Report of the conference

„Main contributions of 's accession to the EU in a challenging global environment“ A dialog between Ali Babacan and Jean Asselborn Moderated by Mario Hirsch 10th February 2009, Jean Monnet-Building (European Commission)

Mr Hirsch, director of the Institut Pierre Werner, presents Ali Babacan, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, and Jean Asselborn, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Immigration of .

Mr Babacan was named Minister of Foreign Affairs in 2007. Previously he was Minister of Economy in the cabinet from the Justice and Development Party (AKP), which came to power in November 2002 and of which he is a co- founder. 35 years old, he was the youngest member of the cabinet.

Mr Asselborn was named Minister of Foreign Affairs and immigration in 2004. In 1984 he was elected to the Luxembourg Parliament for the first time and has been reelected ever since. From 1999 to 2004, he served as Vice- President of the Luxembourg Parliament. From 2000 to 2004 he was member of the Committee of the Regions of the European Union and Vice-President of the European Socialist Party.

•

At the beginning of the conference Mr Hirsch thanks the Turkish Embassy and the European Commission for their support and invites Mr Babacan to present his point of view on the matter of the accession of Turkey to the European Union.

Mr Ali Babacan points out that we all live in a changing world and reminds us of the climatic, financial, political and energetic problems. In these times the EU is a much needed institution. Mr Babacan poses the question of what Turkey can contribute to the EU. He points out that Turkey is a developed country. It would be the sixth largest economy if it was in the European Union and is the fifteenth largest economy of the world. Turkey has a high GDP growth rate and a high export rate: „What China is for the world, Turkey will be for the EU“. It is already engaged with European structures thanks to the Customs Union since 1995.

Another important point is the geographical location of Turkey. It is a member of NATO and the Council of Europe. It has good relations with the Middle East, the Balkans, Caucasus and Central Asia. With almost two thirds of the energy sources of the world at its doorstep, Turkey is a country of oil and gas transit, from Azerbaidjan to Austria. During the Caucasus Conflict Turkey had launched a regional initiative. It succeeded in bringing together 15 countries of the region. In 2007 Turkey mediated between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Babacan underlines that the ability of Turkey to talk to all Middle East and Central Asian countries could build a bridge with Europe. He stresses that Turkey maintains good relations with the Arab countries, the Arab League and the Council of Cooperation of the Gulf States, while talking at the same time to and Iran. Moreover the frontier between Turkey and Iran is stable since 1963 and appears as facilitator from what concerns the contacts of Iran.

In December 2004 negotiations were started concerning the accession of Turkey to the EU. Minister Babacan recalls that Turkey has started a democratic process through new political reforms. In his country it is possible that Islam and democracy co-exist. Although Turkey still doesn’t have a full democracy, it is determined to live up to standards. Babacan is convinced that Turkey is making progresses to fulfill the European criteria like freedom of opinion, Human Rights, rule of law.

Mr Babacan recognises that through the accession process Turkey is getting closer to European structures and habits. He is convinced that the accession to the EU enables Turkey to improve living conditions. Turkey is ready to share European values and ideals. He also believes that if Turkey acceeds the EU will become a more representative institution and will be more powerful in the matter of solving conflicts and other problems. Again he returns to the geographical location of Turkey and says that „Turkey could act as a natural bridge“ between East and West, especially in matters of natural ressources. As examples he mentions the Baku-Tiflis-Ceyhan-Pipeline (BTC- Pipeline) and the Baku-Tiflis-Erzurum-Pipeline (BTE- Pipeline) which is already completed.

In the future Turkey will continue in reforming, as it has just passed a new reform agenda for the next four years. Turkey will fulfill the 35 chapters and therefore looks confident to the future.

•

Mr Asselborn points out that such a public meeting is of particular importance. In his opinion „Turkey is European. I want to have for my children and grandchildren an European Turkey. It’s better than a Turkey that turns its back to Europe.“ The accession of Turkey means more than 70 million new inhabitants and consumers. For Mr Asselborn, every EU enlargement increases the opportunities. In his opinion Turkey is already an important economic partner and a source of available work capacity. For the geopoiitical argument Mr Asselborn agrees with Mr Babacan. Its strategic location would be a major asset for Europe. Mr Asselborn believes that Turkey’s membership could build new bridges between the religious groups and unite them. One could send a powerful message to the muslim world.

Turkey could also help in the question of energy security, because it is the gate to new resources. Here he mentions the Nabucco-Gas-Pipeline which will connect Austria with Azerbaidjan and will play an important roll for the EU.

Mr Asselborn thinks that the accession of Turkey should go as smoothly as possible and says that Luxembourg stands by its commitments. He points out that Turkey should concentrate on the inevitable reforms to fulfill the criteria of Copenhagen. He is aware of the progress Turkey has already made and mentions in this context the revision of article 301 of the Penal Code. This proves that Turkey has chosen to adopt European values. But the freedom of speech and religion still remains a problem which Turkey is going to approach. Mr Asselborn further quotes the effective implementation of law and confirms that Luxembourg is ready to help Turkey as it has already organised seminars for Turkish officials to familiarize them with European institutions. Luxembourg would like to empower Turkish civil society in this process and invites them to visit the EU. He will organise study visits to Luxembourg because he thinks that the development of the civil society is important.

As Turkey is in the customs union Mr Asselborn shows himself confident of the rapid implementation of the Ankara Protocol which gives access to operators of the EU to Turkish habours and airports, in the hope that Turkey will solve the Cyprus Conflict and fulfill the other acquis chapters. During the last six months, Turkey has shown that it wants to move ahead. It’s wrong to say that the proximity of Turkey to the Caucasus would endanger the EU- States, on the contrary, its active engagement could strengthen the foreign policy of the EU in the case of its accession. Turkey’s ability to speak with the different Israeli and Palestinian parties is of great importance to Europe. In this context he stresses the intermediary roll it played in the contact between Israel and Syria. Turkey could contribute to a lasting peace between Israel and its neighbours.

In the future Turkey will also be of great significance in the Caucasus region. Turkey is a campaigner for a regional platform where conflicts can be solved. These additional initiatives could help the European objectives progressing. Turkey has deployed more than 500 soldats in the Caucasus and more than 800 soldats in Afghanistan. The actual improvement in the relations between Turkey and Armenia give hope to an opening of the frontier between the two neighbours.

Mr Asselborn thinks that we live in a challenging global environment and one challenge is the distrust between our cultures. There are tensions between the muslim and western society, and therefore there should be a project to create a network of experts which resolve these tensions. He therefore points out that Turkey and Spain have already founded, in 2005, the Alliance of Civilizations and started within this framework the project „Rapid Response Media Mechanism“. It offers journalists free acess to a network of experts. This is the evidence that in Turkey Islam, Human Rights and democracy are co-existing.

Questions of the audience:

Mr Hirsch poses the first question. He asks how it is that the implementation of Turkish membership is so complicated and how come it drags on for so long.

Mr Asselborn answers that since October 2005 it’s clear that it will take time, but the process has started and that is what counts. From the 35 acquis chapters some have been concluded and ten more are now opened. Turkey has to fulfill them and Luxembourg will help. He adds that the question of the geographical location has often been posed. Does Turkey really belong to the geographical Europe? To discuss this takes time. But despite all cultural differences there are a lot of common interests. He is convinced that the reform and the pressure of the EU (in a positive sense) will help Turkey to progress. He knows that the process will be long but it should continue.

Mr Babacan refers to the complexity, because there are 35 acquis chapters and to fulfill their benchmarks isn’t easy. Some are now open for negotiations and six other chapters are ready to be opened. It’s a long process which started in the 1960s when Turkey made several attempts. Because of this and other problems the process prolongated again. He also says that it still needs a lot of work and not only words to solve the Cyprus Conflict which is one precondition of the membership.

•

The next question follows almost automaticly from the first. The question is how it comes that Turkey seems to show some tiredness although its minister is so motivated.

Mr Babacan names two reasons for this: on the one hand the slowl domestic reform process and on the other hand the disillusionement of Turkish society. After what happened in Cyprus and the partly negative reaction of the public in Germany and France to a possible membership of Turkey in the EU, the people where dissapointed. Mr Babacan also mentions the relation between Israel and Turkey which is based on a strategic interest and advantages for both. He also admits that the Turkish government has criticized the Israeli military operation in Gaza. He doesn’t think that a military course of action can be a solution.

Mr Asselborn adds that four main points have to be faced, namely the Cyprus conflict, that the reform process must go on, that Turkey must remain a mediator and the attitudes of the Europeans concerning the membership which have to change. The enlargement is of prime importance if the EU wants to play an important roll in the world.