Speaking at the 24th meeting of the Turkey EU Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) yesterday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan noted that even when Turkey-EU relations are going through somewhat difficult times, the JCC is continuing to meet to produce results and solutions. Erdoğan said European Commission President José Manuel Barroso's visit to Turkey has been very positive. He said during talks with Barroso, the two leaders found the opportunity to comprehensively assess all aspects of Turkey's EU accession process.
"Turkey does not have the slightest reservation, hesitation or question mark about its EU accession. I absolutely do not agree with criticism that the process has lost pace and that there has been a slowdown in reforms. Turkey is continuing with the same excitement and determination, despite all developments to prevent it and crush its motivation," Erdoğan stated.
He again strongly rejected the vague concept of a "privileged partnership," mentioned on more than one occasion by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy as an alternative to full membership. "In actuality there is no such expression as 'privileged partnership' anywhere in the EU acquis. What does this mean? I always say this is about changing the rules in the middle of the game, and unfortunately two countries have been leaders in promoting this. They also wanted to win over some other countries to their side. Have they managed to do this yet? No, not so far," Erdoğan said.
Stating that the issue was one of confidence, Erdoğan noted that on Dec. 17, 2004, when Turkey was given a date for the start of accession talks, 75 percent of the Turkish people supported membership in the EU. Today this number is down to 59 percent. "The reason for this loss of confidence is the statements made by our EU friends. But we do believe we have something to offer to the EU. We are coming to lighten the load of the EU, not increase it."
Erdoğan also recalled that in December 2006, EU foreign ministers agreed to suspend talks with Turkey on eight chapters due to Turkey's refusal to recognize the Greek administration of the divided island of Cyprus, an accepted member of the bloc. "It is impossible for us to accept this. Is Turkey European or not, you are constantly asking this question? If you are talking geography, then Turkey is European, and at the same time Asian. This is a [source of] richness for Turkey."
Turkey is ahead of some EU countries
Erdoğan also said not all countries accepted to the EU were geographically part of Europe, adding that Turkey was even ahead of some member states in economic and political reforms.
"Today there is a Turkey that is ahead of at least 10 of the members of the European Union. Currently we are ahead of a majority of these in terms of fulfilling the Copenhagen and Maastricht criteria."
He also said despite attempts to crush Turkey's motivation to complete accession talks for full membership, such as a French initiative to eliminate the word "accession" in a European Council report in December 2007, Turkey had never turned such things to its own advantage. "We never produced excuses as the government or hid behind excuses," he stated.
The prime minister also noted that he believes two more negotiation chapters will be opened under the EU term presidency of current incumbent Slovenia. "I hope that these will be completed in a brief period."
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