have refused to make any kind of
statement in support of the actions of the new “peace-loving” ship. Samar
Ali Hajj, one of the woman organizers of the voyage, reported that the two
refused to meet with her. This refusal indicates that Beirut officially does
not support this action. Again, is this about Israeli pressure or a natural
lack of desire to support.

FM LIBERMAN: This is partly our doing. We indirectly contacted members of
the Quartet – France, the United States, and the other members. We appealed
to the president of France, who has great influence in Lebanon. Of course we
also contacted the State Department and the UN secretary-general. Lebanon
must understand that it will bear the full brunt of responsibility for this
kind of provocation. I suppose they understand it even without our
explanations. So under no circumstances do they want to bring on a new round of escalation in the relations between our two countries. In my humble opinion, their position is clear, simple and logical.

INTERVIEWER: The humanitarian activity is not limited to the “Mariam”.
Another ship, carrying 60 containers of foodstuffs, office equipment and
other things, departed on Wednesday evening from Algeria en route to Egypt
and from there to the Gaza Strip. Is this more complex and more volatile?

FM LIBERMAN: We hope this ship will reach El Arish port, where the entire
cargo will be unloaded; and then from there, in the usual manner, under
strict observance of all the inspection rules, the cargo will be transferred
to the Gaza Strip. That was the case with the ship from Libya that, in an
identical manner.

INTERVIEWER: So you don’t expect any special complications here.

FM LIBERMAN: We hope there won’t be any attempts to breach the blockade –
namely to sail towards El Arish and then suddenly change course and try to
breach the naval blockade on Gaza.

, 23 August 2010

August 24, 2010
Greece reassures Arab allies over Israel ties

A demonstrator holds a banner reading, 'Freedom to Palestine' during a protest outside the Greek parliament

ATHENS — Greece moved Wednesday to reassure Arab allies over the strength of its friendship, following an improvement in ties with Israel after a landmark visit by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Improved Greek-Israeli ties were “for the good of Greece and all of the Middle East region… and do not exclude our close cooperation with the Arab world, and particularly our Palestinian friends,” Dimitris Droutsas, Greece’s Deputy Foreign Minister, said in an interview with radio station Flash.

“Our rapprochement with Israel is not opposed to our traditional relationship of exceptional trust with the Arab world,” he said, adding that the improvement in ties had been discussed with “all our friends in the Arab world”.

Meetings on Monday and Tuesday with the visiting Israeli prime minister were “very useful and entirely successful because we achieved the fixed objectives: deepening of relations and cooperation with Israel,” Droutsas said.

“The cooling of relations between Turkey and Israel is not a reason for the political rapprochement with Israel,” Droutsas said, adding that Greece would look at all opportunities in foreign policy.

The minister said bilateral discussions had focused on security, military cooperation and economic cooperation. He also reiterated the importance of Israeli tourists to the Greek economy.

Netanyahu’s visit was the first by an Israeli head of government to Greece, which has traditionally been pro-Arab and did not recognise the Jewish state until 1991.

The move to increase security and strategic cooperation comes as diplomatic ties between Israel and neighbouring Turkey have soured in the wake of an Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in May that left nine Turks dead.

August 24, 2010
End the hypocrisy and talk Turkey

By Gideon Rachman

You can gauge the importance of Turkey to the western world by the fact that both Barack Obama and David Cameron gave speeches to the Turkish parliament in Ankara within months of taking office.

The west cares about Turkey because it is a hinge state between east and west and a rare example of a majority Muslim state that is also a secular democracy. Turkey is a neighbour of both Russia and Iran, and is also a member of Nato. It has a rapidly growing and dynamic economy. And yet these days Turkey is also increasingly a source of anxiety to the west.

The country voted against new UN sanctions on Iran and has a dangerously antagonistic relationship with Israel. But it is Turkey’s faltering effort to join the European Union that has come to symbolise the country’s uncertain relationship with the west.

“Talking Turkey” is meant to mean speaking frankly and getting to the heart of the matter. But, in the European Union, “talking Turkey” has become a synonym for double-talk and evasiveness.

Since 2005, the EU and Turkey have been negotiating a treaty that is meant to get Turkey into the EU – a prospect that was first dangled in front of the Turks in 1963. But Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany, and President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, have made it clear that they oppose Turkish membership. The Turkish government says it still wants to “join Europe”, yet its foreign policy betrays understandable impatience.

So perhaps it is time really to “talk Turkey” – and to be frank. It would indeed be a wonderful thing if Turkey were to join the EU. But if that is to happen, Turkish membership has to be agreed on a new basis. It cannot involve total free movement of people between Turkey and the rest of the EU.

At present, citizens of all the current 27 members of the EU enjoy visa-free travel around the union – and can move to any other country to work. There are transition arrangements for recent members such as Bulgaria and Romania, which mean that complete free movement of people will not kick in until they have been in the club for seven years. But the rules are clear. Eventually, all citizens of the EU have to enjoy equal rights.

It is those rules that will have to change if Turkish accession to the EU is ever to become a reality. Creating special rules for the Turks would be denounced as unfair, and even racist. But, as long as Turkish membership raises the prospect of mass emigration to the rest of the EU, it will be impossible to sell it to western European voters.

This stark fact has been pretty clear since the enlargement of the EU to central Europe triggered large-scale migration westwards. The British government infamously suggested that about 13,000 Poles would move to Britain to work after Poland joined the union. The real number was well over half a million. The French government is currently controversially deporting gypsies who have moved to France, following Romanian accession to the EU. The surge in the vote for the radical, anti-immigration right in the recent Dutch elections demonstrated that mass migration, particularly from Muslim countries such as Turkey, is unpopular enough to transform domestic politics in some western European countries.

In the face of all this evidence, European politicians would simply be irresponsible to press ahead with negotiations to bring Turkey into the European Union without addressing the issue of immigration. In the long run, they will not do it. In the short run, they take refuge in double-talk and hypocrisy.

On his recent trip to Ankara, Mr Cameron carefully positioned himself as a champion of Turkish membership of the EU, claiming that he was “angry” that Turkey was being so badly treated. The very next day, Mr Cameron re-iterated his determination that the number of immigrants coming into Britain should be sharply reduced. Logically, he cannot have it both ways.

Western European leaders would doubtless argue that now is not the time to deal with these contradictions and hypocrisies. Even on the best-case scenario, Turkish membership is still many years off. The difficult issues can be dealt with later.

But that is far too complacent. The fact is that Turkey is an important country whose relations with the west are deteriorating fast.

It would be a gamble to try to revive the Turkish-EU conversation by finally facing up to the question of immigration. The Turks might walk away in a huff. But even without complete free movement of people, Turkey would still have a great deal to gain from joining the EU.

As the second most populous nation in the union – and perhaps soon the largest – it would have a huge weight in the framing of European law, and a big delegation at the European Parliament. Turkey would also get the financial and structural aid that the EU lavishes on poorer, new members. It would have unfettered access to the European single market, a big say in the framing of EU foreign policy and the legal and diplomatic protections that come with EU membership. Under the new deal Turkish citizens would not get the automatic right to work anywhere in the EU; but they could expect travel to become significantly easier.

Membership of the EU, without complete free movement of people, is a deal Turkey might choose to reject or accept. But, at least it is an offer that could be made in good faith.

[email protected]

, August 23 2010

August 24, 2010