Brussels, 19/01/2009 (Agence Europe) - Turkey hopes to make a substantial leap forward in its accession negotiations to the EU in 2009, and on Monday 19 January in Brussels, the Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared that this remained the number one priority. During his visit to the European institutions, the first for four years, Mr Erdogan complained about the “political blockage” of around ten negotiation chapters and called for a speeding up of negotiations under the Czech and Swedish presidency by the end of the year. If the energy chapter (currently blocked by Cyprus) is not rapidly opened, Mr Erdogan warned that Turkey may change its position on “Nabucco” and withdraw its support for this project. The latter is aimed at supplying Europe with gas from the Caspian Sea via Turkey and bypassing Russia. The head of the Turkish government also pointed out his country's “particular responsibility” to the Middle East, the Caucasus and Balkans and explained that with Turkey as a member of the EU, the latter would be able to develop a “more efficient” Common Foreign and Defence Policy in the region. Mr Erdogan harshly criticised the war by Israel in the Gaza Strip and urged Europe to respect the democratically elected Hama. Accompanied by the foreign minister, Ali Babacan, and the new Head of accession negotiations, Egeman Bagis, Mr Erdogan met the president of the Commission, José Manuel Barroso and Commissioner Oli Rehn (enlargement), Commissioner Andris Piebalgs (energy) and the EU High Representative for CFSP, Javier Solana, as well as the president of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pöttering. On Monday he also made a lengthy speech to the European Policy Center (EPC)
Accession negotiations. Erdogan stressed that there is no alternative to full EU membership, which remained a “top priority” and “strategic objective” for Turkey. He did, however, complain of the slowness of talks (more than three years after the opening of negotiations in October 2005, only ten of the 35 have been opened and one is provisionally closed) and 18 chapters are blocked for political reasons linked to the division of Cyprus or France's opposition to Turkish accession. “We don't ask for privileges, what we ask for is equal and fair treatment. I hope 2009 is going to be better, I hope there will be a leap”. Mr Barroso repeated to the press that the Commission would do “all it can” to speed up negotiations and “unfreeze” the blocked chapters. The president of the Commission emphasised that “I gave all the assurances to Erdogan that the Community will do everything to support the Czech presidency to achieve real progress in the coming 6 months. We will support the efforts to unfreeze any chapter. We don't want to see the negotiations blocked. We fully support Turkey's accession process”. Mr Barroso also called on the Turkish authorities to produce the technical and political reforms necessary for pushing talks forward.
Nabucco. In the event of the energy chapter being blocked by Cyprus again, despite everything, Ankara might “review its position” on Nabucco, explained Erdogan on Monday Morning to the EPC. A few hours later, in an explanation to the press, following a meeting with José Manuel Barroso, the Turkish prime minister appeared much less threatening. He informed journalists that it is essential that Europe and Turkey diversified their energy supplies and in this context, Ankara would “fully support” Nabucco, which is very important. Turkey will make the necessary investment to carry out the Nabucco project, explained Mr Erdogan. Barroso also asserted that there is an agreement between Turkey and the Commission on the need to carry out Nabucco because all the parties are in a “win-win project” and that “I expect progress on Nabucco soon”, perhaps during the next ministerial meeting of participating states on 26-27 January in Budapest. The Commission president does not believe a link should be made between accession negotiations on the energy chapter and the Nabucco project. He affirmed that energy security and cooperation between the EU and Turkey are such important strategic objectives that it would be inappropriate to only assess them in a reduced and technical accession negotiations framework. Mr Erdogan called on the EU to try and understand Turkey's strategic importance as a transit country and not allow Cyprus to obstruct future increased cooperation. He also asserted that the EU “should not prefer the southern part of Cyprus, which is far away from Europe and only contains a few thousand inhabitants…compared to Turkey and its population of 70 million”.
CFSP/Gaza. If the EU wants to become a genuine international player, it will have to accept Turkey, which, both geographically and culturally speaking, is part of Europe, as a member state, Erdogan said. It was an “insult” to say that the country was not European: “We are even more than that: we are a bridge between Europe and Asia,” he told the EPC. In those regions in crisis, such as the Middle East, the Caucasus and the Balkans, “with Turkey as a member, the (Common Foreign and Security) Policy will be much more effective,” he suggested. He was strongly critical of Israeli military operations in Gaza (now halted after the ceasefires announced on Sunday, see related article), speaking of the “human tragedy” given the great number of civilians killed or wounded. Erdogan also called on the international community to acknowledge the electoral success of Hamas and not try to marginalise it. “If we want to take democracy forward in that region, we ought to respect the will of the people who voted them into power,” he said. He argued that Hamas should be given time to see what it can do. “If it fails to improve living conditions for Palestinians, it will not be re-elected,” he predicted. (H.B./transl.rh/rt)