On the eve of today's visit of Chancellor Angela Merkel to Ankara the active debate on Turkey's accession to the European Union resumed in Germany. The fact that two economic and political leaders of the EU - France and Germany - until recently were not eager to see Turkey as part of the European space is a well-known fact. In particular, the tandem of Merkel-Sarkozy under a popular name "Merkozi" traditionally opposed the plans of Ankara's further integration into Europe.
Turkey, which applied for membership in 1987, and has been unsuccessfully conducting negotiations on accession to the EU since 2005 also significantly cooled in its desire to be part of the European family. In any case, most of the Turkish population are opposed to the continuation of active efforts of Turkish diplomacy towards Europe, and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is seriously considering the prospect of joining the SCO as an alternative to the EU, which he explicitly stated in a recent interview to a local TV channel «Kanal24» .
However, with the beginning of Francois Hollande’ presidency, there are signs that the Franco-Turkish relations are returned in a constructive direction. This factor, together with the steer of Turkey toward the SCO announced by Erdogan, which became a warning sign to Europe, is obviously reflected in the course of negotiations on Turkey's accession to the EU. Thus, the French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius at the meeting with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu announced the unblocking of the 22nd paragraph of negotiations on Turkey's accession to the EU, the veto on which was imposed in 2007 by the former President Sarkozy. Davutoğlu reacted to this step by the new French leadership extremely positively, noting that the 'important obstacle in relations between Turkey and the EU is removed’.
German media are now actively discussing the statement of European Commissioner for Energy, and Merkel's colleague in the CDU Günther Oettinger which puzzled the Europeans. Oettinger, speaking at an event of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Brussels, just said, "I am willing to bet that in the next decade, the German chancellor with her colleague from Paris will crawl to Turkey on their knees to ask Turkey: friends, join us”. The commissioner’s words were ambiguously perceived by the German community of experts, and Oettinger was immediately showered by reproaches of "non-collegiate" attitude to Chancellor Merkel, because his statement put her in an awkward position before the upcoming visit to Turkey. The president of European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, distanced himself from the words of Oettinger, which, as Barroso says, did not express the official position of the European Union.
In Turkey, on the contrary, this statement was received with undisguised pleasure. "I do not know if one day Europeans will fall to their knees. But one thing is known for sure: they certainly will make concessions ", - the Minister for EU Affairs Egemen Bagyn told reporters.
Apparently, at the moment the European Union suffering from chronic problem of lack of a single well-defined foreign policy will have to make some adjustments to its Turkish policy. The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s statement on his country's readiness to join the SCO should be considered in the broader context of readiness for change in foreign trade vector and, therefore, to some extent, the country's foreign policy vector. In Europe, this signal was well understood. In France there has been some positive change in its position in the Turkish question. Whether Germany will follow its example is largely depends on the results of the visit of Angela Merkel to Turkey. No doubt, the topic of Turkey's accession to the EU will be one of the central issues in the upcoming meeting between Merkel and the Turkish leadership.
