France wants Turkey to adapt to EU
Foreign Desk Report

BRUSSELS (Belgium)—French President Jacques Chirac said Tuesday that Turkey would need to undergo a “major cultural revolution” before entering the European Union, and he reiterated that France would hold a referendum on admitting Ankara to the bloc. The comments by Chirac represented the tough road ahead in Turkey’s membership in the 25-nation EU. It took last-minute wrangling after two days of arduous talks between EU foreign ministers to overcome Austrian objections to start the negotiations.
The entry talks are expected to last for at least 10 years before the EU can absorb Turkey and stretch its borders to the Middle East. There is broad opposition among Europeans to admitting the poor, predominantly Muslim nation of 70 million people. “Will it succeed? I cannot say. I hope so. But I am not at all sure,” Chirac said at a news conference in Paris. It will be “a considerable effort” for Turkey,” he said. “It is a major cultural revolution,” that will take “at minimum 10 to 15 years.” He reiterated that Turkey’s membership would need to be approved by the French in a referendum. Austria also plans such a vote, and other countries may also decide to hold one. “The French will have the last word, as it should be in a democracy,” he said. “We will see when the time comes.” In Turkey, there was no immediate reaction to Chirac’s comments, which were reported by Turkish television, but Culture Minister Atilla Koc’s office said he was reviewing them. Akif Beki, spokesman for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was not immediately available for comment. British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who currently holds the EU presidency, also said negotiations would take a long time, and would mean a “very big change” for the Europe and Turkey. “It will be an issue of controversy for years to come,” he told reporters in London. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said Turkey’s entry is “neither guaranteed nor automatic.”
“Turkey must win the hearts and minds of European citizens. They are the ones who at the end of the day will decide about Turkey’s membership,” he said. Although the EU held a middle-of the night ceremony in Luxembourg to formally start the talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, it will take nearly a year before the real technical negotiations get under way. On Oct. 20, the EU experts will start a broad “screening” of Turkey’s rule policies to see whether they meet minimum requirements to start specific talks in 35 areas — everything from food safety rules to minority rights.
Turkey then faces a final review from all EU governments who have to unanimously approve talks to begin in these policy areas. The negotiating mandate says that if the EU finds “a serious and persistent breach ... of the principles of liberty, democracy, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and the rule of law,” the EU may suspend the negotiations. One significant political issue that remains unresolved is Cyprus. Turkey does not recognize EU member Cyprus, and is the only country to recognize a breakaway Turkish Cypriot state in the north of the divided Mediterranean island. Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, appearing at the Paris news conference with Chirac, said shutting the door to Turkey would have been unpardonable — like rejecting a suitor.
In such a situation, he warned, “love can turn to hate or something close to hate.” Opening EU membership talks with Turkey offered an “unmissable” opportunity to build links between the West and the Muslim world, he said. The prospect of the mainly Christian EU absorbing Turkey will benefit the region, officials insisted. “I’m in absolutely no doubt that the benefits will follow from this enlargement and bring a strong secular state which happens to have a Muslim majority into the European Union,” British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said. The agreement was a rare point of light in a gloomy year for the EU. A proposed EU constitution was shot down in French and Dutch referendums in May.