Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris
Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris
Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris
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Revue <strong>de</strong> Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro <strong>de</strong> la Prensa-Basm Öz<strong>et</strong>i<br />
removing restrictions on<br />
. freedom of expression.<br />
Emphasizing that Turkey<br />
was a great country like Germany, he<br />
admonished it, "Show how great you are. .<br />
Take the frrst step in solving the problems<br />
with Greece." Thus, he stressed the tie<br />
b<strong>et</strong>ween the solution of the two countries'<br />
problems and Turkey's fullmembership<br />
with the EU - if they couldn't be solved,<br />
no membership. .<br />
No new holds applied<br />
Actually, Kinkel didn't sayanything new.<br />
He merely repeated what Gennan officials<br />
have been saying about Twkey's full membership<br />
in the EU for years. But ifthat's the<br />
case, then why have relations b<strong>et</strong>ween<br />
Germany and Turkey har<strong>de</strong>ned in recent<br />
months, and statements on both si<strong>de</strong>s<br />
become tougher? Before looking for an<br />
answer to this, one must consi<strong>de</strong>r the claim<br />
that Germany's objection to Turkey's full<br />
membership is because the latter is a .<br />
Muslim country. The report that German<br />
Chancellor Helmut Kohl had ma<strong>de</strong> such a<br />
statement, words which be subsequently<br />
<strong>de</strong>nied, looks ~ke un.foun<strong>de</strong>d propaganda<br />
from those trymg to mcrease tension<br />
be~w.een.the two coun~es and shape public<br />
opmlOn 10 Turkey agaInst Germany.<br />
However, Kinkel admitte3 during his<br />
visit tha~ his school geograpby lessons<br />
taught him t~a~ T~rkey was no~ in Europe<br />
and that Chrisuaruty makes ASIa Minor<br />
(Anatolia) an extension of the Holy Land.<br />
So what does that malte us, Eurasian?<br />
When high-level <strong>de</strong>legations visit countries<br />
like Pakistan, sud<strong>de</strong>rily Turkey is a brother<br />
As~an country. But when ;Kohl says we're<br />
ASI:m' we go crazy ..And If we're Eurasian,<br />
can t we even be citIZens of the world?<br />
Didn't Atatürk say, "One Turk has the value<br />
of a.world?"' But l<strong>et</strong> us a:ssume that the<br />
obje~t~on to T~keJ'.s entry on the grounds<br />
that It IS Muslim, vOlced in other EU countries<br />
as well as Germany. is real - though<br />
other excuses have been sug-<br />
,gested for ~reventing or at<br />
.least <strong>de</strong>laymg full membership.<br />
If Turkey is <strong>de</strong>termined<br />
to continue its pursl,lit of the<br />
elusive memberShip, isn't it<br />
clear what must be done? Turkey<br />
has to institute, through legislauon<br />
and institutions, attheyery least,<br />
European standards for human<br />
rights and <strong>de</strong>mocratization. It<br />
must solve the "Kurdish" 'problem<br />
peacefully and negouate the<br />
solutions to the problems with<br />
Greece within the 'principles of<br />
justice framed in mternational<br />
law. What else could be<br />
expected other than these?<br />
Expectations are that certain<br />
facts will be ignored,<br />
that Turkey is a country in<br />
. which criminal gangs within<br />
the state can only be<br />
.revealed by traffic acci<strong>de</strong>nts<br />
such as that at Susurluk.<br />
And that after this expo-<br />
. sure, the investigations into<br />
such activities will be<br />
slowed down or even<br />
obstructed, gang members<br />
officially protected, and<br />
public attention diverted by<br />
artificial means <strong>de</strong>spite<br />
unprece<strong>de</strong>nted extensive<br />
protests<br />
attempts<br />
against official<br />
to cover up what<br />
hashappened. Europe is<br />
supposed to ignore the facts<br />
that a "dirty war" is bein~<br />
conducted within Turkey s<br />
bor<strong>de</strong>rs and an ample number of criminal<br />
organizations similar to that exposed by<br />
Susurluk are being actively employed. It is<br />
further expected that Europe should agree<br />
with the blind obstinacy of the Turkish government<br />
as expressed by Çil1er during her<br />
me<strong>et</strong>ing<br />
Kurdish<br />
with Kinkel that, "There is no<br />
problem in Turkey." It is expected<br />
that Turkey's response to the recent gestures<br />
from Greece, which are important for<br />
Turkey's EU membership and for the peaceful<br />
solution of the problems b<strong>et</strong>ween the<br />
two countries, should be to reject them as<br />
insincere and acts of political maneuvering.<br />
And, on top of all this, German authOrities<br />
are to be ashamed of opposing Turkey's full<br />
EU membership.<br />
The present state of Turkey-EU rela~ions<br />
cannot be fully undèrstood without taking<br />
into consi<strong>de</strong>ration that only two months ago<br />
the European media was preoccupied with<br />
the news that 80 percent of all heroin comes<br />
to Europe via Turkey, that drug smugglers<br />
are protected by high Turkish officials, that<br />
Turkey finances its war against the Kurdish .<br />
Workers' Party (PKK) through drug smug- •<br />
gling revenues, that Turkey has become the .<br />
Colombia of the Middle East, and that<br />
Çiller' s name was being mentioned in<br />
smuggling cases being tried in German .<br />
courts. It would be a grave mistake to think<br />
that all these items have been forgotten, or<br />
never' occurred.<br />
L<strong>et</strong> us come back to the subject of the .<br />
recent rise in tension, lookin~ at the style in<br />
which Turkish-German relanons are dis-<br />
.cussed as opposed to the contents . .one can-<br />
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