In spite of massive police repression against social protests in Turkey, the EU decided to open a new chapter in the negotiations on EU accession after three years of stalled talks. As a token of diplomatic uneasiness, the formal beginning of the talks was postponed to autumn. Nevertheless, the Turkish foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu, showed […]
In spite of massive police repression against social protests in Turkey, the EU decided to open a new chapter in the negotiations on EU accession after three years of stalled talks. As a token of diplomatic uneasiness, the formal beginning of the talks was postponed to autumn. Nevertheless, the Turkish foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu, showed his satisfaction with the EU decision. This symbolic decision was controversial in the EU. In the end, those who argued with the strategic significance of EU-Turkish relations prevailed. The strategic significance is implicitely related to the Middle East.
There had been no movement in the EU accession talks between the EU and Turkey since 2010. Reservations about eventual Turkish EU membership and any other enlargment beyond Croatia (which will become an EU member at the beginning of July) have increased in core EU countries like Germany in the light of the increasing rift between core and peripheral EU countries. For the AKP government, EU membership is clearly not a priority any more. The stuck character of the negotiations is revealed by the huge number of chapters whose opening is blocked. The EU has blocked 8 chapters because of the controversy on Cyprus, four more chapters are blocked by France, six by Cyprus. With the opening of chapter 22 (regional policies), there remain only three unopened chapters which have not been blocked by one or more EU states. Thus, re-opening the negotiations is mainly a symbolic act.
Moves into that direction were started some months ago. The war in Syria forms the backdrop of this renewed dipomatic activity. Turkey is a key ally of the right-wing, mainly Sunnite rebel forces in Syria. With military defeats of the rebel forces and a much more resilient position of the Baath regime than the Western, Arab and Turkish governments had assumed, key Western countries, particularly Great Britain and France, have increased the stakes. The British and French governments recently pushed through an end to the EU arms embargo against the rebel forces. This decision was highly controversial in the EU with particularly the German and Austrian governments not being in favour of doing so. Re-opening EU accession talks with Turkey props up symbolically the NATO ally which is deeply involved in the Syrian war.
With social protests in Turkey and their massive repression by the AKP government, the decision to recommence negotiations has assumed a second symbolic dimension. The AKP government obviously sees the EU decision as a ratification of its stance. It had reacted in a very sharp way when the German government criticised police repression sharply and considered openly not opening a new negotiation chapter. The Dutch and Austrian governments likewise were not in favour of reopening the talks as well.
In Germany, the stance to take was a subject of intensive political debate. Key members of Christian Democracy which had generally been rather opposed to Turkish EU membership already in the past tended to express reservations about recommencing talks given the high level of repression in Turkey. The liberals highlighted strategic concerns. Social democract and Green politicians reaffirmed their old position that the accession option should be used as an instrument of pressure. The Left party took a different stand. Sevim Dağdelen, a left member of parliament, declared that it urgent to show a „stop sign“ in face of the „brutal violence and the massive threats of the AKP regime“. Like an important part of the Turkish migrant community, the Left party advocated a postponement of opening further EU negotiation chapters.
The protests against AKP government have aroused considerable interest and sympathy in German (and Austrian) society. Many young people positively identify with the protesters at Taksim and feel close to their ideals and aims. The intensive police repression has been generally condemned. Some of the political-economic background to the protests – particularly the harsh pushing through of large real estate projects and the links between AKP and big real estate and construction groups – has been discussed critically in the German press. Thus, there is a more nuanced and critical view on the AKP project now. However, there has been one important gap in that debate: The impact of Turkey’s involvement in the Syrian war on domestic policies has hardly been touched upon.