The EU is studying an offer by Turkey to open one port and one airport to traffic from Cyprus, Finland says. The European Commission said the move, if confirmed, was "an important step" towards breaking the deadlock over Turkey's EU membership application.
While Turkey makes move to break Cyprus deadlock, Galip hoca states not 10 minutes since the reuters report on the ports and the agencies say the stock market has already surged in the hope of a reconciliation with the e.u.!. He has more to say here. DJ Nozem is also quick to give the good news in his blog. Meanwhile, Turkey continues to seek 'new Europe' allies before EU talks verdict.
An heated discussion goes on after Nikos Konstandaras, managing editor and a columnist of Kathimerini, says Turkey Must Change First. What the heck man. This is already becoming a cliché. Turkey must change first? Turkey constantly changes in fact, I wonder if Greece and others can catch up with this change. What if some surprising moves from the Turkish side happen? I assume the EU leaders are not ready for that...
While all this buzz around Cyprus goes on, Greek Cypriots among the happiest in the EU. They are not that affected.... In the mean time, German loans pour into Turkey despite the fact that Merkel calls for a break. Some EU sources even claim that Merkel may kill Turkey's EU membership in 2009
Ambassador Ross Wilson’s Interview with BBC Radio
November 30, 2006, Istanbul
BBC: Let’s talk about Turkey in Europe, because this obviously engages so much of your diplomacy here. How do you think the Turkish government will react to this idea that there might be a delay in the opportunity to join the EU?Ambassador Wilson: All of the indications that we get from the Turkish authorities and from the EU Ambassadors in Ankara are that both sides remain committed to pursuing EU accession talks. The Turkish government in particular continues to have this as a high priority. We all knew that the issues related to the Customs Union protocol were going to be complicated and that they would be complicated in the latter part of this year. And that quite obviously is the case. I think there are a number of efforts under way, including in the diplomacy that was in Riga earlier this week. There will be further multilateral discussions, bilateral discussions that various countries will have, including Foreign Minister Gul’s travels next week to Athens, among other places, which I think can see their way forward. I am fairly optimistic, certainly as a long-term proposition, that these talks will go forward......................
Ekrem Dumanlı, Zaman's editor, in Turkey’s Vision
FT leader focuses on the [evil] alliance: An ageing couple; Franco-German relations are not what they used to be. Yesterday's talks between President Jacques Chirac and Chancellor Angela Merkel were perfectly correct, but they lacked the enthusiasm there used to be between Helmut Kohl and François Mitterrand. It is not just a matter of personal chemistry, but a reflection of something more profound: 15 years after German unification, Berlin has a clearer sense of its national interest. Both sides have to work harder to find common ground.....
In other developments; US-EU negotiations on liberalising air traffic between the two blocs are disrupted following a decision by the Bush administration to maintain quotas of US citizens on the boards of American air carriers while New member states and Sweden are unlikely to adopt the euro in the near future, according to convergence reports issued by the Commission and the European Central Bank (ECB). The Commission has urged candidates to step up their efforts....
[these are older pieces:]
Quentin Peel in Turkish EU bid was a train-wreck waiting to happen:
Turkey's relations with the European Union seem set to hit a new low next week, when the 25 EU member states will be asked to partially suspend membership negotiations because of their unresolved dispute over the divided island of Cyprus.
This was a train-wreck waiting to happen, ever since Cyprus was admitted to the EU in 2004 without any settlement between its Greek and Turkish communities. The danger now is that what might have been a dispute limited to the decades-old divisions between Greek and Turkish Cypriots could become a much wider confrontation between the EU and Turkey. It could sour relations for years.........
Cem Oguz in Daisy petal divination and its application in Turkish-EU relations
Prof. Dr. Faruk Şen in Prejudices against Islam and the pope's visit
The visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Turkey has resulted in the very critical treatment of Islam in the German media. Studies from the Center for Studies on Turkey, however, show that this critical atmosphere and its intensity in the German press and in society as a whole in general are pretty different from before and that what we have observed in recent days is not a stable state but is conditioned by events....
Discussion gets longer and longer in Europe diary: Turkish tensions
there is also reader discussion growing here: The Pope says Turkey should be part of the European Union. Is he right?
(David Ignatius & Fareed Zakaria)
Mustafa Akyol in lNo Real Threat To Turkish Secularism
Posted by erkan at December 7, 2006 04:12 PM | TrackBack