Tag: Turkey – EU

Turkey is still yearning for EU membership

ANKARA LETTER: This proud city is struggling to understand why, despite its growth, it is still being held at arm’s length

It is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world; its capital has a larger population than Ireland and construction is booming to such an extent that skylines resemble those of the Celtic Tiger era. However, despite all this, Ankara is still negotiating Turkish membership of the European Union nearly 50 years after it first expressed interest in Europe.

First impressions of the Turkish capital can be disappointing to the foreign tourist, because at first glance it seems to comprise nothing more than concrete tower blocks, houses piled on top of each other, and roads where six lines of traffic squeeze into four lanes.

It’s a city where the net minimum wage is just €320 per month and yet petrol and diesel cost more than €2 per litre. Dozens of cranes populate the skyline and hundreds of multistorey buildings lie half-built, surrounded by hoardings promising prospective buyers not only an amazing apartment, but a better lifestyle.

It’s a city that forever seems to lie in the shadows of Istanbul in terms of population, tourism, architecture and economy, even though it’s the capital.

Yet despite all this, Ankara is an immensely proud city, one that struggles to understand the EU’s rejection.

Long association

The city began its long association with the project of European integration in 1963, when it signed the Ankara Association Agreement. The country’s application to accede the European Union was made in 1987, and it was officially recognised as a candidate for full membership in 1999. Since then Ankara has come a long way in public consciousness. Gone are the days when Istanbul seemed the only possible answer to the regular table quiz question: “what is the capital of Turkey?”

However, after more than two decades of trying, Ankara has all but given up on accession to the European Union, having faced annual rejections from France, Germany and Cyprus.

Along with the rest of the country, it has a high growth rate, a low unemployment rate, a booming construction industry and a rapidly developing manufacturing sector.

Thus the city’s population struggles to understand how the country – one where the average age is 29, one which lends money to the International Monetary Fund, one which is the world’s 18th largest economy – is still being denied EU membership.

The Turkish economy deserves more than what larger European countries and leading international rating agencies tell the world, according to Turkey’s minister for finance Mehmet Simsek.

“We would like to remain firmly anchored to Europe. I think we can add value to Europe,” he said.

Last year the Turkish economy grew by 8.8 per cent in real terms, one of the fastest rates in the world. In contrast, Europe only grew by 1.5 per cent last year.

Growing economy

The Turkish economy had been growing 17 per cent year on year in real terms, almost twice the Chinese growth rate, but the country tightened credit policy and introduced specific tax hikes to slow growth, Mr Simsek said.

The Turkish rate of unemployment totalling 8.5 per cent last year is also lower than the EU average which in August 2011 was 10.5 per cent.

These statistics show that Turkey would fulfil the Maastricht criteria for entry into the euro zone, unlike many member states, yet the country is still being denied entry by member states, which the Turks believe, are concerned about eastern influence in Europe.

Having tired of waiting to join the European Union, the city has decided to use its growing economic and political influence to establish its control over the region, assuming the role of an economic centre due to stable economic growth and strategic position.

However, while the country has strengthened trade ties between Middle Eastern and North African countries; the European Union is still seen as a lighthouse and beacon of hope for Turkey.

“Europe is still the best reference point for us for laws. Europe implies transformation for us, it implies reforms. Our country needs transformation. Europe ultimately gets a very reliable and strong neighbour,” Simsek says.

“I think much of Europe’s fears are based upon the fact Turkey is big. Big players don’t want their power diluted.”

via Turkey is still yearning for EU membership – The Irish Times – Sat, Dec 22, 2012.

Since 2002, Turkey’s growth strategy, fiscal discipline, and structural reforms have helped it become the world’s 16th largest economy. Last year, Turkey’s figures for growth, public borrowing, long-term debt, and unemployment were vastly better than Europe’s.

By Recep Tayyip Erdogan / November 29, 2012

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, followed by Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, as they arrive for a press conference in Madrid Nov. 27. Mr. Erdogan says in this op-ed: ‘All of [our positive economic] indicators point to the fact that Turkey would actually fulfill the Maastricht criteria for entry into the eurozone, unlike many present member states.’

Daniel Ochoa de Olza/AP

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Until recently Turkey was a country that had to borrow from the IMF. But positive developments over the last 10 years have led Turkey to become a country that now lends to the IMF instead.

 

Our ability to do this is a result of policies of fiscal discipline we have implemented since our own crisis in 2001. In the past, we had debts to the IMF of $20 billion. Now, that is down to $1.7 billion. Our central bank has reserves of $115 billion.

The crisis we have gone through was similar to what the EU is experiencing now. Many banks went bankrupt. People’s savings disappeared. Companies closed down. The Turkish economy shrank drastically.

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That crisis was a very important lesson for us. Since 2002 our government has pursued a strategy of growth along with fiscal discipline – which is why we’ve reach the level we are at today.

In order not to go through a crisis like 2001 once again, we have also carried out structural reforms – ranging from timely and decisive banking reform to changes in health care and social services – that not only strengthened the Turkish economy but also increased the confidence of the Turkish people in their government.

As a result, Turkey has climbed to the rank of the world’s 16th largest economy. Last year our economy grew at 8.5 percent – one of the fastest rates in the world. By comparison, Europe only grew by 1.5 percent last year. Over the last nine months there was no growth at all in Europe taken as a whole, with GDP actually shrinking in some places.

In Europe in general, public borrowing in annual budgets has grown to 4.5 percent of GDP, while in Turkey it has fallen to 1.7 percent.

Overall, long-term debt in Europe amounted last year to 85 percent of GDP, while in Turkey it was only 37 percent.

Unemployment in Turkey is at 8.5 percent. Overall in Europe it was 10.5 percent as of August 2011.

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All of these indicators point to the fact that Turkey would actually fulfill the Maastricht criteria for entry into the eurozone, unlike many present member states. [For example, the Maastricht Treaty stipulates that a country’s debt should not exceed 60 percent of GDP, and borrowing in annual budgets should not exceed 3 percent of GDP.]

The success and resilience of Turkey today is due to the structural reforms we have undertaken since 2002 and because we have stuck to a sensible fiscal and budgetary policy with the proper discipline.

Of course, none of this was easy. The austerity policies were very hard to implement.

In light of the current troubles in Europe, we learned one very important lesson as we implemented these tough reforms: The people need to be able to trust those who govern them and not feel that their interests are being betrayed. Without that trust, we would not have been able to make the very difficult readjustments in our social security system.

For all these reasons, Turkey today is strong and resilient. But there is more to be done to improve our performance and build proactively on this foundation.

ANOTHER VIEW: Questions about Turkey as a democracy and military model

We have just finalized our planning for the future and are taking the next steps. By 2023, we want Turkey to be one of the top 10 economic areas of the world. In the last 10 years we managed to increase the per capita income threefold. Over the next 15 years we want to increase per capita income from $10,500 to $25,000. That would require a growth rate of 5.2 percent over the next five years.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan is the prime minister of Turkey. His remarks are excerpted from a recent speech to the Berggruen Institute on Governance in Berlin.

via Recep Tayyip Erdogan: Turkey’s economy meets EU membership criteria – CSMonitor.com.

Turkey’s interest in EU membership plunges

Provides key political, economic link to East

author-image by F. Michael MaloofEmail | Archive

F. Michael Maloof, staff writer for WND and G2Bulletin, is a former senior security policy analyst in the office of the secretary of defense.More ↓

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Editor’s Note: The following report is excerpted from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin, the premium online newsletter published by the founder of WND. Subscriptions are $99 a year or, for monthly trials, just $9.95 per month for credit card users, and provide instant access for the complete reports.

WASHINGTON – After more than two decades of trying, Turkey has all but given up on acquiring membership in the European Union, where it has faced annual rejections from Germany, France and Cyprus, which are concerned with Eastern influences in Europe. Cypriot opposition stems mainly from Greece’s position, since much of Cyprus is under a Greek-backed government, according to a report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

Now Turkey, which for years has been a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, regards itself as part of modern Europe but is exhibiting more of an Islamic government. And it is seriously considering giving up its efforts to join the EU if it hasn’t achieved membership by 2023, a decision which could have enormous consequences, especially for Europe.

As a bridge between East and West, Turkey, with its Islamic orientation, has sought to be a major influence with other countries of the Middle East and Central Asia where Ankara had historical impact in its former capacity as the Ottoman Empire.

The influence would be essential for Europe, which needs Turkey for continued political and economic trade with the East. However, a number of the European countries, most notably France, are concerned about Turkey’s government becoming more Islamist. In addition, Turkey continues to deny that the massive killing in 1915 of Armenians was genocide – a position to which France has raised strong objection.

European opposition to Turkey joining the EU stems from a number of issues which were outlined in a report the EU issued in October.

Those concerns included continued restrictions on civil rights, curtailment of freedom of expression, assembly and association. It also revolves around the treatment that the Turkish government has shown to the Kurds and Christian minorities, including journalists.

Reaction from Turkish officials was immediate. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyep Erdogan complained that the Europeans “probably won’t string us along that long (to 2023) but if they do string us along until then the European Union will lose out, and at the very least they will lose Turkey.”

For its part, Germany, which has the largest Turkish population in Europe, has concerns over the integration of Turks into German society and the influx of even more immigrants should Turkey become an EU member.

“Given the resistance of major European powers, there is no clear path for Turkey’s entry into the European Union,” according to a report from the open intelligence group Langley Intelligence Network, or Lignet.

“Turkey is very wary about being drawn into an inter-Islamic conflict, especially in Syria,” Lignet said. “However, mutual interests and opportunities for cooperation exist with the states that surround the Mediterranean, Black and Caspian Seas. The more effectively Turkey promotes regional stability and also asserts herself in this multi-dimensional world, the less attractive EU membership becomes.”

Keep in touch with the most important breaking news stories about critical developments around the globe with Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin, the premium, online intelligence news source edited and published by the founder of WND.

via Turkey’s interest in EU membership plunges.

Turkey and the EU

By Andrew Stuttaford

September 29, 2012 1:23 P.M.

Andrew McCarthy has a piece on possible Turkish membership of the EU up on the homepage, very well worth reading in many respects, but not least for this observation:

In Turkey, the administrators of the Kemalist governmental model — comprising Muslims who understood Islam intimately — suppressed Islam not to deny freedom of conscience but to enable it. They were trying to forge exactly the sort of secular civil society Europeans revere. They knew it could not coexist with sharia. Thus, the government assumed supervision of the country’s 80,000 mosques, vetted the imams, controlled the content of sermons and literature, and aggressively monitored the Islamic charities. The Muslims running the state realized that Islam would inevitably work against secular civil society if left to its own devices.

If you want to understand why Mubarak’s approach in Egypt (political repression combined with the cession of large amounts of religio-social space to the imams) was, in the end, doomed to failure, that’s not a bad place to start.

Andy explains how the incentive of eventual EU membership (forever being proffered, just out of reach, to the Turks) is being used to distort the (admittedly very far from perfect) Kemalist model in ways that could have very dangerous consequences.

But at least we can for be sure (at least for now) that the French and German political elites are enough in tune with their electorates (for now) to stop, as they should, Turkish accession.

With others the case is not so clear.

Here’s what Britain’s David Cameron had to say two years ago:

ANKARA – Prime Minister David Cameron said Tuesday he was angered by the slow pace of Turkey’s European Union accession talks and warned against shutting Ankara out because of anti-Muslim prejudice.

Cameron’s strong support for Turkey’s limping EU bid puts him in stark contrast to fellow EU heavyweights France and Germany who argue against letting the mainly-Muslim country of over 70 million people to become a full member.

Here’s part of what I wrote back at the time:

That Cameron blames the Franco-German stance on “anti-Muslim prejudice” is an argument of the intellectually desperate. Then again, what else does Cameron have? As so often, he has failed to grasp just how deep the EU’s federalizing project has already gone. Even if we ignore the phenomenal cost (of which cash-strapped British taxpayers would pay a disproportionate share) of such a scheme, admitting Turkey to the EU would give a country now led by genuinely popular Islamist thug a real say in the everyday lives of the British people. And then there are all those other things that would go with Turkish membership in the EU, such as, oh, the ability of a Turkish court to order the arrest and extradition of a British citizen from the UK to a Turkish jail with little or no judicial review. So much for Cameron, protector of civil liberties.

Oh, there’s also this (reported by the BBC in 2009):

Mr Obama also said Washington supported Turkey’s efforts to join the EU.

Smart diplomacy!

via Turkey and the EU – By Andrew Stuttaford – The Corner – National Review Online.