Endless road to Turkey's EU accession!

-DR. ABDUL RUFF COLACHAL 

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It is unfortunate that Turkey is getting frustrated by the way some European nations misbehave with it in denying its legitimate entry into the EU as an European nation. They oppose Turkey because it is a Muslim nation and do not want to be part of EU which is prominently of Christian.  They even suggest to Istanbul to join the Mideast for grater cohesion and affinity among Muslim nations of that region. 

Most European nations consider Turkey being under "a probationary period for how it handles basic rights for citizens, how it handles the right to demonstrate and the right to free speech. So Turkey is supposed to satisfy the EU members on democratic and human rights in the country.

Democracy deficit and absence of good neighborly approach are the main issues that are very conveniently used by essentially anti-Islamic European nations that also are engaged in curtailing Islamic human freedoms in their nations, like cloths, mosques, etc.

The most important reason could be that Turkey’s Islamist objectives are not liked by most Europeans who generally hate Islam. Now many European nations find extra fault with Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s tightening his grip on the country where anti-Islamic forces are at work.

Therefore, it is indeed amazing that Turkey still has a along way to go before it finally obtains an EU membership. Turkey has not yet given up hopes though most members of EU oppose a Muslim nation, Turkey, entering their looks like a private union.

EU members raise democracy deficit and human rights deficit as the main reason for objecting to Turkey’s entry. They keep inventing new reasons to keep the Turkish membership request at bay. Last June, EU objected to Erdogan's decision to use police force, tear gas, and water cannons to put down peaceful protests stalled planned talks to Turkey's accession into the EU.

Demonstrations in Turkey by opposition supported people took to the streets in protest in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and other cities around the country. Protests erupted again in January in response to government censorship of the Internet. Though the catalysts are different from the Gezi protests that took place during the summer of last year, the sentiment is the same. EU says Turkey is alienating itself abroad, potentially robbing its citizens of the financial security EU could provide. Erdogan's anti-demonstration measures and unapologetic corruption are robbing the Turkish public of the democratic representation they once enjoyed.

Now EU also finds fault with Turkey on the latest corruption scandal broke out last month last month involving the PM Erdogan.

Jews occupying space in English language media make Turkey look like a monster and they join the US-UK political commentators to malign Islam and Turkish Islamist government.  They shed crocodile tears for Turkey people. They argue that Erdogan's anti-demonstration measures and unapologetic corruption are robbing the Turkish public of the democratic representation they once enjoyed.

EU refuses to compromise and take a lenient approach toward Turkey.

Turkey rightly responded to all these accusations by accusing Western countries of orchestrating the recent protests.

EU opposes WikiLeaks exposures but they oppose Turkish opposition to anti-Islamic media.

As if European rulers promote protests in their countries, they blame that Erdogan's decisions to suppress protests and incarcerate record numbers of journalists have kept Turkey out of the European Union.  Though Mrs. Merkel has just said she supported renewed accession talks with Turkey, in the past she has been critical of Turkey and the country's bid for EU membership for the same reasons

Everything that happens in the EU affects Turkey, regardless of whether or not Turkey is a member. Membership would give Turkey a voice to dictate what happens in the EU. You can't play cards if you're not sitting at the table. New membership status in the EU leads to annual GPD gains of an extra 1.5-2.0 percent. New members to the EU gained the benefits of rising investment and rising trade, leading to "improved living standards for their citizens, accelerated economic growth and substantial financial transfers. In spite of both the world economic and Euro zone crises, there is strong evidence that countries have still benefited from membership in the European Union.

Turkey doesn't have the economic resilience. Turkish currency lira has lost one-fifth of its value in the past year due to opposition troubles and demonstrations on issues that do not make Turkey strong. The stock market has dropped 32 percent since May of 2013, and bond markets have lost $18 billion worth of notes sold in the last six months.

As Turkey's political instability continues to damage its economy, it won't have the foreign political capital it once did.

While Erdogan has turned his back on many of his allies, especially Israel, he has also been building Turkey's relationship with Iran. Turkey's relations with Iran do have potential economic and political benefits. As relations between the USA and Iran improve, Turkey could serve as a broker between Iran and the West. However, there is no guarantee that Iranian and Western relations will continue to improve. Simultaneous EU membership and friendship with Iran could be a difficult balancing act.

 EU membership also has foreign policy benefits but EU members stand to gain from Turkey being inside and by keeping it outside EU, they would face many problems.

Those who want relations between EU and Turkey-, not necessarily as a member of EU – say a better standard of living for Turkish citizens through increased foreign trade induced by EU accession could help Turkey walk in the opposite direction from creeping autocracy and looming economic problems.

European nations that oppose Turkey’s entry into EU say Turkey is undermining their democracy. But would being a non EU member be at a great cost to the Turkish population?

In stead of crawling towards an unreasonably idiotic EU, the Turkish government would make its ties with Islamic word, especially with Iran and Arab world.

Once Istanbul is  firmly  engaged  with  diplomatic  surges  in Islamic world, becoming  the most  powerful Muslim nation on earth, EU would  also shed its anti-Islamic  skin and welcome Turkey into EU fold.

When  it becomes  the powerful Islamic nation, the UNSC would also engage itself with Turkey by gifting a vet position, though the veto is anti-democratic and working against humanity. But Turkey could use it for the benefits of Islamic world which is under attack from all enemies.