The Washington Times Prints AHI Letter to Editor on Op-Ed “Turkey’s EU Accession”Washington, DC—On November 24, 2006, The Washington Times published AHI Executive Director Nick Larigakis’ letter to the editor, on page A22, responding to The Washington Times Op-Ed “Turkey’s EU Accession.” The text of the letter appears below, followed by The Washington Times article to which the letter responds. November 17, 2006 Letters to the Editor Dear Editor: The Washington Times Op-Ed “Turkey’s EU accession…” (11-14-06) criticizes the European Commission’s “Turkey 2006 Progress Report” released November 8, 2006 because of what it includes regarding Cyprus. The article fails to point out that Turkey willingly signed an EU Protocol in July of 2005 of which she “…has not fully implemented…”according to the polite language within the report. For the benefit of the readers, the report was 78 pages of which only a little over a page dealt with Cyprus. The article is trying to use Cyprus as a scapegoat for the tone of the report when in fact the report presents a balanced but negative review of the progress made in Turkey on all 33 chapters. In the final analysis, while Cyprus is an important matter to address for Turkey, the problems facing the accession talks are serious and deep. The burden is on Turkey and not on the EU. Turkey needs to reform, to implement these reforms, address bilateral and domestic issues, and meet all contractual obligations if the accession talks are to move forward. Finally, for the record, Turkey’s illegal invasion of 7/20/1974, and continuing occupation of over 37 percent of Cyprus, has not been accepted by the international community as “…intervening in Cyprus in 1974 to liberate Turkish Cypriots…” Turkish Cypriots were never held hostage by the Greek Cypriots. The invasion was condemned by the international community as it, in addition to violating U.S. law under the U.S. Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended, violated the UN Charter, art. 2 (4), the NATO treaty and customary international law. On 8/14/1974, three weeks after the legitimate government of Cyprus was restored, Turkey launched the second phase of its invasion of Cyprus grabbing another 33 percent of the island, thus expanding its land grab to 37.3 percent. This prompted the United Nations to pass a unanimous General Assembly Resolution (UNGA Res. 3212) on November 1, 1974, endorsed by the Security Council on 12/13/74, urging “the speedy withdrawal of all foreign armed forces and foreign military presence and personnel from the Republic of Cyprus and the cessation of all foreign interference in its affairs;” and called “upon all states to respect the sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity” of Cyprus. To this day Turkish military forces continue to occupy Cyprus, an EU country. Nick Larigakis Turkey's EU accessionBy Tulin Daloglu November 14, 2006 Two things happened last week that are crucial to understanding the realities of the new world order shaping up in and around Turkey. First, the European Commission's much-anticipated annual Turkey report was made public, stating that unless Turkey fully recognizes Greek Cyprus in less than two months, accession talks will come to a hold. With this final push on Cyprus, Europeans should be expecting Turkey to voluntarily withdraw its pursuit of EU membership. Second, Bulent Ecevit, Turkey's five-term premier, passed away. He was best known for intervening in Cyprus in 1974 to liberate Turkish Cypriots and for asking for a five-year freeze on Turkey's commitments with the then-European Economic Community in 1978. The freezing of commitments is important when added to the tens of thousands of people who attended Mr. Ecevit's funeral on Saturday. As they sent the "Cyprus hero" to his final destination, the message of the people was clear: Turks will not abandon the Turkish Cypriots. The latest Eurobarometer poll shows that just 35 percent of Turks say they trust the European Union—down from nearly 80 percent two years ago. It doesn't take an Einstein to figure out the impact of Cyprus on that number. The crowd at Mr. Ecevit's funeral chanted "Turkey is secular; will remain secular"—implying that the Islamist government's majority in the Turkish parliament will end with the next national election. It's one thing for secular Turks to be suspicious of Islamist leader Recep Crisis is also a time—if well used—to open new opportunities. I've First, Turks should not feel hopeless when the long engagement period with the EU ends without a marriage. The present time shows it is in fact to Turkey's benefit not to push to join. It should not, however, be the party to withdraw from negotiations. After all, the EU has no recourse when Turkey continues to refuse to recognize Greek Cyprus. Who with any common sense could assume that the EU will impose economic sanctions or launch a military operation against Turkey over this issue? European leadership decided to keep Turkey on the hook, but not with the aim of making it an equal partner in the EU. Their decision should be heard and respected. Turkey does not necessarily have to loudly announce its new aspirations. But one thing is clear: There is an emerging strength in Turkish democracy. As more and more people align themselves with democratic principles, it becomes impossible for Ataturk's Turkey to turn into a dictatorship or an Islamist state. The regional dynamics make it vital for Turkey to increase its cooperation with the Muslim Middle East. The environment may make its Muslim identity even more important. It should, however, be well known that there is no chance for Wahabi radical ideology to find a "permanent" base on the Anatolian land. Unfortunately, it is possible that those radicals may reap the benefit of In the meantime, the Turkish leadership should focus on policies that will Turks should also start using this time efficiently in redefining their It should also be made clear that when the Turkish parliament decided not to ally with the United States to invade Iraq, it was not an approval of a dictatorship or human rights abuses. Turkey cannot be held responsible for the state of affairs in Iraq today. In the same manner, Turkey's strengthened relationship with Russia should not be interpreted as a move against democracy in the trans-Caspian region. Turkey should extend its aspirations to China to create new business Finally, there should be no doubt that this new Turkey will continue to be a strong ally of the United States in the region, helping to bring security and stability to Iraq, trying to positively impact the Iranian regime's ideology and continuing to inspire Muslims in the broader region to accept that democracy is the answer while coping with crisis. Tulin Daloglu is a Turkish free-lance writer. ### For additional information, please contact Georgia Economou at (202) 785-8430 or georgia@ahiworld.org. For general information regarding the activities of AHI, please view our Web site at https://www.ahiworld.org. |
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The Washington Times Prints AHI Letter to Editor on Op-Ed “Turkey’s EU Accession”
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