Cyprus-Forum.com

[Jerry]

So, we keep being told by our friends in the north (and their carpetbagging supporters) that Turkey does not need the EU. Turkey's Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan would seem to disagree, in fact he seems quite upset about some of the shortcomings of the Customs Union and has been telling off EU commissioners for the delay in his country's accession to the body "he does not want to join."

I have news for you Mr Zafer Çağlayan - stick to the CU rules yourself, open your ports to Cypriot traffic and get off the island before you start pointing your finger at the EU - you pillock

ABDULLAH BOZKURT
[i]I will disclose details of a private meeting between Turkish and EU officials to shed some light on what has been a rather sour note between Ankara and Brussels for more than a decade now. The gathering took place amid a eurozone sovereign debt crisis and tumultuous Arab revolutions, both of which have put Turkey's growing trade under considerable strain.
On Nov. 17, 2011, there was a tense quartet meeting held behind closed doors in Istanbul that covered many issues between the EU and Turkey. The meeting was attended by EU Minister Egemen Bağış and Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan from the Turkish side, and Commissioner for Trade Karel De Gucht and Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighborhood Policy Stephan Füle from the EU side.
Turkey's economy minister was furious at the meeting, lashing out at the EU commissioners for putting Turkey in a perilous position when it comes to the unilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) the EU signs with third countries without bothering to consult Turkey even though Turkey is obliged to comply with these FTAs indirectly through Turkey's Customs Union (CU) agreement with the EU. Çağlayan accused the EU of being two-faced: being insincere and putting Turkey at a competitive disadvantage with regard to other countries. He listed a number of complaints, and then asked, “Do you have any objections to what I just said,” pointing a finger at the commissioners sitting across the table. In contrast, Bağış was calmer, trying to lighten the mood in the room to diffuse the tension.


He recalled that the CU was supposed to be a fast-track to full membership when it was first proposed. “Seventeen years have lapsed since we signed that agreement, and we are nowhere close to full membership,” he pointed out.[/i]


http://www.todayszaman.com/columnist-26 ... th-eu.html

[Kikapu]

This is what I have been talking about when I used in the past the analogy of the Drug Addict and the Drug Pusher to make the Turkish economy become dependent on the EU, and it's working as planned. Turkey has become the "Drug Addict" and the EU a "Drug Pusher" by making the Turkish economy to become dependent on the EU. This is how the EU will get what she wants from Turkey to deal with the Cyprus problem. All the EU would need to do to make Turkey comply, is to threaten to cancel the Customs Union with her do so if Turkey does not comply and see what will happen to the Turkish economy and the Turkish Lira. Sarkozy may in fact will push for such a measure right after the French Senate votes on the Armenian Genocide bill soon, after Erdogan and Gang will start sprouting abuses towards France once again.

Turkey's economy minister was furious at the meeting, lashing out at the EU commissioners for putting Turkey in a perilous position when it comes to the unilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) the EU signs with third countries without bothering to consult Turkey even though Turkey is obliged to comply with these FTAs indirectly through Turkey's Customs Union (CU) agreement with the EU. Çağlayan accused the EU of being two-faced: being insincere and putting Turkey at a competitive disadvantage with regard to other countries.

http://www.todayszaman.com/columnist-26 ... th-eu.html

[Viewpoint]

What if this theory never materializes? what does that make you?

[Jerry]

What if this theory never materializes? what does that make you?

What theory? The minister effectively said "we are desperate to join the EU" otherwise he would not have got so upset/angry/petulant/furious and probably suffering from double incontinence . It's not a theory, it's reported fact.

Dunno, VP, what does it make us?

[boomerang]

maybe this will paint a clearer picture...as the FTA with korea starts kicking in...

EU-South Korea trade deal sparks no joy in Turkey

By Toby Vogel - 14.10.2010 / 04:20 CET
Turkish businesses fear losing out from an EU-South Korea free-trade deal.


There was no celebration in Istanbul when Kim Jong-Hoon, South Korea's trade minister, and Karel De Gucht, European commissioner for trade, signed a free trade agreement in Brussels last Wednesday (6 October). The deal will lift, or reduce, tariff lines on most goods and liberalise investment and trade in services between the EU and South Korea. One study has found that the deal, which takes effect on 1 July 2011, will unlock extra trade worth close to €20 billion, and Commission officials use superlatives to describe the deal: the most ambitious trade pact since the North American Free Trade Agreement; the most wide-ranging trade agreement ever negotiated by the EU; the most innovative in tackling non-tariff barriers.

But the agreement has negative implications for Turkey, which was not at the negotiating table. Because it is in a customs union with the EU (see box, right), Turkey expects to feel the effects of increased competition from Korean goods as acutely as many EU member states. The Korea-EU trade agreement “is a big deal for Turkey”, said Sinan Ülgen, the chair of the Centre for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies (EDAM), a think-tank in Istanbul.

Head-on competition

The most direct effect is on trade between the two countries: the deal “opens Turkey's market to Korean exports while Korea's market will remain closed to Turkish goods,” Ülgen said. Trade between Turkey and Korea is, however, negligible: Turkey exports very little to South Korea, while close to half of its exports go to the EU. That is where the real problem lies, according to Ülgen: by scrapping import tariffs on Korean goods, the EU chips away at Turkey's privileged position on the EU's internal market. Turkey and Korea manufacture many of the same goods – white goods, consumer electronics, automobiles, chemicals – and will now compete head-on.

A related Turkish fear is that Korean goods, once they circulate freely on the EU's internal market, will enter Turkey free of import restrictions or tariffs. There is nothing to prevent Turkey from maintaining import tariffs on Korean goods, but in practice they will be difficult to maintain, according to Bahadir Kaleagasi, the head of Brussels office of the Turkish Industry and Business Association (Tüsiad). It will be impracticable to trace Korean goods entering Turkey via an EU member state, he explains. “We are not against free trade with Korea, but we do not want trade distortions,” Kaleagasi said. Korea and Turkey have now begun free trade talks of their own, but Ülgen said that there was “no true economic incentive” for Korea to conclude such a deal.

Distant EU membership aspirations

The most profound effect, however, is on the very architecture of Turkey's trade relationship with the EU.

Turkey has benefited enormously from the customs union: by obliging Turkish exporters to comply with many of the EU's internal standards, the customs union has made Turkish exports more diversified and sophisticated than they were two decades ago. But the customs union was supposed to be the last stage of Turkey's association process with the EU and pave the wave for its full membership.

That prospect has now receded into the distant future, for political reasons. Without that end point, the relationship may now start drifting. “There will be a protracted period of soul-searching whether the customs union is sustainable,” said Ülgen, who was involved in negotiating the customs union in the 1990s.

An EU trade official said that it was “premature” to say whether there will be significant problems for Turkey.

http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/imported/eu-south-korea-trade-deal-sparks-no-joy-in-turkey/69176.aspx

[humanist]

At the end of the day Turkey wants badly to be in the EU otherwise it would have made good of its threats to the EU and walked away from talks.

Turkey knows that it has to vacate Cyprus, but as Turkey always does is pushing to see how far they'll get. Turkey needs to save face towards the TC's but knows at the same time that this issue has been holding it back to EU membership for a long time. Soon they'll have to sacrifice something in order to get into the club.

[Viewpoint]

At the end of the day Turkey wants badly to be in the EU otherwise it would have made good of its threats to the EU and walked away from talks.

Turkey knows that it has to vacate Cyprus, but as Turkey always does is pushing to see how far they'll get. Turkey needs to save face towards the TC's but knows at the same time that this issue has been holding it back to EU membership for a long time. Soon they'll have to sacrifice something in order to get into the club.

What talks the EU path for Turkey is in limbo land and will not go anywhere and they know this.

Turkey is not going to leave Cyprus and the fact that no solution can be found will guarantee their stay, if only you GCs were clever enough to agree a solution that would give you what you want their departure

[Maximus]

At the end of the day Turkey wants badly to be in the EU otherwise it would have made good of its threats to the EU and walked away from talks.

Turkey knows that it has to vacate Cyprus, but as Turkey always does is pushing to see how far they'll get. Turkey needs to save face towards the TC's but knows at the same time that this issue has been holding it back to EU membership for a long time. Soon they'll have to sacrifice something in order to get into the club.

What talks the EU path for Turkey is in limbo land and will not go anywhere and they know this.

Turkey is not going to leave Cyprus and the fact that no solution can be found will guarantee their stay, if only you GCs were clever enough to agree a solution that would give you what you want their departure

Turkeys talks with the EU are not in limbo land, they are at deadlock just like the TC's are not in legal limbo land, they are just in a state of illegality in the RoC. That is the point exactly. whichever way you want to look at it, some need a mentality shift and it does not seem like it will be the EU from the article that I read above. Something has to give and the end result must include Turkeys departure from Cyprus. The EU can do without Turkey and you should not beleive the likes of Bagis, particularly as he claims Turkey can do without the EU and the relationship is vice versa. You should not believe anything that guys says because he does not understand the EU and he is unconciously incompetent.

[Maximus]

At the end of the day Turkey wants badly to be in the EU otherwise it would have made good of its threats to the EU and walked away from talks.

Turkey knows that it has to vacate Cyprus, but as Turkey always does is pushing to see how far they'll get. Turkey needs to save face towards the TC's but knows at the same time that this issue has been holding it back to EU membership for a long time. Soon they'll have to sacrifice something in order to get into the club.

What talks the EU path for Turkey is in limbo land and will not go anywhere and they know this.

Turkey is not going to leave Cyprus and the fact that no solution can be found will guarantee their stay, if only you GCs were clever enough to agree a solution that would give you what you want their departure

seriously, you sound as if you are like 14. You are blaming a few GC's from Cyprus and ignoring the bigger picture being the EU. yet you are happy to support an intransigent stance because the Greeks are rightly intrasigent about succumbimg to Turkish backwards and oppresive ways. Maybe Turkey finds herselve in such disadvantages positions because of her own doing. noone is forcing her to behave the way she does

[Kikapu]

What if this theory never materializes? what does that make you?

The "Drug Addict and the Drug Pusher" scenario has already happened. Turkey's economy is now "addicted" to the EU market, thanks to the EU customs agreement.