An important message for Turkey from the EU

This change was especially noticed after the prime minister in February and CHP leader Deniz Baykal afterwords visited Brussels.

Last week we witnessed an example of winds blowing stronger and in favor of Turkey.

In the European Parliament the report on Turkey was discussed and approved.

You might remember former meetings of the European Parliament. They would turn into a blood bath and those having business with Turkey would take their files and head to the parliament to impose on the report their "amendment proposals."

During the sessions everybody would talk and drag Turkey through the mud. People would say that the PKK protects the rights of the Kurdish peopleÉ make decisions to immediately end the invasion in CyprusÉ claim that Armenians have suffered genocide.. Even with this heavy burden Turkey has kept going through the years. And look at the present situation.

Never been a milder report for Turkey in 25 years
We could say, the report for Turkey prepared up by the Dutch parliamentarian Ria Oomen Ruijten is the mildest report published in the past 20 to 25 years. Again it contains subjects we already know. Again it talks about not having banned torture all togetherÉ again it states that freedom of expression is restrictedÉ again it touches on the re-opening of the seminary at HeybeliadaÉ etc. etc. But in addition the report talks about the PKK as a terror organizationÉ it no longer only blames Turkey for the Cyprus issueÉ does not include the word genocideÉ In the past when a draft of the report was drawn up about 200 amendments would be submitted and more precision of the wording would be requested.This time only 16 were submitted and they were mainly amendments that were looking out for Turkey.

Even if this was due to rapporteur Oomen Ruijten’s mastery and watch for balance, the winds blowing in the direction of Turkey must have been more effective. For example German and French leaders Merkel and Sarkozy have not reflected their negative attitude in the report and Paris and Berlin have not made an attempt either.

Usually the European Parliament plays the "bad guy" and the EU Commission the "good guy." But this time, whether it be the commission or speakers of various groups, they have not approached Turkey in a boorish way.

I examined the report very carefully and among the 27 countries I could not find one country that was in favor of a cessation of negotiations or the process.

During parliament works there was only one parliamentarian who spoke in that manner. All others were in favor of a continuation of negotiations. Everybody’s mutual point was to set in motion reforms and accelerate the full membership process. I already mentioned the contributions in Brussels by the prime minister and Baykal. In addition their contributions in recent activity regarding external politics, Palestine, peace negotiations between Syria and Israel, rapprochement between Iran and the United States have increased Ankara’s prestige to an important extent. I can’t help it but touch on another point that stunned me.

To my surprise, the Davos incident, contrary to many commentators including me, has provided an advantage for Turkey abroad.Some say, "It was about time that someone said something to the Israelis out loud." Some say, "Your prime minister put forth what we are reluctant to say." And some say that Erdoğan started to scare his peers with his sudden and unrestrained reactions.

The general impression is that Turkey has gained a personality in the Middle East and the upswing in the region, especially for America and Iran’s preparation for taking up contact and for the withdrawal from Iraq, have prepared an environment in favor of Ankara. That is why in the beginning I chose to write the sentence "Winds are blowing in favor of Turkey."