The election of Abdullah GUL as President of Turkey.

THE ACTON INSTITUTE ON TURKEY'S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

The ACTON Institute (www.acton.org) with which we maintain cordial relations, recently after the election of Mr. Abdullah Gul as President of Turkey has published a comment by Prof Dr Bilal Sambur, professor of theology at Suleiman Demirel University in Isparta, Turkey.
The professor shows that far from being anxious about this election of a Moslim as President of Turkey, the West should rejoice in a peaceful democratic process.
Here is a short reaction I sent in to the friends in ACTON:
I too, having lived for years in fascinating Turkey, can see the good sides of the recent Turkish elections.
Turkey becomes more "normal". It is now possible for a devout moslim to become president of Turkey like it is for a catholic to become President of the United States.
It should be obvious that such a statement is quite different from concluding that Turkey should become a full member of the European Union.
Yes, obvious perhaps, and yet it merits being said again because in the USA as in Europe it comes easily to confound two separate questions.(note 1).
While the recent internal development of Turkey is cause for rejoicing, the terms of the debate in Europe on the question whether Turkey should ever become a full member of the European Union have not changed at all.
On both sides of the Bosphorus societies and cultural heritages are so different that Europe would gain nothing and rather would loose a great degree of communality and cohesion with Turkey's accession. That would be detrimental to Europe as our continent has to face difficult societal challenges, and needs to mobilize in coming years a maximum in social cohesion.
Turkey's demographic influence would be so big under new EU constitutional rules as to cause havock in European top level decision making.
At the other level, the basis of our societies, in our cities and suburbs the simple living together also becomes more difficult as increased immigration would gravely diminish cohesion.Turkish immigrants do not integrate and do not assimilate Europe's heritage.
After the good recent elections let us therefore now decide in Europe to do with Turkey something more productive than honoring the old obsession of a European Union membership. In Kemal Ataturk's time Turkey's leaders might have had some reason in pursuing that line.Today that link is entirely superfluous. Even Far East Asian countries like Japan and Korea can become quite modern without europeanization.
We must now rather think of making with Turkey a strong and comprehensive partnership. More and more people are thinking in such terms.(see the publication of the Robert Schuman Foundation, "POUR UN PARTENARIAT PRIVILEGIE, - alternative a une accession de la Turquie a l'Union Europeenne"). We have written an extensive comment on that wrothwhile new document. You will find it on this site in French language).
With the peaceful election of Abdullah Gul as President, Turkey has shown that it can find its way to democracy very well on its own.
It does not need to be "anchored" to, or to be "guided" by the European Union.
Anton Smitsendonk
former Netherlands Ambassador
(note That the two questions are confused or easily equated is shown bythe International Herald Tribune which on july 25th under the leading title "Turkey:Democracy affirmed" starts lauding the election process and its results and then goes on saying "Washington should continue to press Turkey's case for EU membership". We in Europe have by now had enough of this kind of Washington pressure. I think it is too easy and to cheap for the US government to confuse NATO and the UE We cqn understqnd that the USA has a certain predilection for military geopolitics. For questions like Europe's identity and vocation there is far less interest. Even in longer term geopolitical terms the US pressure for Turkey's accession could well be self defeating since it would lead to a weaker transatlantic ally.)

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