The EU Carrot

Published by The National Herald, November 18, 2005

The E.U. Carrot: Not Enough for Turkish Concessions

ANKARA – It was only one week ago that our attention was focused on that historic neighborhood of Istanbul (Constantinople), Fener (Phanar), or more accurately, what it stands for, which still generates interesting news and gives ground for serious thought and discussion.

We witnessed a classic family row between the Turkish Government and the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate. The bones of contention were again related to the ecumenical character of the Patriachate, the Chalki School of Theology and Western Thrace Greeks.

The representative of the Turkish Government, Saban Disli, made sure that everybody understood very little has changed on the basic parameters of Turkish policy; in other words, Ankara repeated it is not willing to change the axiom of reciprocity in her relations with Greece; also, that it does not feel the Copenhagen criteria regarding religious freedoms, human rights, etc., can apply in the case of the Patriarchate.

The difference in last week’s row between Ankara and the Patriarchate was that it took place right in front of the very eyes of some 100 European Union politicians and parliamentarians from the European Popular Party who were participating in a conference on religion and politics. Mr. Disli’s stance attracted a wave of criticism from the Turkish, Greek and European media, which all found the opportunity to dig out classic stereotypes found in most European languages, all implying something along the lines of, "you can never change a Turk."

BECAUSE NOTHING IS
CERTAIN WITH EUROPE
Against that general idea, however, I assert that Mr. Disli could not have behaved differently, and that one could not expect Ankara to change "as a miracle." Important issues of "national security" for Turkey like the Patriarchate, Cyprus and the Aegean region, can not be approached in a radically different way just because Turkey is committed to abide by the Copenhagen criteria. And the simple reason is the fact that Ankara knows that nothing is certain with Europe.

I had claimed that not only can Turkey not change the parameters of a policy set up in the 1920’s, but also that we may face the possibility of such policy hardening as part of a give and take process.

On Friday, October 28, the Fener area once again became the platform of conflict and hard feelings. This time, it came from a small, but loud group of ultra-rightists who would rather see the Patriarchate kicked out of Turkey altogether.

The sight of an enraged group of men holding placards with slogans like "Patriarch go to Greece," surrounded by hundreds of Turkish police, once again reached the sitting rooms of many European households. Europeans had seen their representative governments signing the start of Turkey’s accession negotiations with the EU only three weeks ago.

The same pictures must have reached the sitting room of the Greek prime minister, who is getting ready to come to Turkey for a much-awaited official visit, postponed already once. I do not know what should we expect from that visit. But with the risk of being a boring pessimist, I can not see any drastic changes in sight with regards to the basic pylons of Ankara’s foreign policy, unless it gets something concrete in return.

And I would go even further to say that the EU carrot is too much of a long-term benefit in order for any Turkish government to risk a short-term domestic challenge.

The Turkish Daily News published the above on October 31. The original headline is, "The Carrot of the EU."



Volume 7 Number 46 - Wednesday, November 23, 2005	A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY