Cyprus-Forum.com

[The Cypriot]

Is this worthy of your attention, viewpoint? It seems to underscore fully the analysis you were so keen to dismiss.


Bitter Turkey marks 50 years at Europe's door

ISTANBUL — Turkey on Friday bitterly marked 50 years since its first application to integrate formally with Europe, a date overshadowed by its troubled EU accession talks.

"We remember this anniversary but it's not a cause for celebration," Turkey's chief negotiator with the EU, Egemen Bagis, said in a statement.

"Our country has no longer any tolerance for time wasting and delays... We have to learn lessons from past mistakes, fulfill our responsibilities and achieve the goal of full membership as soon as possible," he said, stressing Ankara's determination to continue on the path of reform.

It was on July 31, 1959, that then prime minister Adnan Menderes announced Ankara's application to join what was at the time the European Community.

"That first application was made remarkably by the country's first democratically elected prime minister who was to be hanged following a military coup in 1960," commented Mehmet Ali Birand, a senior journalist and an author of a book on the issue.

The European Community turned down Ankara, but in 1963 the two sides hammered out an association agreement, which mentioned the prospect of Turkey joining the club.

It was only after four decades, in 1999, that Turkey won formal status as a candidate for membership of what had by then become the European Union, and accession negotiations began in 2005.

"Becoming a part of Europe is a dream for Turkey -- a dream that dates back to the Ottoman Empire," Birand said.

For President Abdullah Gul, a former Islamist, "the European Union signifies more human rights, more freedoms and whatever Europe demands from Turkey is good for the Turks," a presidential aide, who declined to be named, told AFP.

Supporters of Turkey's bid say the accession prospect has given impetus to reform drives in Turkey, the most recent being a government plan for a package of "courageous" democracy reforms to boost the rights of the restive Kurdish community.

In remarks to AFP in May, Gul emphasised that "Turkey has taken part in all stages in the building of Europe since World War II" and "made great sacrifices to defend free Europe" during the Cold War after it joined NATO in 1952.

Moreover, Turkey signed a customs union agreement with the EU in 1995, "long before some current Union members," Gul said.

But Turkey has faced unending skirmishes with the EU, battling strong hostility to its membership bid in major member countries.

Turkey has so far opened accession talks in only 11 of the 35 policy areas that candidates must complete, with the process slowed down by disputes stemming from Ankara's refusal to recognise EU member Cyprus.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have been at the forefront of opposition to Turkish membership.

They argue that the relatively poor Muslim-majority country, with a population of 71 million, does not belong to Europe and should be offered an alternative status, less than full membership.

France has also raised the possibility of putting Turkey's accession to a referendum even if membership talks are one day successfully completed.

Not hiding his bitterness over France's attitude, Gul said: "If the French ultimately decide that Turkey has nothing good to bring to the EU and will be only a burden, then they have the right to say no."

Turkey's accession may be inconceivable for many in Europe, but for the Islamist-rooted government in Ankara "it is a way of saying 'See, we are not extremists, we are legitimate'", Birand commented.

The membership process "is a guarantee of stability, a guarantee that the army, which has toppled four governments since 1960, stays in the barracks."


http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/ar ... LB0jV4lW7Q

[Viewpoint]

When will Turkey realize they are not getting in to this Christian Club?? Hopefully December 2009 this will eliminate the GC leverage using the EU.

[The Cypriot]

When will Turkey realize they are not getting in to this Christian Club?? Hopefully December 2009 this will eliminate the GC leverage using the EU.

Have pigs started to fly in your world?

[Viewpoint]

When will Turkey realize they are not getting in to this Christian Club?? Hopefully December 2009 this will eliminate the GC leverage using the EU.

Have pigs started to fly in your world?

No pigs here mate we are Muslims.

[The Cypriot]

This is what a spokesman for Turkey's Muslim president said:

"the European Union signifies more human rights, more freedoms and whatever Europe demands from Turkey is good for the Turks."

Who's right? Him or you?

[Viewpoint]

This is what a spokesman for Turkey's Muslim president said:

"the European Union signifies more human rights, more freedoms and whatever Europe demands from Turkey is good for the Turks."

Who's right? Him or you?

But they are still not getting in, at least Germany and France are being honest the rest are all bullshitters, the bar will be raised every time Turkey attempts to complete a chapter, they will one day realize that joining the EU is not possible but they should not stop trying to impliment similar laws and rules...without allowing the GCs the leverage they are obvioulsy exploiting via the EU.

[The Cypriot]

But they are still not getting in, at least Germany and France are being honest

Thank God for Germany and France! Then where would you be?

the rest are all bullshitters, the bar will be raised every time Turkey attempts to complete a chapter,

That's not how accession works... but have it your way. I'm not going to convince you the EU aren't demons.

they will one day realize that joining the EU is not possible but they should not stop trying to impliment similar laws and rules...

In Turkey, but presumably not in the area of Cyprus controlled by Turkey?

[Viewpoint]

But they are still not getting in, at least Germany and France are being honest

Thank God for Germany and France! Then where would you be?

the rest are all bullshitters, the bar will be raised every time Turkey attempts to complete a chapter,

That's not how accession works... but have it your way. I'm not going to convince you the EU aren't demons.

they will one day realize that joining the EU is not possible but they should not stop trying to impliment similar laws and rules...

In Turkey, but presumably not in the area of Cyprus controlled by Turkey?

What will the GCs do without this leverage, we all know it was the reason why you joined in the first place?

[Kikapu]

When will Turkey realize they are not getting in to this Christian Club?? Hopefully December 2009 this will eliminate the GC leverage using the EU.

If Turkey is willing to stick it out for the last 50 years, much to your disappointment, I'm sure, they will stick it out for another 50 years, if need be, to become an EU member at some point in the future. What’s their alternative, the Middle East? For what.? What does the Middle East has to offer Turkey.? Where is the Middle East is going to be once the demand for their oil dries up from the west because of Green Technology becoming more in use that oil in the next 10-20 years. The prosperity of the Middle East’s oil days are numbered, and aside from producing dates, they have very little else to export, other than sand, perhaps. Turkey does not even have oil, therefore they can only look to the West as Atatürk saw the realities turn of the last century.

All Turkey needs to do, is keep on reforming as they have been doing already, but obviously not quite enough yet. All you NeoPartitionist who are holding onto GC properties are banking on Turkey to walk away from her EU dreams so that all you morally corrupted can finally think that you have got it made. Sorry to disappoint you, but Turkey will not give up on the EU, because Time Does Not Stand Still and one day France and Germany under different leadership and different circumstances will welcome Turkey into the club once Turkey becomes fully European with European values and the only obstacle left in their path will be the RoC. The road to Turkey’s journey to Brussels goes through downtown Nicosia. So, come December, watch them open their ports to the RoC and even privately recognise the RoC, because without such a move, the Turkish economy will take a downward spiral if the EU talks were to come to an end and Turkey cannot afford that.

If the last 50 years of Turkey’s attempts to become a EU member has not convinced you that Turkey will not walk away from the EU, then nothing will convince you, because you see everything from your own interest in what you can get away with, and not from Turkey's own interest. So what are the choices for Turkey, keep the remaining 70,000 TCs happy in the north or try to improve the lives of her 70,000,000 Turks in Turkey. You don't have enough zero's in the TCs numbers to really compete with the number of zero’s in the number of Turks in Turkey. I hope I did not ruin your weekend with a little bit of reality check for you to ponder over. If I did, then sorry.!

Take a guess as to which side of the scale below the TCs are and which side are the Turks when the time comes for Turkey to decide as to what's more important for her when it comes to her EU membership.?

[The Cypriot]

But they are still not getting in, at least Germany and France are being honest

Thank God for Germany and France! Then where would you be?

the rest are all bullshitters, the bar will be raised every time Turkey attempts to complete a chapter,

That's not how accession works... but have it your way. I'm not going to convince you the EU aren't demons.

they will one day realize that joining the EU is not possible but they should not stop trying to impliment similar laws and rules...

In Turkey, but presumably not in the area of Cyprus controlled by Turkey?

What will the GCs do without this leverage, we all know it was the reason why you joined in the first place?

I can't conceive of free Cypriots not having the EU leverage.

Sounds like you are crying over spilt airanin, rather than realising the EU has been Cyprus's ticket to freedom - including one day, and that day seems now to be fast approaching, the occupied north.