Category: EU Members

ANKARA, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s two-day visit to Turkey has demonstrated that Germany is ready to accentuate its support to Turkey’s accession talks with the European Union (EU) despite lingering concerns for the eventual membership prospects.

Merkel’s cautious remarks while she was in Turkey signaled that Germany is ready to toe in the new line adopted by French President Francois Hollande, who agreed to lift the French veto on the opening of talks on one of the five chapters blocked by Paris.

“The French offering of olive branch as part of the goodwill gesture towards Turkey by Hollande seems to have forced Germany to decide to downplay its opposition to Turkey’s full membership,” Mehmet Seyfettin Erol of the Ankara-based Gazi University told Xinhua.

“It looks like both France and Germany is vying for an influence in Ankara using the EU talks as leverage,” he added.

Merkel, a conservative Christian Democrat leader, personally opposed to Turkish membership and has always advocated a watered- down link with Ankara called “privileged partnership.”

In Ankara on Monday, Merkel reiterated her skepticism, but said that “I fully support that the negotiations take place openly.”

“The change of heart in Berlin and France has to do with the economic benefits Turkey can bring to these countries that are already under heavy pressure due to lingering Eurozone woes,” Idris Gursoy, a Turkish analyst, told Xinhua.

“Germany is Turkey’s number one trading partner and as such Merkel’s visit was aimed to compartmentalize issues with Turkey with a view that political differences remain separated from economic cooperation,” he explained.

Merkel was accompanied by a delegation of German businessmen during her trip to Turkey and she attended the Turkish-German CEO Forum, jointly organized by the Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen Association (TUSIAD) and the German Industrialists Federation (BDI).

Turkey’s growing clout in the region, both economically and politically, may have given a boost to Turkish membership bid. Most EU member states support Turkish membership while the other few, led by Germany and France, are finding it increasingly difficult to make their case for the opposition to Turkey.

The 27-member bloc’s highest decision-making body, the EU Council, in December reiterated the bloc’s commitment to active accession negotiations with Turkey, while calling for a new momentum in these negotiations. This was interpreted as an indication that France and Germany increasingly find themselves isolated in the bloc in their opposition to Turkish membership.

EU Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger’s prediction that Germany and France would beg Turkey to join the EU within the next decade has started huge controversy in the bloc last week. Interestingly, Oettinger is a member of Merkel’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

Turkey opened accession talks with the EU in 2005, but has only been able to finish talks on one of the 35 chapters that a candidate country has to complete before joining the bloc. No chapter has been opened for talks for the past two and a half years.

Nicole Pope, another analyst based in Istanbul, said she believes that Merkel gave tentative support to Turkey’s EU accession process and shied away from full endorsement because of upcoming German elections.

“With elections coming up later this year, the German chancellor is unlikely to be vocal in her support of Turkey’s membership bid,” she noted.

Merkel’s visits to the German military troops deployed to man two German-supplied Patriot missile batteries near the Turkey- Syria border and to the ancient churches in the region of Cappadocia were seen as efforts to score political points back at home.

Merkel said her government wanted religious foundations to operate freely in Turkey and in every country in the world.

“This is a clever move by a conservative leader to gain some backing ahead of elections,” Erol underlined.

Germany is also under pressure from Turkey on the lack of cooperation on terrorism. Ankara claims that German authorities are not doing enough to tackle fund-raising activities of the terrorist organizations that target Turkey and its citizens.

Editor: Zhu Ningzhu

via Germany revises position on Turkey’s EU bid to boost economic cooperation – Xinhua | English.news.cn.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel insisted Monday she had hesitations over Turkey’s full membership in the European Union but said the entry process should nevertheless be kept “on track.”

“We are going through an open-ended negotiation process… Although I have reservations on full membership, I certainly want to keep the talks on track,” Merkel told a joint news conference in Ankara with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The chancellor also said that she was in favour of opening a new chapter among the 35 in the body of EU law that Turkey has to complete before the bloc’s members can make a decision on full membership.

“First of all it will be good to open one chapter and then it will proceed step by step,” said Merkel.

Merkel however urged Turkey to implement the Ankara protocol to extend a customs union agreement to internationally recognised Cyprus, which joined the EU in 2004.

“Otherwise we won’t be able to keep opening chapters,” she said in translated remarks.

Turkey has refused to implement the protocol to open its air and sea ports to EU-member Cyprus until the Union moves on its pledge to ease the international isolation of the island’s breakaway Turkish-held north.

Ankara also refuses to acknowledge the internationally recognised Greek Cypriot government until a full settlement is reached.

Turkey’s stance prompted the EU in 2006 to freeze eight of the 35 chapters in the accession process. Thirteen have since been opened to keep the talks alive.

Germany is one of the EU heavyweights, along with France, opposed to Turkey’s membership in the 27-nation bloc and has instead offered “privileged partnership,” a tailored version that falls short of Ankara’s aspirations.

Merkel also raised the issue of jailed journalists in Turkey and asked Ankara to create an environment where “journalists can work freely.”

Turkey frequently comes under fire for the record number journalists it holds behind bars, severely tarnishing its image as a candidate nation.

Erdogan however said the number of journalists jailed for their profession were fewer than the “fingers of a hand,” and claimed many were jailed for illegal activities, including robbery and man slaughter.

Germany has not vetoed any of the negotiating chapters of the EU law — which cover human rights, economic, environmental and other issues — unlike France, which blocked five under right-wing former President Nicolas Sarkozy.

“Chancellor Merkel also has hesitations about Turkey’s membership to the EU but I have to give her credit. She is not blocking my chapters,” Turkey’s EU Affairs Minister Egemen Bagis told news agency AFP last week.

A public opinion poll published on Sunday revealed unease among Germans regarding Turkey’s EU entry, with six out of 10 surveyed opposed. Germany has a sizeable Turkish population of about three million.

France said this month it was ready to resume talks with Ankara on one chapter, breathing life into the fledgling talks.

Ankara welcomed the move as a sign of a change of heart in Europe and demanded stronger support from Berlin and Paris for a “fair chance” in its membership process.

Turkey, an associate member of the old European Economic Community since 1963, first sought to become an EU member in 1987 but only launched formal accession talks in 2005.

Germany is one of Turkey’s most important trading partners, with bilateral trade at $35 billion (€26 billion) annually, according to Erdogan. Merkel later Monday was to attend a Turkish-German economic forum in Ankara.

The chancellor, whose last visit was in March 2010, arrived in Turkey on Sunday and headed to the southeastern city of Kahramanmaras near the Syrian border to visit German troops stationed there since January.

The 300 German troops are operating two Patriot batteries brought in to protect NATO member Turkey from any conflict spillover from Syria.

Merkel also visited the ancient Anatolian town of Cappadocia, where she met with Christian minorities and toured the open air museum famous for its display of early Christian heritage.

AFP/mry

via Merkel: Turkey’s EU bid must be kept ‘on track’ – The Local.

“In recent times, negotiations have stalled somewhat and I am in favor of opening a new chapter in order to move forward,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in Turkey for an official visit.

Meanwhile, Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called the delay in talks ‘unforgivable.’

Previously Merkel`s conservative Christian Democratic Union spoke against full Turkish membership, favoring ‘privileged partnership’ status for the country.

One reason for the possible change in the party course is fishing for future votes, Manuel Ochsenreiter, political analyst and journalist, told RT.

Given that there are 3 million Turkish people in Germany, now “when we see that Angela Merkel`s party is now slowly becoming weaker… we can see that there are certain politicians from this party hoping for the Turkish votes in future.”

However, Ochsenreiter warns, Turkey should think twice before joining the EU and sacrificing its sovereignty.

According to the journalist, the European Union is by no means a democratic project, but an ideological project, brought together by the European Commission and European politicians.

“Ask the people [in Germany] if they want to send troops to Syrian border. They will say ‘no’. Ask if they want to send troops to Afghanistan, they will say ‘no’. Ask them if they want to bail out countries like Greece and Italy… they will say ‘no’. The European Union is a construction without any democratic base,” he explained.

He said we are only left to hope that Turkey demonstrates more democratic organization and puts the issue of full EU membership to a national referendum.

Meanwhile, a recent survey revealed that almost two-thirds of Turkish people are against their country joining the union.

via Germany green lights Turkey to EU talks ‘hoping for Turkish votes’ — RT Op-Edge.