Turkey at the crossroads

I was fortunate to attend a seminar in Brussels and Ankara last week on the European Union and Turkey organised by the European Journalism Centre. It was a useful seminar, one that highlighted the complexities of Turkey's bid to join the EU and one that brought out the rather sharp contrasts in Turkish society and politics.

On the whole, I have always cautiously favoured Turkey joining the EU because I feel this will be mutually beneficial to both. Many disagree with me because they think Turkey is not a European country and that since Turkey is a Muslin nation this will prevent it from fully integrating into the EU. And then of course there is the issue of the economic cost of Turkey's membership.

All these points have to be taken into consideration and carefully examined. My visit to Turkey certainly brought to light just how difficult the country's accession process is. To mention just a few of the obstacles and problems: the clear and sharp division between the secularists and Islamists in the country; the very negative public opinion on Turkey joining the EU in four EU member states - Germany, Austria, Holland and France; the division of Cyprus; the question of human rights abuses; the role of the army in Turkish politics; whether Turkey really believes in European values; and just how much money Turkey expects from the EU as a result of its membership.

Of course, there are obvious clear geo-political, strategic and economic advantages for Europe should Turkey join. EU membership would greatly strengthen Europe's defence capabilities, consolidate Turkish democracy, serve as a bridge to the Muslim world, secure much needed energy supplies, contribute to peace and stability in the entire region, increase Europe's clout in international politics, strengthen Europe's multicultural society and open up a huge market for European businesses. With these arguments in mind one could make a very clear case for Turkey joining the EU.

Turkey has long been a bastion of secularism. Ever since the republic was formed in 1923 under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (whose portraits and monuments are everywhere in Ankara), there has been a very strict separation of religion and state. Some secularists in Turkey, however, are worried that the country is turning its back on Kemalism and that Turkish society is slowly witnessing a creeping Islamisation. One Danish MEP, Morgens Camre (from the Europe of Nations Group), who opposes Turkey's bid to join the EU, told us in Brussels that Turkey was slowly becoming an Islamic state.

The clash between secularists and Islamists was all too evident during my visit to Ankara. The contrast between women in Western-style clothes and those who adhere to an Islamic dress code, which naturally includes the headscarf, was very visible in the Turkish capital. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) - which has Islamic roots - of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip denies that it is turning its back on secularism. Both the AKP mayor of Ankara, Melih Gokcek, and Mehmet Firat, a deputy chairman of the AKP, told us that they believed in the strict separation of religion and state and that religion should remain a private matter.

However, many secularists believe the ruling AKP is undermining secularism. For example, the mayor of Hasanoglan, about one hour's drive from Ankara, who belongs to the centre-left Republican People's Party (RPP), told me that until recently it was quite normal for people to drink alcohol in the town square. Although this was still legal, social pressures no longer made this possible and alcohol is now consumed only in private or in restaurants and bars. In fact when the AKP mayor of Ankara hosted us journalists to dinner in a public park, no alcohol was served.

Concern over the erosion of secularism was also expressed by the president of the Middle East University of Ankara, Professor Ural Akbulat. Turkey's universities are a bastion of secularism and have long been a thorn in the government's side. In fact, upon its election in November 2002, the new AKP government attempted to sack all the university presidents and deans and replace them with their sympathisers. However, their loud protests forced the government to perform a U-turn.

When asked by one of our journalists why he was so keen on Turkey's universities maintaining the ban on headscarves, Professor Akbulat said that the moment the ban is lifted students would be pressured to wear the scarf just as is happening in other Muslim countries. He said he recently visited Tripoli University again after a few years and all the female students were wearing headscarves even though it was not obligatory.

Throughout my visit to Turkey, I never met anyone who said he or she was against EU membership. Some people said they did not know enough about the EU to have an opinion and most people said they believed Turkey was not being treated well by the EU in its accession process.

This view was also expressed by Onur Oymen, vice-president of the Opposition RPP, who said his party was completely attached to European values. The theme of European values was brought up consistently throughout my visit to Ankara. Turks feel European, I was told, and as Wahit Endem, an AKP MP and vice-president of the NATO Parliamentary Association said: "During the Cold War, we protected European values from Communism".

The problem of human rights and the Turkish military was also highlighted during our visit. Turkey has improved its human rights situation, especially with regard to torture - and this has been acknowledged by the EU - but there still are problems. We visited the Human Rights Foundation in Ankara where its chairman, Yavuz Onen, explained that the foundation's main function is to treat victims of torture, who would typically be Kurds or left-wingers, and to document all human rights violations in Turkey. Since 1990 the foundation has received 10,500 applications from torture victims.

Our group of journalists got to hear some first-hand experience about torture in Turkey - our course leader in Ankara, Dogan Tilic, today a sociology professor at Ankara University and a leading newspaper columnist, was imprisoned by the military for three and a half years during the 1980 military coup where he was subjected to torture by electric shock. Professor Tilic was a left-wing student leader imprisoned for his political beliefs. He has since sued the Turkish state and was awarded €25,000 by the European Court of Human Rights.

The army has a very important role in Turkish society and politics. As a bastion of secularism it is seen as a protector of Atatürk's legacy and is on the whole widely respected, even though it committed various human rights abuses when it overthrew the civilian governments in 1960 and 1980. Of course, the army's role will have to be redefined as Turkey prepares to join the EU. Turkey is full of conspiracy theories and one such theory is that Prime Minister Erdogan is using EU membership to undermine the military, the traditional pillar of the secular state, in order to increase Islamic influence in the country. This just makes the whole equation even more complicated. Europe wants Turkey to be secular, but it also wants the army not to meddle in politics.

It is a pity that there are some elements in Turkey today which are questioning the country's secularism. Turkey never had this problem before, which arose since the election of the AKP in 2002. However, to say that the AKP wants to turn the country into an Islamic state - which is simply incompatible with EU membership - is, I feel, a huge exaggeration. The AKP calls itself a conservative democratic party but some of its policies and actions - for example only three Cabinet ministers' wives do not wear headscarves - has given cause for concern.

Mr Erdogan's economic record has been good, and both Brussels and Turkish businesses acknowledge this, but the government has lately been accused of resorting to conservative religious populism and slowing down economic reform ahead of next year's November election. Before the general election Parliament must elect a new President by May 2007. Secularists fear that Mr Erdogan - who has a huge parliamentary majority - will nominate himself for the job. Mr Erdogan's wife wears a headscarf - something the secularists are having nightmares about. The President represents the state which by law is meat to be secular. Turkey is certainly passing through interesting times.