[Mb-civic] NYTimes.com Article: Long-Awaited Step for Turkey

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Long-Awaited Step for Turkey

October 8, 2004
 


 

After 45 years, the wait is almost over. In 1959, the
government of Turkey first sought an association agreement
with the European Economic Community, the predecessor of
the European Union. This week, the European Commission, the
union's executive body, announced that Turkey had met the
bloc's political criteria to begin formal entry talks. Now
it is up to Europe's leaders, who will meet in December, to
endorse the commission's findings and set a date for
starting negotiations. 

If the leaders balk, they will squander a historic
opportunity. By embracing Turkey, Europe has the chance to
prove that international human rights - the essence of the
union's membership criteria and the focus of numerous
reforms in Turkey over the past few years - are central to
what it means to be European, not ethnicity or religion. 

Turkey's role in Europe's destiny has never been more
important. A NATO member since 1952, Turkey provided
crucial protection throughout the cold war for Europe's
eastern flank. After the cold war, Europe had the luxury,
for a time, of imagining that it could move into the future
as a federation organized around a few large core states.
Then came the new age of international terrorism by Islamic
extremists, which has threatened not only the continent's
safety but also the bedrock values of Europe. 

Turkey, a predominantly Muslim nation that has a secular
democracy, is uniquely qualified to confront this
challenge. Situated on the landmass linking Europe and
Asia, it has military experience as the bulwark against
threats from the East, diplomatic experience as the bridge
between East and West, and religious and ethnic ties to
Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia. 

Most important of all, Turkey is proof that Islam and
democracy can be compatible. Its example - made all the
more formidable by its ever closer association with the
European Union - is a far stronger challenge to Middle
Eastern autocrats than the United States's current
misadventure in Iraq. Turkey's successful integration into
the European Union would demonstrate to the rest of the
world that Muslims and Westerners, bound by common
principles, can live and work together for the benefit of
both. 

There are sizable practical risks. Turkey is poor and
populous, raising European concerns about Turkish migration
across the continent and the cost of subsidizing Turkish
membership. Turkey also has a history of military coups,
human rights violations and economic crises. It has enacted
reforms, but more are needed. The membership negotiations
are expected to take at least 10 years, plenty of time to
resolve problems and ensure that real change has come
about. 

More ominous are the political obstacles. Anti-Muslim and
anti-immigration forces, notably in Austria, France and the
Netherlands, are hostile to Turkish accession. European
leaders have no greater challenge over the next decade than
converting, or at least neutralizing, that opposition. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/08/opinion/08fri2.html?ex=1098257560&ei=1&en=11ac5a383bf777e9


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