European center-right leader gets Turkey right

[Dover]

Source: Turkish Daily News

European center-right leader gets Turkey right
Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Wilfried Martens, president of the European People’s Party, the home of the center-right in Europe, strongly supports Turkey’s EU effort and the Turkish government

MUSTAFA AKYOL
ISTANBUL-Turkish Daily News


Wilfried Martens, one of Europe's most prominent political gurus, was in Istanbul to attend a series of seminars organized by the Washington-based International Republican Institute (IRI) which represents the center-right view on the other side of the Atlantic, and, unlike some other right wing figures in Europe, especially from France, Germany and Austria, to voice strong support for Turkey's effort to become a member of the European family.

The veteran Belgian politician served as the prime minister of his country nine times and, since 1992, has been the president of the European People's Party (EPP), which is the largest transnational political party in Europe. The EPP includes many Christian Democrat and conservative figures in Europe, and calls itself “the family of the political center-right.”

“Anchoring Turkey to Europe is a key issue,” Martens said. “We can never allow that bond to be broken.”

But how, exactly? What will be the status that will anchor Turkey to the EU? Here Martens referred to the formula, which most Turks are not very fond of hearing: “Privileged partnership.” Some European leaders, including Germany's Angela Merkel, have voiced this alternative to full membership but the Turkish government has repeatedly emphasized that its goal is only full membership. Pure and simple...cont'd


Read more: http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=86699

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I don't care which party does it, but I think "anchoring Turkey to the EU" is essential for many reasons.
Turkey is one of the most important countries and strategic pieces of real estate in the world right now.

[Dover]

1. An alternative to EU membership for Turkey?

A Mediterranean union; American diplomacy
Published: May 17, 2007

A Mediterranean union

Regarding the article "Mediterranean views mixed on Sarkozy plan" (May 12): Most surprising about the idea of a Mediterranean union is that no leader has publicly championed it before.

A union of most of the Med-rim countries would include an almost equal number of European, North African and Middle Eastern states. Dictatorships would sit next to democracies, Christians next to Muslims, the affluent next to the poor.

Whereas the Mediterranean has for centuries acted as a fence, keeping regional issues firmly within Europe, Africa or Asia, in today's era of increasing interconnectedness, the traditional divider could act as a seam: bringing the areas together, establishing common interests.

With some of the core states of the European Union as its members, African issues would be heard and promoted in the corridors of Brussels. And with Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Turkey, Israel and, hopefully, the Palestinians in the organization, the European Union and the Maghreb countries would be forced to involve themselves in the conflicts of the Middle East.

If Turkey's involvement in the Mediterranean Union were to replace potential EU membership, the European union would be forced to re-engage with the Muslim other, free from its paranoid fear of Turkey's threat to its "character."

Even with no hurdles, such a future is still a long way off, and yet a successful Mediterranean union would demonstrate that the European Union was not a structural anomaly, but rather a blueprint to be followed. While trade would increase, international strategic competition and the threat of war would diminish, offering the future a very different alternative to today's frightening and unstable multipolar world of fleeting friendships, ad-hoc alliances and resource rivalry...cont'd


http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/05/17/opinion/edlet.php