Waiting for 6 October” “

A giant of 780,000 square kilometres, comprised between the Aegean and Iran, between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, with 67 million inhabitants, the vast majority of them Muslims, Turkey is a geographically Asian country knocking at the doors of the European Union. The enclave comprising the city of Istanbul and its hinterland, on the west bank of the Bosphorus, links the land of the former Ottoman Empire with Europe. Today Turkey is a parliamentary republic, founded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1923. As the deadline approaches for the Commission to pronounce on the opening of membership negotiations with Turkey, the debate on whether Turkey should be in the EU at all is inflaming the Union. Meanwhile the Parliament in Ankara has approved the long-awaited reform of its penal code, welcomed by Brussels as a step forwards to the Europe of the Twenty-Five. a “BRIDGE NATION” BETWEEN EAST AND WEST. A “bridge nation” between Europe and Asia, Turkey, with an economy in process of modernization and a secularised society, is a moderate Islamic country engaged on courageous political reforms, a faithful member of NATO, but still beset by the “Kurdish question” (the Kurds represent 20% of the total population). Turkey’s rapprochement with the European Community began in 1963, the date of its treaty of association with the EEC. In 1999, at the Helsinki summit, the EU officially accepted the candidature for membership presented by the Turkish government, though subordinating it (as in the case of every candidate state) to the “Copenhagen criteria”, laid down in 1993. These prescribe conformity with precise political, constitutional, social and economic requisites: the guarantee of the rules of democracy and fundamental human rights takes precedence over everything else. Ankara has since been moving in the right direction. In 2001 it approved not only a far-reaching constitutional reform, but also a specific national programme of reforms calculated to bring the country into line with the EU. EuropE DRAWING NEAR, EUROPE MOVING FURTHER APART. But, as the commentator Murat Belge has noted, it seems, that from Turkey’s point of view, “the EU, as it draws near, is moving further apart”. In 2004, a year considered decisive for defining the procedures and timetable for membership, the debate within the EU on whether an “embrace” between Brussels and Ankara is appropriate has intensified. According to the results of the visit of Turkish premier Tayyp Erdogan to the EU institutions last week, the main obstacles would seem to have been removed. The Commission’s “go ahead” to the opening of membership procedures is awaited on 6 October, though it is recognized in advance that the process will be a long one, perhaps not less than ten years. It will then be up to the European Council of heads of state and of government to pronounce definitively on the question during their summit on 17 December. What’s at issue now is not the “possibility” of membership, but the date of the opening of negotiations and more particularly their duration. WHAT ARE THE FRONTIERS OF THE UNION? More widely considered, the Turkish issue is prompting reflection on the “last frontiers” of the Union and the complex definition of “European country”. Many political leaders of the 25 have called on Turkey to respect its Kurd minority, improve conditions in prisons, respect religious freedom, safeguard women’s and workers’ rights, and clarify the role of the armed forces within democratic life. The exclusion from the new penal Code of the crime of adultery (up till recently supported by the government itself) has seemed to many, however, an act of good will and sign of Ankara’s gradual reception of the Copenhagen principles. According to Commissioner for enlargement Guenter Verheugen, “there are no further obstacles on the table” for the beginning of negotiations with Ankara. But the list of the premiers and leaders of European parties who don’t share this view is long. THE RELIGIOUS QUESTION AND THE ROLE OF THE CHURCHES. The European churches too are monitoring this question closely. On the whole, an attitude of great openness is emerging, in the sense of the enlargement of the area of peace, democracy and dialogue represented by the EU. On the other hand, some doubts were raised in recent days by the chairman of the commission of the Turkish Parliament for harmonization with the EU, Yasar Yakis, who declared: “Turkey ought to be seen not as a problematic candidate, but as a future member that can make its own contribution to the Union”. He then added: “Our government refuses to be identified or confused with Islam. We expect political leaders in Europe to preserve the [continent’s] Christian roots, but also to build a wall of separation between State and religion”. More diplomatic was the language of Erdogan in Brussels: “We have different religions – he explained -, we are 85% Muslims, but Europe is a multicultural, not a Christian union, and a willingness to succeed in the challenge of finding a point of encounter between civilizations is emerging”. It is just this point of encounter that is now being patiently sought.