Knock, Knock, Knocking on Europe's Door
So Turkey finally got itself a starting date for EU negotiations on accession. It's been a long time coming and it's all fine and lovely that Turkey wants "in" but is it even feasible? I don't think so.
Greece has been a member of the EU for over 20 years and is still lagging behind the other original 14 members and Greece is light years ahead of Turkey. How does anyone think Turkey can pull this off when it's barely a second world country itself? Even though they expect these talks to take a decade before there will be a final decision, the logistics of having 70 million people from a nation where the words 'human rights' don't exist in their political dictionaries, just seems next to impossible.
It's quite upsetting that even the talks leading to a negotiation date almost broke down in Brussels when Turkey still refuses to recognize south Cyprus. If they want to join the club, they better start by showing a sign of good faith. They illegally invaded Cyprus and divided that island in 1974 and now they refuse to recognize the southern part. I believe no negotiations should even start until Turkey makes a 100% complete withdrawal from north Cyprus and full recognition of the island. Until then, they can stew in their own rancid juices.
Once, the withdrawal takes place, then start the accession talks. They know they've got to implement almost 80,000 pages of EU laws as well and there should be no compromises on any of them. Look at the mess Greece got itself into by understating its deficit, clearly breaking the EU Growth and Stability Pact and it got away with it. Germany has broken the 3% deficit ceiling as well but it's a manufacturing powerhouse. Greece isn't and neither is Turkey so when the rules can be constantly broken without punishment then what's the point of having the EU anyway? The current method of punishment is just levying fines on the errant EU member. Again, this makes no sense in the case of Greece and Turkey who are poor enough anyway making it impossible to even pay the fines. There's a distinct possibility that the judgements against Greece have probably been paid with EU aid money. If Turkey were to try to pull off the same stunts that Greece has, then it's game over.
I would love to see all countries enjoy the standard of living enjoyed by western Europe but the only way to do it is to plug the holes in the recipient's sieve before more aid can be poured into it. The EU is doing its best to compete with America but it has to first asorb the 10 new members of the EU. Allowing every other Vaclav, Ivan and Kemal into the fold before they've achieved 100% of EU entrance requirements and without the complete assimilation of all present members is a recipe for economic disaster.
Greece has been a member of the EU for over 20 years and is still lagging behind the other original 14 members and Greece is light years ahead of Turkey. How does anyone think Turkey can pull this off when it's barely a second world country itself? Even though they expect these talks to take a decade before there will be a final decision, the logistics of having 70 million people from a nation where the words 'human rights' don't exist in their political dictionaries, just seems next to impossible.
It's quite upsetting that even the talks leading to a negotiation date almost broke down in Brussels when Turkey still refuses to recognize south Cyprus. If they want to join the club, they better start by showing a sign of good faith. They illegally invaded Cyprus and divided that island in 1974 and now they refuse to recognize the southern part. I believe no negotiations should even start until Turkey makes a 100% complete withdrawal from north Cyprus and full recognition of the island. Until then, they can stew in their own rancid juices.
Once, the withdrawal takes place, then start the accession talks. They know they've got to implement almost 80,000 pages of EU laws as well and there should be no compromises on any of them. Look at the mess Greece got itself into by understating its deficit, clearly breaking the EU Growth and Stability Pact and it got away with it. Germany has broken the 3% deficit ceiling as well but it's a manufacturing powerhouse. Greece isn't and neither is Turkey so when the rules can be constantly broken without punishment then what's the point of having the EU anyway? The current method of punishment is just levying fines on the errant EU member. Again, this makes no sense in the case of Greece and Turkey who are poor enough anyway making it impossible to even pay the fines. There's a distinct possibility that the judgements against Greece have probably been paid with EU aid money. If Turkey were to try to pull off the same stunts that Greece has, then it's game over.
I would love to see all countries enjoy the standard of living enjoyed by western Europe but the only way to do it is to plug the holes in the recipient's sieve before more aid can be poured into it. The EU is doing its best to compete with America but it has to first asorb the 10 new members of the EU. Allowing every other Vaclav, Ivan and Kemal into the fold before they've achieved 100% of EU entrance requirements and without the complete assimilation of all present members is a recipe for economic disaster.
Well your right, Turkey finally got it's wish and got an starting date of October 2005 to talk about joining the European Union. I think we should remember that the only reason Turkey have got this far is because the USA started applying the pressure on the EU to let them in.
But never mind, my first initial thought was how on earth can we let this country in, the country that wont admit to its past. The country that wont admit and say yes we committed ethnic cleansing on a mass scale before and during the first world war against the Armenians. It's also the country that persecutes to this day its own Kurish population. It appears that the only way to escape persecution in Turkey is not to be an ethnic minority. However from reading the reports from Amnesty International and other organisations, you find that they treat their own people no better. Sadly the Turkish government aren't the people who have control in Turkey, it's actually the generals with the real power. It also amazes me that Turkey got an date from the EU even though it refuses to recognise the 'Republic of Cyprus' (otherwise known as the south side of the island OR the side that doesn't have 35,000 troops occupying it) even though Cyprus is a member state. But what bothered me most of all was the fact that the Turkish and the Turkish Cypriot governments have been involved directly in the murder of innocent people. An example I used on my own blog was the cold blooded murders of Anastasios Issak and Solomos Solomou in August of 1996 by members of the Turkish Cypriot military and even a high ranking member of the Turkish Cypriot government. Until justice is done, I don't see how Turkey can expect to progress.
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Anonymous |
19/12/04 16:53