Turkey goes cold on EU membership bid

Agence France-Presse

Turkey's own accession talks, which started in 2005, hinge on resolving a trade row with Cyprus and overcoming deep reservations in especially France, Germany about letting in the predominantly-Muslim nation. Turks are increasingly disappointed with the slow pace of the EU drive, said Mehmet Özcan, director of the Center for European Union Studies, or USAK. They feel that the bloc is keeping them hanging on even though Turkey has passed a "great number" of reforms to align itself with the EU, he said.

Since the launch of membership talks, Turkey has so far only opened 10 of the 35 required chapters. Now the clock is ticking on an end of 2009 deadline set by the EU for Turkey to meet its obligations. "We may not see a deadlock, but a freeze in bilateral ties is probable unless the EU gives Turkey one more year" said Özcan. "Turks have a real problem seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. The public is asking itself what they got in return for all these efforts. Ankara is not going to open the EU door without democratic reform, but discouraging statements from European leaders do not please the Turks," Özcan said.

Concessions on Cyprus could easily be branded by Turks as a sell-out and would sap dwindling public appetite for the EU bid, which has become something of a national cause. Turkey is hoping for a breakthrough in UN-led peace talks held between Greek- and Turkish-Cypriot leaders on reunifying their island. A deal there would allow it to move on the Cyprus row without attracting public ire.

"For the time being Turkey is not ready to move" before results in the Cyprus peace talks, Turkey's chief EU negotiator Egemen Bağış said at a recent press briefing. "The Cyprus question is blocking the progress Turkey could make. Without a solution to this problem, we will not see the end of the tunnel," Sinem Akmeşe of the Economic Policy Reserach Foundation of Turkey, or TEPAV, said.

France and Germany have been vocal opponents of letting Turkey into the EU. Despite the problems, U.S. President Barack Obama's strong support for Turkey's EU bid Ğ voiced at an EU summit in Prague and a visit to Turkey just after Ğ has created a "dynamism" in favor of Ankara, said one Turkish diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.