Turkey is not an ordinary candidate country for the EU, but a distinctive factor that would demonstrate the EU's sincerity, plausibility, prestige and future. The motion to freeze EU membership negotiations with Turkey, which has been issued by the European Parliament, is to be negotiated at the European Council summit on Dec. 15-16. I do not know what decision will be issued at the summit. But I have observed that those wishing to depart without waiting for the council decision constitute the majority. The Turkish state may assert that it could be content with a customs union like Britain, which departed the EU without hesitation, because the governments or leaders of no candidate country can defend the EU as opposed to their own people in the face of impertinent remarks and decisions by EU institutions. This contradicts the logic and dynamics of politics.
However, the problem doesn't just concern Turkey. Undoubtedly, the EU countries will be affected by the losses caused by the rupture of relations. Established with the plan to expand the borders of democracy in the aftermath of World War II, the EU will be the one getting the severest blow with regard to stability and democracy by pushing Turkey to the East. Almost everyone agrees on the point that the isolation created by Turkey's exclusion from the EU will trigger nationalist and even racist tendencies across Europe.
On the other hand, it is argued that the plans to calm down the electorate and bar the radical right opposition rising in Europe lie behind the European Parliament's motion on Turkey.
So, the EU is aware of what is coming. However, they cannot see the fact that their measures against Turkey, which symbolically represents millions of others, particularly Muslims, in Europe, are to bring direct opposite consequences. Think about the psychological atmosphere in the case of an irreversible rupture of membership negotiations between the EU and Turkey. In this case, how will the EU manage to integrate others into the system? Their number will climb when Turkey changes its policy of keeping millions of refugees at the borders of the EU. With such a move, the EU will overtly declare to millions of European citizens that the EU is endeavoring to integrate "foreigner Europeans" into the public sphere and their future plans.
Officially departing from the universal values on which the EU is said to have been founded is likely to legitimize racist movements and discourse. Considering the situation of French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, who argued that he is a candidate against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the context of the elections in France, this wave seems to have slid even the left-wing to the right.
The European Council, which is to hold a summit next week, needs to ponder this threat in light of the "no reform for the EU" message issued in the referendum in Italy before making a final decision on Turkey. It must be remembered that Turkey is not an ordinary candidate country for the EU, but a distinctive factor that would demonstrate the EU's sincerity, plausibility, prestige and future.
