Turkish accession could spell end of EU, says commissioner
The Guardian Unlimited ^ | Sept. 8 , 2004 | David Gow in Brussels and
Ewen MacAskill
David Gow in Brussels and Ewen MacAskill Wednesday September 8, 2004
The Guardian
A European commissioner has warned that the European Union may implode
if Turkey is allowed to join. Frits Bolkestein, the internal market
commissioner, expressed concern that if Ankara was admitted to the EU,
the defeat of Turks in Vienna more than 300 years ago could turn out
to have been in vain.
The commission is due to report next month on Turkey's eligibility and
heads of government are scheduled to make a decision in December.
Mr Bolkestein laid bare tensions in the EU over whether to open
accession talks with Ankara. The Dutch rightwing liberal said Turkey
would have to undergo huge changes before being ready for entry,
fundamentally altering its identity, and that the accession of a
country of 68 million people, with perhaps 83 million by 2010, would
transform the EU.
He added: "After Turkish entry the EU will simply be unable to sustain
its current agricultural and regional policy. Europe would implode."
Yesterday, his spokesman insisted that Mr Bolkestein did not want to
prejudge the outcome of the debate within the commission.
Mr Bolkestein, quoting remarks by the US historian Bernard Lewis that
Europe would be Islamic by the end of this century, commented: "I
don't know if it will take this course but, if he's right, the
liberation of Vienna [from the Ottoman Turks] in 1683 would have been
in vain."
His colleague, Günter Verheugen, the European commissioner responsible
for enlargement, also issued a warning to Turkey yesterday, indicating
it would have to improve the lot of its Kurdish minority if it wanted
to join the EU.
He was speaking during a visit to Tuzla, a Kurdish village set on fire
by Turkish troops fighting Kurdish rebels in 1995.
On October 6, Mr Verheugen is to publish his verdict on whether Turkey
is eligible for accession. Heads of government are to make a decision
based on his assessment.
Many EU countries are hostile, partly because accession would bring 68
million Muslims into the EU. The Netherlands and Austria are among the
biggest critics, with France, Germany and Belgium also resistant.
Britain supports Turkish entry.
Mr Verheugen, making his final visit to Turkey before completing his
report, said: "We have strongly ... advocated education in the Kurdish
language and broadcasts in the Kurdish language and I am satisfied
that they have started with some delay. But I must say that what we
have seen so far can only be the beginning."
Until recently, the private view among commissioners such as Mr
Verheugen was that there was no possibility of Turkish entry for at
least 20 years because of its abysmal human rights record.
But the US, which sees Turkey as an ally in its "war on terror", has
been pressing the EU to allow earlier entry, and the Turkish
government has been pushing through reforms of its legal system,
including the abolition of the death penalty.
An indication of the likely direction of Mr Verheugen's report was
offered this week with publication of an independent report by a panel
headed by Martti Ahtisaari, the former Finnish president.
Mr Ahtisaari said that Turkish entry would offer "considerable
benefits", not least because "as a large Muslim country firmly
embedded in the EU, Turkey could play a significant role in Europe's
relations with the Islamic world".
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