Turkey and the Struggle to Enter the European Union
By Shannon Geis
Over the last few years, the European Union (EU) has become an increasingly important organization, having enormous effects on Europe’s economy and trade as well as on the global economy. The Euro currency, perhaps the most notable of the EU’s workings, has skyrocketed to being one of the most valuable types of money in the world. With this in mind, is it any wonder that countries such as Turkey are pleading for membership into the organization?
However, for the Muslim country, the issue of entering into the European Union has been nowhere near easy, especially when only 5% of the country actually falls within the technical borders of Europe. Turkey began the journey for membership within the European community in the 1950’s, applying for membership into the European Economic Community (EEC) as an associated member, which it gained in 1964. And then in 1987, it tried applying for full membership, only to meet with failure.
Turkey, still hopeful, tried again to join the European economy as a full member in October 2005, this time applying for membership into the European Union. Since that time the EU has been debating the 35 chapters of negotiation for Turkish membership.
A little over a year after talks began about Turkey’s application to the EU, the Union decided to suspend 8 of the chapters of negotiation for the country’s membership based on the fact that Turkey will not recognize Cyprus (a member of the EU) as a country after Turkey invaded the island in 1974 and currently still occupies part of it. Therefore, Turkey won’t open ports with the country. Negotiation will not continue on the 8 chapters that have been suspended until Turkey opens these ports. However, Turkey wants the EU to help stop the isolation of Turkish-Cypriots before it submits to opening the ports to Cyprus. The other 27 open chapters also depend on the Cyprus problem because the EU will not sign off on them until ports are opened.
The efforts of Turkey to bring its laws up to European standards, which the EU says has slowed down recently, also slow down the negotiations. The European community feels that its member countries should all have the same standards when creating legislation. Laws recently enacted by the Turkish government, according to the EU, undermine the idea of freedom of speech, which is unacceptable for admittance to the Union.
As a whole, the European Union is very split about whether to allow Turkey into the organization or not. Many countries strongly oppose the idea, including Cyprus, France, Austria, and Denmark. Cyprus does not want Turkey to enter because of the political problems between the two. The other opposing countries say that if Turkey is to belong to the Union, it needs to recognize Cyprus as a country and a member of the EU.
Many other roadblocks stand in the way of Turkey’s inclusion into the EU. The fact that Turkey is not technically a European country leads to concern as well as the worry that allowing travel between all Union members will cause a huge number of Turkish immigrants to move into other member countries – a fear that existed when other nations joined the EU in the past and never truly realized itself. Turkey’s size also worries the members of the EU. They fear that Turkey is too big of a country and will try to exercise too much power. Also because of its size, Turkey’s economic state worries members. Since Turkey is poor, the fear is that it will cost too much. Most of the members against the full membership of Turkey, would settle with just a “partnership” rather than a full membership.
On the other hand, Great Britain and the Scandinavian countries are very much in favor of adding Turkey to the EU. Their top reason for this move is to create a bond between Muslims and the West. These countries believe that adding Turkey to the EU will allow the Western world insight to be exposed to the Muslim one. They also want to spread stability to the country and hope use highly educated young Turks to help solve European problems.
The desire of Turkey to become a member is easy to justify. Upon becoming a member, Turkey will gain quite a bit. Better markets would boost the Turkish economy, and the elimination of visas would create much freer movement between Turkey and other European countries. In general, entry to the European Union would mean a step towards economic improvement for Turkey
The question of Turkey’s admittance to the EU is a hard one to decipher. The EU is asking a lot of the Turks, however, their strict policy on how to join is a good sign. They must have stern requirements if they wish to keep their organization at its current level. Allowing Turkey into the European Union may be a risky move, but perhaps that risk is worth it if it creates a connection between the Western and Muslim worlds.
Sources
“Cyprus ‘may veto’ EU-Turkey talks.” BBC News. Thursday November 30, 2006. News.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/Europe/6160637.
“Turkey ‘to open ports to Cyprus.’” Al Jazeera News. Thursday December 7, 2006. English.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/
