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Bullish Erdogan ‘optimistic and at ease’
By Myria Antoniadou in Brussels


BRITISH Prime Minister Tony Blair is the European leader who best knows and understands Turkish sensitivities, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan told Turkish reporters at a crucial summit in Brussels yesterday. Erdogan also said that he hoped Blair would update him on how the stances of other European leaders with regard to Turkey were evolving.

Referring to an earlier statement by French President Jacques Chirac in favour of Turkish membership, the Turkish Prime Minister said Chirac had been very generous with regard to Ankara’s push for EU membership – a poll by Le Figaro newspaper this week suggested that two-thirds of French people were against Turkey joining the EU.

But in a live interview on French TV, Chirac said Turkey should be able to join the EU as long as it meets all the entry requirements laid down.

Chirac’s gesture, which came just hours before the crucial decision by EU leaders on whether to open membership talks with Ankara was announced, pleased the man named “European of the Year” and a wave of optimism and trust swept through the luxury Brussels hotel where Erdogan had been staying since Wednesday night, before the arrival of any of the other leaders. According to Turkish journalists Erdogan appeared “optimistic and at ease”.

This comes as no surprise given that Chirac’s statement led to a swing in favour of Ankara. In public, at least, only Austria and Denmark still appeared to support a “special relationship” instead of full membership. According to some sources, even these two countries had begun to tone down their stance a little as to keep up their positions would prove too much of a load to bear – particularly given that EU the “heavyweights” –Britain, France and Germany – usually have the last word when it comes to such matters.
But the real thorn in the side of the Dutch Presidency, according to what Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende and his Foreign Minister told Dutch reporters on Wednesday, was expected to be the stances adopted by Erdogan and President Tassos Papadopoulos. Presidency representatives were generally very optimistic that an agreement could be reached, but did not hide their concerns regarding the positions of the Turkish and Cypriot leaders. They indicated that both leaders had to learn that when you belong to a “club” you have to behave accordingly, and that the problems between the tow sides had to be resolved outside it.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan was expected to have meetings with nearly all EU leaders yesterday and, as he told reporters, he was not expecting the final summit conclusions until the early hours of Friday and hoped the whole affair would be wrapped up by lunchtime today.

Regarding the EU’s meeting with UN General-secretary Kofi Annan, Erdogan stressed that the meeting had nothing to do with the Cyprus question. He also said that the United States’ involvement in Turkey’s EU membership bid had rankled with some of the EU-25.

According to the Turkish media, Erdogan also stressed that any further any further preconditions – beyond the Copenhagen membership criteria – would lead to “bankruptcy”. The Turkish Prime Minister appears to have indicated that a positive outcome for Ankara will not be viewed as a victory but as a step forward, while a negative decision will not be seen as a catastrophe.