Why Turkey wants the EU and vice-versa

I refer to comments by Frits Bolkestein (January 4) who express his opinion that it was wrong to start EU negotiations with Turkey and gives examples to support his arguments.

I do not intend to reply to every example Mr Bolkestein has given since even us Turks do not agree with some actions of our government but that does not mean we should just be written off the map.

Yes, we Turks know that changing the laws was the easy part but changing the habits of people and institutions will be our toughest challenge. Yet, does that mean we should give up trying to be a fully democratic country not for the EU but for the citizens of Turkey? Also, we are aware that if the EU finally accepts us, it will be years down the road, by which time many things will not be the same.

However, I would give some examples of my own to show how honest and pure European governments themselves can be!

First of all, it was our Prime Minister who was present at the press conference in Copenhagen and not the Foreign Minister. Moreover, that "innocent" Kurdish journalist Mr Bolkestein speaks about is a representative of PKK, which is officially recognised as a terrorist group by the European governments!

Another example of purity is the suspect Fehriye Erdal, who is accused of murdering one of the most prominent citizens of Turkey. The suspect is being held by the Belgian government which refuses to try her citing every reason under the sun. Turkey, having already abolished the death penalty, asked for her to be extradited to Turkey where she will be tried but that was turned down as well!

The Swiss government passed a law stating that if anyone says that "there was no Armenian genocide" one will be guilty of a crime. It actually tried to prosecute one renowned Turkish history professor for trying to disprove the claims with proofs and historical facts!

As you can see, the capitals of democracy are full of pure and good examples which fit their political agenda and how amazing it is that not one European government has criticised such actions!

Now that I have given some examples as well, let's get down to the facts of life and politics.

As we all know, the EU's foundations are crumbling. I accept that the last accession meeting focused on Turkey, which agreed to long discussions for obvious reasons, but how about the latest budget meeting which was saved at the last minute? Actually, it seems like it is becoming a habit for EU meetings to strike deals at the last minute after many concessions are made by the member states! I wonder why!

Another fact is that we Turks know that European governments are not trying to accept Turkey because they love us. Indeed, I am surprised that Mr Bolkestein does not mention the real facts given that he is a former Dutch Minister of Defence. I am sure he and his partners in other governments had many meetings behind closed doors about how they really do not want the Turks to join. However, EU had no choice but base its decision on politics, economics, strategy and its goal to become a world superpower one day.

I would recommend readers to consult a world map, follow the news and try to put the jigsaw puzzle together in order to find out what kind of games are being played in this region. One of the most recent ones is the Iraqi war; EU governments are still not happy that the US could come this close to the EU and change the history and map of the Middle East but the EU is still arguing what to do.

There are more examples I can give but I would not want to bore readers.

Now let's look at what Turkey would offer to the EU if it were to become a full member: the youngest population, which will be needed to man factories and farms; geographical closeness to the world's most strategic region; close ties with Turkic nations; a passageway for the distribution of petrol and natural gas to EU and the world; one of the fastest growing and, therefore, consuming economies of the world.

If the EU does not accept Turkey as a member, God knows what kind of other alliances will start in the region and the EU does not intend to leave all this to chance and just sit and wait as world history is being rewritten under its nose.

For a country or a union to be a world leader, you need to be strong and, to be strong, you need to hold the cards in your hands.

So, as one can see, there is no love lost between the EU and Turkey because, to begin with, the two were never in love. But it is all coming from the fact that one needs the other.

I think I was at least honest to share my opinion openly with readers instead of using religion, democracy and other manipulative subjects to try to fool the public.