Turkey’s Accession
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
President Bush travels this week to Turkey for meetings at Ankara and for a summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization at Istanbul. In December, the European Union will make a final decision about whether to open formal membership negotiations that would allow Turkey to join the so-called European Union.
The last time Turkey was this close to entering Europe was 1683, when the Ottoman military got as far as the gates of Vienna. This time, instead of trying to repel the Turks, Europe would be better off embracing them. Successive Turkish governments, including the Muslim government headed by Prime Minister Erdogan, have launched a reform program to secure membership in the E.U. Great strides in human rights have been made in recent years.
The closer Turkey has come to fulfilling the requirements for E.U. membership, however, the harder France and Germany work to slam the door. In December 2002, Turkey was snubbed and refused a date for entry. Valery Giscard d’Estaing, who is a current drafter of a constitution for Europe, said that Turkey could “never” be part of Europe because it was a Muslim state. In April, Premier Barnier said Turkey’s membership was “not under consideration.”
It has become clear that without advocacy by America in Europe, Turkey’s bid will fail, which would be as bad for Europe as for Turkey. Most Turks, proudly nationalistic, do not want to emigrate; their experiences as guest workers in Germany and elsewhere were hardly the immigrant dream. They do want access to Europe’s markets and to be accepted as part of Europe. If France and Germany succeed in their efforts to block Turkey, it will only throw another spotlight on continental Europe’s failure to assimilate their own Muslim populations, who are typically far more Islamist than is Turkey.
Turkey’s leaders and its people see that the future of Turkey is with Europe rather than with the Middle East dictatorships such as Syria and Iran with whom they share borders. Mr. Bush’s visit and the NATO summit are a perfect opportunity for America to remind the French and Germans that if they want to encourage moderate Muslims, it’s time to talk Turkey.
