Critical Analysis of Turkey's Accession to the European Union - Research Paper Example

? Critical Analysis of Turkey's Accession to the European Union Introduction This paper examines the plans, proceedings and issues related to Turkey's aspirations to join the European Union. The research will involve the assessment of the fundamental structures of the European Union and what defines its entry rules and conventions. The paper will then go on to asses the connections that Turkey has to the European Union and how it has been explored over the past. This segment will go on to discuss the attempts made by Turkey to join the European Union and how they have been received. The research will evaluate the challenges faced by Turkey in entering the European Union. This will involve significant barriers and issues that have stood in the way of Turkey like human rights, law and other reforms they need to undertake. After this, the paper will try to predict the possibilities of EU entry for Turkey. The European Union The origins of the European Union can be traced back to the 1951 Treaty of Paris which established the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC)1. This came after the lack of cooperation and the alignment of old enemies in Europe had culminated in the two World Wars. The Second World War saw the utter destruction of the most civilized continent on the planet. The subsequent formation of the United Nations with the view of promoting human rights and global security formed the framework which gave the impetus for cooperation between nations in sub-regions. Thus, the European Community got together with this 1951 Treaty in Paris. This was followed by the Treaty of Rome in 1957 which laid down the blueprints for higher level of cooperation between the founding nations of what is now known as the European Union. The Treaty of Rome was signed by the six founding members of the European Community2. This union expanded to 27 nations in 2004 and there is evidence that more nations have aspirations to join the union, one of them is Turkey which applied for membership as far back as 1989 and has been a member of the Western European Commission since 19923. The European Union is a supranational organization which is meant to build a common future for its member states through the coordination of policies within these nations4. The European Union focuses on International Economic Integration of member states and this is done through free trade, customs unions, common markets and economic unions5. The primary goal or finalite politique of the European Union is to create a Federal Europe committed to welfare, security and prosperity to its member states and citizens6. This implies that the European Union is mainly focused on promoting important changes in the social and economic well being through the sharing of commonalities and the promotion of trade and other activities that promote wealth generation and economic growth. Culturally, the European Union is made up of people with majorities that are linguistically Indo-European and religiously Christians7. Only Estonia is the nation that does not have these two features in its majority population8. Entry to the European Union Although Turkey has strong connections to the European Union in both the historical and geographical sense, it is officially not a member of the European Union. This is because there are some important entry rules that all aspiring nations need to adhere to. Turkey's position on this subject wavers and they have to adjust to meet most of them. Traditionally, the enlargement of the European Union is done on a case-by-case basis9. This is because before a member state joins, members in good standing will need to examine their status and acceptability before granting them the right to accede into the Union. A notable case is that of the United Kingdom which had its application for membership vetoed by Charles de Gaulle's France on several occasions. However, in the case of the Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs), the extension was done through a systematic approach where a group of aspiring member states were given some criteria to fulfill over a period of time collectively10. Although the Union seem to be a little tolerant now, there are still targets that each member state needs to meet after this incident in order to be accepted into the Union. Also, the European Union seems to have lost its appetite for expansion after the inclusion of these Central and Eastern European states in 2004. It could be attributed to the need to adjust and absorb these new member states. Also, economic challenges in countries like Spain and Greece seem to discourage the inclusion of new nations that might not be too economically important. The European Council determines the economic and political conditions that aspiring nations need to fulfill before they can become members11. The accession of the CEECs have made this a standardized process rather than a subjective and specific scenario. Standardization has several advantages. First of all, it makes it easier for member states to be veted, secondly it improves efficiency in transforming economies and thirdly it guides donors [in most cases current members of the EU] to know how to provide aid to aspiring states12. The standardization process ensures that there is a yardstick by which aspiring nations can be assessed and examined in an objective manner. This will obviously prevent tensions in the admission of new members as the group grows. The standardized system of getting member states to meet criteria are in two main categories. The first is the sin qua non criteria that include core activities that must be met at all costs13. These are the core values of the Union and must be addressed in a non-negotiable manner. Aside this, there are acquis which are of a secondary nature and can be met with some degrees of variations from state to state14. Notable nations that seem to be aspiring for EU membership are Ukraine and Turkey. Although these nations are traditionally out of scope of the union, they have a fair chance if they meet the requirements laid out in the standard procedures. Turkey's Connections to the European Union Turkey is strongly connected to Western Europe and this connection spans from the era of the Ottoman Empire which was a Muslim empire that grew in the Near East in the 14th Century. The primary connection of Turkey to Western Europe lies in the fact that Turkey or the Ottoman Empire shared a long border with Russia which led to so many skirmishes between these two Empires. Due to this, Turkey had to seek allies from powerful and modern nations in the 1800s to deal with the Russian threat. This led to so many alliances with Britain and France in the Crimean War and other wars15. In order to promote corporation with Britain, France and Western Europe, the Ottoman Empire came up with the Tanzimat Reforms which modernized the Empire and tilted it towards Western Europe16. The fortunes of the Ottoman Empire turned around when they entered the First World War on the side of Germany in order to engage their primary enemy, Russia who had come out on the side of Britain and France. Due to the loss of Germany in the First World War, the Ottoman Empire was invaded by Britain and France who broke down the empire. It was only the uprising of Mustafa Kemal Antaturk that led to the birth of the modern nation, Turkey. Turkey has always been an allied member state. Turkey has been an associate member of the European Union since 196. They joined the Council of Europe in 1949 and was a founding member of the Organization for Economic Corporation and Development (OECD) in 1961. Turkey has also been an indispensable ally in the fight against Communists and the expansion of the Soviet Union by Joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which was designed to halt the expansion of the Communists. It can therefore be argued that Turkey has always been anti-Russian and this tilted it towards Western Europe. After the Second World War, Turkey joined the West via the Truman doctrine and became a member of NATO since it was another opportunity to steer clear from their Russian enemies who were no Communist under the Soviet Union and had a strong appetite for expansion. Attempts made by Turkey to join the EU Turkey applied for membership to the European Union in the late 1980s17. However, the European Union granted Turkey candidature in 199918. This led to the Copenhagen Summit of 2002 where Turkey showed further interests in becoming a part of the European Union and showed that it was prepared to meet the core requirements of membership19. The main requirements that came up in the 2002 Copenhagen Summit were Practical Competency and Political Culture20. Turkey had to demonstrate that they had competencies in the areas of Rule of Law, Democracy and Human Rights21. To this end, Turkey, like other aspiring nations need to show that they have the structures to attain the three main pointers and were actually maintaining it and had done so for a considerable period of time. Rule of Law encompassed the proper separation of powers and the presence of a fair judiciary. Also, there is the need to have a democratic structure in which citizens played a major role under the constitution in choosing leaders and institutions of democracy was nurtured. Also, human rights for all and sundry had to be present and this was to be done in a way and manner consistent with the human rights laws of the Union which was to become the guiding principle for entry and accession. In 2005, accession talks began in Helsinki where Turkey was required to begin the process of membership22. Eventually, the processes and activities began and Turkey was required to demonstrate beyond reasonable doubt that they could meet the membership and accede to the Union. Case for Turkish Membership Turkey also argued strongly that their membership in the European Union is one that will bring significant benefits to the Union. They pointed out several situations that could bring so much benefits to the European Union. This included the areas of labor, business opportunities and their location in global affairs. First of all, Turkey has a population of 75 million which promised to give companies in the European Union a wide market for their goods and services23. This level of population was rare in Europe and apart from France, the UK and Germany who have similar levels of populations, Turkey could prove to be a major point where European businesses could easily carry out their business. This is because of the simple reason that there are more people who might want to purchase services presented by European merchants. Secondly, Turkey had a huge pool of skilled but cheap labor that the rest of the European Union could benefit from24. Turkey's educational system is strong and they have jobs that groom and train many people who can potentially work for European firms at the highest levels. This means that the free movement of persons could enable these Turkish nationals to move to portions of Europe and help in building the nations. Thirdly, the costs of production in Turkey were argued to be very low. The officials from Turkey indicated that factory expenses were as low as the levels of China and with Turkey in the Union, these businesses could relocate their production plants to Turkey and make a fortune in profits and tax cuts25. This could mean that European companies might use Turkey as their location for production instead of Southeast Asia where they often site their industries. Finally, Turkey was a geostrategic locations that could link the European Union to further markets in other parts of the world. This include places like Central Asia, the Middle East and the Black Sea. This could open up trade routes for European Union businesses. Also, the inclusion of Turkey could pave way for the entry of Israel into the Union. And Israel was culturally more European than Middle Eastern. However, without securing Turkey which was a strategic location, it was difficult to include Israel. Issues with Turkish Membership Basically, Turkey had serious issues and challenges that they could not convince EU officials about. One of them was their human rights profile which was not so good. Gabriel argues that Turkey had been accused of meting out atrocities to its minorities, mainly Armenians, Syriacs and Greek Pontiacs26. Under International and European Union conventions, the final stage of genocide is denial27. And due to this, Turkey is seen to have a major human rights problem since it denies taking part in genocide in the First World War and other periods in time. Many also argue that the rights of minorities in Turkey are not well protected. This is evident in the fact that Turkey has been indicted for suppressing some minorities like the Kurds who are often jailed for political reasons. These Kurds have been seeking self determination and the way the Turkish government is dealing with them is very violent and sometimes gruesome. Secondly, the political culture is said to be problematic. This is because the country has a history of military rule where power has been held by top ranking members of the military. Many issues of human rights abuses targeting journalists and the censorship of the media indicate that democracy in Turkey is yet to gain roots. Also, Turkey has major issues with its occupation of Northern Cyprus which has been claimed by the Greeks too28. The European Union has always demanded the isolation of Turkey because of its military occupation of Northern Cyprus which was kicked against by key members of the EU today. However, with fears that Turkey would look East and the need to keep Turkey in NATO, the United States remained silent about the incident and now, there is the need for Turkey to resolve that matter before it can be considered for accession29. Additionally, most members of the Christian Democratic caucuses of EU nations continue to lobby against the inclusion of Turkey30. They argue that Turkey is religiously and culturally different and granting them membership would change the social composition of the European Union. Due to this, such groups have made efforts to keep Turkey out of the Union by supporting actions against Turkey. Finally, there is clear evidence that Turkey is struggling with the attainment of the 35 pointers in the acquis which they are required to meet. In 2005, when Turkey was assessed by EU observers, they identified that there were serious issues relating to public procurement, competition policies, financial services, food safety, environment, the Judiciary and many other areas and aspects of the nation31. In 2012, negotiations had to be stalled due to the fact that 8 articles of the 35 could not be concluded32 Conclusion The European Union was formed to promote the economic integration of the nations and peoples of Western Europe. Its initial vision was to expand in a gradualist manner. However, after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the availability of some central and eastern European states, the EU standardized its admission procedures and included many nations in a single entry stream. Turkey has maintained strong links to Western Europe for the past 200 years. This dates back to the years of the Ottoman Empire where they needed cooperation with Britain and France to deal with Russian expansionist threats. Turkey currently has a large population, a major pool of cheap and skilled labor, low production costs and they occupy a geostrategic location. Although they became EU candidates in 1999, their accession talks began in 2005. Due to challenges like human rights issues from the past, they Northern Cyprus question, the political culture and the failure to meet EU demands, Turkey is still struggling to acceded the EU membership. Bibliography Anonym. Turkey-EU Relations (Berlin: GRIN Verlag, 2012) Available online at: http://books.google.co.za/books/about/Turkey_EU_Relations.html?id=tDbU178krqAC&redir_esc=y Archer, Clive. The European Union (London, Taylor and Francis, 2008). Batora Jozef and Mokre Monika. Culture in the European Union's External Relations: Bridging the Divide? (Surrey: Ashgate Publishing, 2011) Bruinsma Willy, Hakrot Jacio and Wever Eric. The Expansion of the European Union – Between Hope and Fear (Amsterdam: Uitgeverij Van Corcum, 2005) Carkoglu Ali and Rubin Barry. Turkey and the European Union (London: Taylor and Francis Group, 2003) Cini, Michelle. European Union Policies. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007) El-Agraa Ali. The European Union: Economics and Policies. (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2011) EuroActiv. EU-Turkey Relations [Online] Available at: http://www.euractiv.com/enlargement/eu-turkey-relations/article-129678 Accessed: November 12, 2012. Gabriel, Linda. The European Union Accession of Turkey as a Chance for Human Rights and Minorities? (Berlin: GRIN Verlag) Laciner Sadat, Ozcan Mehmet and Bal Ihsan. European Union with Turkey: The Possible Impact of Turkey's Membership (Istanbul: USAK Books, 2005) Schinnelfennig, Frank. The European Union, NATO and Integrated Europe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003) Usul Resul Ali. Democracy in Turkey: The Impact of European Political Identity (London: Taylor and Francis, 2011) Wichmann, Udo. A European Identity Sets Limits for European Union Expansion. 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