Time to focus on homework for EU
Güncelleme Tarihi:
by Reeta Paakkinen
OluÅŸturulma Tarihi: Nisan 13, 2009 00:00
ISTANBUL -’The best investment Turkey can make is to do its homework well. There are, of course, many opinions on Turkey’s European Union membership in the union of 27 states,’ Finnish President Tarja Halonen tells the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review in Istanbul last week.
Finland is trying to make sure Turkey is treated equally during its negotiation process for European Union membership, Finnish President Tarja Halonen said last week, adding that Turkey should focus on reforms.Â
"The best investment Turkey can now make is to do its homework well. There are, of course, many opinions [on Turkey’s EU membership] in the union of 27 member states," Halonen told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review in Istanbul. "We are trying to make sure Turkey is being treated equally and that its negotiation process will not be blocked for any extraordinary reason. This is quite a demand, and some member states - not only France but also [Greek] Cyprus - are pretty actively against it."
Halonen also touched on EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn’s comments regarding Turkey’s reluctance to support Danish former Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen as NATO secretary-general.
Earlier last week, Turkey voiced its opposition to Rasmussen’s appointment on the basis of his conduct during the so-called cartoon crisis and his approval of Roj TV, a channel based in Denmark that the Turkish government sees as supporting the outlawed terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK. Rehn reportedly warned that Turkey’s approach could harm the country’s EU accession process.
"There is no link or article according to which a country’s conduct in NATO voting issues would affect its EU process," Halonen said. "Finland itself is not part of the NATO and neither is Sweden, Austria or Ireland. [...] The EU and NATO are two different places."
"On the other hand, different kind of conducts, be it in NATO or the Alliance of Civilizations, have either a negative or a positive impact on the way a country is perceived," she added. "I understand both Turkey and Olli Rehn, but they should learn to understand each other."
According to Halonen, the open support of U.S. President Barack Obama for Turkey’s EU membership may be perceived as an "added difficulty" and "outside intervention" by the member states that are already skeptical about Turkey’s inclusion.
"There is nothing new in the U.S. president recommending the EU to take Turkey as a member," Halonen said. "Americans are also wondering if we don’t see the strategic position of Turkey. We do see it. But the question is that the EU needs to think how Turkey fits in the family and whether it fills all the criteria."
According to Halonen, a very positive side of Obama’s visit to Europe is that there is now an understanding in the U.S. administration of the diversity of opinions among European states.
"Obama said that he now has a clear picture that there is no single opinion in Europe - that there is no single phone number to Europe, as the joke goes," Halonen said. "At least this president has the very beneficial viewpoint that in Europe there are several phone numbers from where one gets different opinions."
Women’s rights
Halonen, a lawyer by education, is the first female president of Finland. She noted that for gender equality to materialize, equal rights for women must be provided on all levels of society.
"My message to Turkish women is to be active and network internationally. To men, I would also like to say that there is no way to activate women only on the political level," Halonen said. "A woman is an entity who needs rights at home, in economics and politics, as all these areas are intertwined. Each country should investigate if it has laws that hamper gender equality."
According to Halonen, the real issue at stake in the headscarf debate is not the covering itself but the way it may be exploited to curtail equal opportunities.
"The point is not if one wears a headscarf or, for example, a cap at school," Halonen said. "But if this impedes the person from taking part in, for example, sport lessons, then the issue becomes more complex."
"The best investment Turkey can now make is to do its homework well. There are, of course, many opinions [on Turkey’s EU membership] in the union of 27 member states," Halonen told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review in Istanbul. "We are trying to make sure Turkey is being treated equally and that its negotiation process will not be blocked for any extraordinary reason. This is quite a demand, and some member states - not only France but also [Greek] Cyprus - are pretty actively against it."
Halonen also touched on EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn’s comments regarding Turkey’s reluctance to support Danish former Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen as NATO secretary-general.
Earlier last week, Turkey voiced its opposition to Rasmussen’s appointment on the basis of his conduct during the so-called cartoon crisis and his approval of Roj TV, a channel based in Denmark that the Turkish government sees as supporting the outlawed terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK. Rehn reportedly warned that Turkey’s approach could harm the country’s EU accession process.
"There is no link or article according to which a country’s conduct in NATO voting issues would affect its EU process," Halonen said. "Finland itself is not part of the NATO and neither is Sweden, Austria or Ireland. [...] The EU and NATO are two different places."
"On the other hand, different kind of conducts, be it in NATO or the Alliance of Civilizations, have either a negative or a positive impact on the way a country is perceived," she added. "I understand both Turkey and Olli Rehn, but they should learn to understand each other."
According to Halonen, the open support of U.S. President Barack Obama for Turkey’s EU membership may be perceived as an "added difficulty" and "outside intervention" by the member states that are already skeptical about Turkey’s inclusion.
"There is nothing new in the U.S. president recommending the EU to take Turkey as a member," Halonen said. "Americans are also wondering if we don’t see the strategic position of Turkey. We do see it. But the question is that the EU needs to think how Turkey fits in the family and whether it fills all the criteria."
According to Halonen, a very positive side of Obama’s visit to Europe is that there is now an understanding in the U.S. administration of the diversity of opinions among European states.
"Obama said that he now has a clear picture that there is no single opinion in Europe - that there is no single phone number to Europe, as the joke goes," Halonen said. "At least this president has the very beneficial viewpoint that in Europe there are several phone numbers from where one gets different opinions."
Women’s rights
Halonen, a lawyer by education, is the first female president of Finland. She noted that for gender equality to materialize, equal rights for women must be provided on all levels of society.
"My message to Turkish women is to be active and network internationally. To men, I would also like to say that there is no way to activate women only on the political level," Halonen said. "A woman is an entity who needs rights at home, in economics and politics, as all these areas are intertwined. Each country should investigate if it has laws that hamper gender equality."
According to Halonen, the real issue at stake in the headscarf debate is not the covering itself but the way it may be exploited to curtail equal opportunities.
"The point is not if one wears a headscarf or, for example, a cap at school," Halonen said. "But if this impedes the person from taking part in, for example, sport lessons, then the issue becomes more complex."