PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR EU INTEGRATION SEEMS TO SLIP IN TURKEY

11/18/05
Eurasianet.org
Igor Torbakov (Freelance journalist and researcher who specializes in CIS political affairs. He is now based in Istanbul, Turkey.)

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Recent opinion polls register an increase of nationalist sentiment in Turkey – a mood generally at odds with EU membership. [...]. Many Turks perceive the EU stance toward Turkey to be unfair and full of double standards.

[...]. The legal and social changes required by the EU as a prerequisite for membership undermines some of the bedrock principles upon which the Turkish Republic was founded in 1923, Turkey’s Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leaders contend.
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Increasingly, Western diplomats and Western-oriented Turkish analysts see the concept of nationalism, along with the role of a nation-state in modern life, as a potential stumbling block for the accession process. The concept tends to be interpreted differently in Brussels and Ankara, stemming from the dissimilar historical circumstances in which the European Community and modern Turkey emerged. The EU’s founders in the 1950s desired to build an alliance that would help overcome the divisive and, often bellicose nationalism that fueled two world wars that devastated the continent during the first half of the 20th century. Nationalism, meanwhile, played a vital role in galvanizing the modern Turkish state. The country’s founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, forged the new nation and the Turkish national identity amid chaotic circumstances arising from the War of Independence. It was in the early 1920s that Turkish nationalist myth was born, and from that time on nationalism has continued to play an important role in buttressing the Turkish Republic.
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EU leaders have exerted considerable pressure on Ankara to expand minority rights, recognize Greek-controlled portion of Cyprus and normalize relations with neighboring Armenia. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Pressing Turkey on such "national issues," especially on Cyprus and the killings of Ottoman Armenians, risks causing a backlash in a country where nationalist sentiment traditionally runs high, even some Turkish analysts who support European integration say.
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Discussions at a major historical conference on Ottoman Armenians held at an Istanbul university in September demonstrate that official attitudes on the concepts of nation-state and national minorities hinders discussion of Turkey’s controversial pre-republican past, and thus hampers a rapprochement with Armenia.
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[...] Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul indicated that the government wasn’t going to radically change its position and accept Turkey’s responsibility for the 1915-1923 atrocities. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Instead, in a letter to the conference’s organizing committee, Gul spoke about European "imperialist-colonial powers" which "ruthlessly exploited [Ottoman Empire’s] peoples’ ethno-religious sensitivities in their own interests."

"The Turkish people are at peace with themselves and with their history," Gul’s letter concluded. This stance will hardly find an understanding in Europe. Accordingly, some Turkish commentators are predicting tough times ahead for Turkish-EU relations. For example, while welcoming the beginning of the membership talks, Yusuf Kanli, the editor-in-chief of the Turkish Daily News, predicted that the "future path is full of mines."

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.