By Stern.de. Translation by Vestnik Kavkaza
While Turkey is shaken, the EU is permanently close to the protesting people. Of course, its presence is invisible: European politicians don’t talk about it aloud. Protesting people demand more democracy, more legitimacy, less bureaucratic tyranny – the EU has been trying to provide all this in Turkey for many years. These issues become acute each time when the country wants to join the European political community. “At least for this reason Europe closely follows the processes in Turkey,” Josef Janning, the expert of the affluent German Society of Foreign Policy, says.
The European future of the country on the Bosporus can be determined during protests in the next few weeks. Premier of Turkey Recep Erdogan indirectly touched on the topic, accusing protesters of being extremists supported from abroad.
Merkel warns Erdogan
The German Chancellor Angela Merkel criticized Erdogan during the meeting with her Tunisian colleague. She said that demonstrations are “a part of a legal state” and it is necessary to communicate with protesters within the law. “I am sure that these issues will be discussed with young people of the country, and no violence will be committed toward demonstrators.”
The internal political crisis in Turkey reached a crucial moment, from the point of view of German foreign policy. Some foreign political experts think that protests in Turkey should get a strong impulse from the EU for supporting the democratic movement there. The MP from the ruling part Rupreht Polenz stated about this in an interview to Stern.de. “The clashes demonstrate improvement of the civil society in Turkey,” Merkel’s envoy who is dealing with German-Turkish relations for many years says. “People demand the voting right. So, in general the development is positive,” he added, commenting on Turkish demonstrations.
The German Minister of Finances Wolfgang Sheuble told in an interview to Kiel News that Turkey “won’t become a full member of the European Union” and didn’t mention the protests at all.
Is it a new impulse for the EU?
Anyway, European politicians feel pressure: in the nearest future they should decide what to do with Turkish membership in the EU. Angela Merkel and the former president of France Nikolas Sarkozy actually froze the negotiations on joining Turkey to the European Union. Now Paris has a new government, and development of the geopolitical situation shows that the Europeans begin to hope for Turkey as a stronghold against chaotic events in the Arab world or a wave of refugees from Syria, who actually create a risky situation only in Turkey.
Is it a new impulse for joining the EU?
The internal political rivalry in Turkey is changing the situation. Probably the events in the internal political life of Turkey will shade the tricky question on its membership in the Union from the EU’s agenda. Some European politicians fears that Erdogan will turn to authoritarianism. The Turkish Prime Minister may decide to act more aggressively inside the country and worsen the political situation in the neighboring regions for diverting attention from unsettled problems in Turkey. “Europe should be concerned about the problem,” Janning says. “Erdogan is overwhelmed with self-confidence. He may decide to extend his power.”
“Any scenarios are possible,” Johannes Kars, the MP of Bundestag from Sociolists, says. “On the one hand, we shouldn’t underestimate Erdogan’s will to power; on the other hand, there are signs that the civil society becomes stronger.” The best impulse for further improvement of the Turkish civil society is progress in the process of joining to the EU, he thinks.
Barometer of Turkish democracy
However, Germany and other EU countries should publicly demonstrate a moderate position, according to Rupreht Polenz. “The federal government or others in Europe shouldn’t encourage pressure on the Turkish government. It might provoke an undesirable effect. Today Erdogan accuses protesters of representing foreign interests. I think he makes a wrong bet. If he maintains this position, the protest movements will increase,” Polenz predicts. “We should not give a blank cheque to Erdogan, at the same time, we shouldn’t pretend that we are leading the protests,” Janning thinks. “The current developments are the barometer of Turkish democracy.” And there is hope for the best.
