Turkey's full-time EU negotiator enters the fray

Reuters
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
ISTANBUL: Turkey's first full-time European Union negotiator on Tuesday outlined his country's determination to join the bloc but said Brussels must match that resolve and treat Turkey like other candidates.

Egemen Bagis will join Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Brussels next week at the start of a decisive year for Turkey's membership campaign, as Ankara faces EU pressure to speed up reforms and answer questions over its commitment.

Turkey began EU accession talks in 2005 but has made slow progress because of internal divisions, dwindling enthusiasm for the bloc at home and a lack of appetite for further enlargement among EU states.

"We have a steep road in front of us, but we are determined to complete negotiations in the end. No one should doubt this," Bagis said at a conference in Istanbul. "Turkey will be an honorable member of the European Union and not the sick man of Europe."

The opening of a state ministry dedicated to EU relations, a new Kurdish language channel on Turkish state television and a national reform program signaled Turkey's determination to meet Brussels's requirements, Bagis said.

Entry negotiations were previously headed by Foreign Minister Ali Babacan, who was criticized in some quarters for a lackluster performance on EU ties.

Analysts said Bagis's appointment indicated that Erdogan was trying to show Brussels that Turkey was serious about its EU ambitions. Europeans have long asked for a full-time EU negotiator.

The EU wants Ankara to change its Constitution and enlarge freedom of expression and religious and linguistic rights, to be in line with EU standards.

The bloc has frozen sections of Turkey's entry negotiations - known as chapters - over Ankara's refusal to open its ports and airports to Greek Cypriots.

As France, Cyprus and Germany block various areas and Ankara makes slow progress on others, Turkey could run the risk of running out of chapters under active negotiation in 2009.

The EU's latest progress report, issued in November, criticized Turkey for insufficient reforms in human rights, freedom of speech and the power of the military.

Business leaders, who strongly back Turkey's EU campaign, have voiced their concern about the recent loss of momentum. Part of Turkey's appeal as an investment destination is its drive to join the EU, and further delays in negotiations may start to hurt the economy, which has already seen a sharp slowdown.

Army holds colonel over plot

The Turkish Army has detained a lieutenant colonel and started an enquiry into a weapons cache found in his house during investigations into an alleged coup plot, military headquarters said Tuesday, Reuters reported.

Eighty-six people, including politicians, lawyers and retired army officers, are on trial in the investigation into the "Ergenekon" plot by a supposed rightist group to overthrow a government that has Islamist roots.

"The legal investigation regarding the suspect and the seized materials is continuing in all dimensions," the military statement said.

The Turkish police were carrying out a series of searches in wasteland around the capital, Ankara, in a search for weapons linked to the alleged plot. Police officers found 30 hand grenades, nine smoke bombs and hundreds of G-3 rifle bullets buried near a deserted house in a suburb of Ankara on Monday.

Semiautomatic weapons, pistols and grenades had already been found in a search of the lieutenant colonel's house.

In a new wave of detentions this week, about 40 people, including serving army officers, were detained in a case that has further strained relations between the government and the nation's secular establishment.

Members of the judiciary and government ministers this week intensified their war of words over the handling of the investigation, which many secularists see as the governing AK Party's revenge for a 2008 court case that sought to ban the party for anti-secular activities.

Turkey's association of judges and prosecutors on Monday criticized the government, likening the investigation to the practices of Hitler and Mussolini.