Turkey Committed, Frustrated With EU Process

Delivering the opening remarks at the Turkey-European Union Joint Parliamentary Committee meeting [Feb. 14] in Ankara, Parliament Speaker Cemil Cicek said: “Our goal is full membership to the EU. We will never accept any other status, or an alternative. If in fact there is any other preference, there is no need to keep Turkey waiting.” Turkey’s chief negotiator with EU, Egemen Bagis, also gave the same message with a strong emphasis. In return though, Ria Oomen-Ruijten, the European Parliament rapporteur on Turkey, asked for calm in rhetoric. “Bashing the EU, European Parliament and member states is not the way for constructive dialog,” she said.

Turkey’s ruling party, however, is expressing frustration with the EU process. During his official visit to Prague last week, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the EU of being “disrespectful” to Turkey — at least. “We have been patient all this time. How far have we come? When you look, there is the Customs Union [1996] and Helsinki Summit [1999, when Turkey was given candidate status,] and the official start of Turkey’s negotiations,” Erdogan said. “Except these three, they only engaged us. Has any other country been treated like this? No. This is in essence disrespect to Turkey.”