|
It is over 20 years since Turkey first formally applied and Ankara has been warned that it could be a decade or more before the country actually joins. Besides, a few current EU member states, such as Austria and France, have indicated that they are not sure Turkish membership is a good thing anyway.
They are wrong. Full and equal membership of the EU will be good for both Europe and Turkey. Economically, the integration of Turkey into the European single market will make the EU a global colossus, a more than effective counterweight to the United States, let alone Japan and most of the major emerging economies. Moreover, the addition of a predominantly young Turkish labor force should be a stimulus to the European economy as it emerges from the current recession, given the ageing of the union´s population as a whole.
Politically, the potential gains are at least as important. The EU speaks with one voice not only on trade matters, but on global concerns such as climate change and the promotion of European values like democratic government and human rights. An integrated Turkey, clearly committed to the latter, could make the European Union an immense force for good in the eastern Mediterranean and beyond.
The Turkish population and business community will make a substantive leap forward through EU membership, far beyond the benefits of the customs union and other EU-Turkey arrangements currently in place. In particular, people in the less developed regions such as eastern Anatolia will see a whole new world of opportunity opened up, not just through migration but more importantly through the creative deployment of EU funds in the poorer regions themselves.
Politically, EU membership should strengthen democracy and human rights inside Turkey. An applicant country has to show that it fulfils stringent political as well as economic conditions in order to qualify -- the so-called Copenhagen criteria....
I do not underestimate the challenges ahead for both Turkey and the EU ..... The revelations about aspects of the "deep state" that have come about as the murky deeds of the Ergenekon group have become public are testimony to the scale of some of the problems. Moreover, even when laws are changed, it does not mean that they are immediately or successfully implemented. Crucially, there are still areas of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) -- not least the notorious Article 301 -- and maybe even the Constitution which require further revision.
However, I wonder if some of the opponents of Turkey´s EU membership ....realize the degree to which their negative attitude endangers the process of reform ... When these critics mumble about how they want to keep the EU an overwhelmingly Christian society, they clearly do not know their history (or indeed acknowledge the growth of European secularism over the past century!). ..
.. six decades of membership of the Council of Europe, the Strasbourg-based, continent-wide organization ... Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Turkey is already half-integrated into the institutional architecture of Europe, as well as into the North Atlantic Alliance, through NATO.
EU membership is the logical and culminating stage of that bonding process and as such should be facilitated and welcomed by all parties involved.
Full article
http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=170071
|
