The accession of Turkey into the European Union is one of the most controversial subjects in the process of the enlargement of the EU. Especially in Germany the possible integration of Turkey is an issue that is discussed on a broad scale in the society, since a large part of the German population is of Turkish descent and the aftereffects of a closer relation with Turkey seems to raise personal interest among most of Germany's citizens. The current unrest and rioting in Istanbul along with the censorship of certain media like the internet-based social networking service Twitter by the administration of Recep Tayyip Erdogan added its share to the futility of an acceleration to the process of Turkeys integration in the European Union.
After the visit of the German President Joachim Gauck, a number of German politicians pointed out, that Turkey under its current government is not going to become a member state of the EU. One could argue that the current situation in Turkey makes it indeed uneasy to imagine it to become a stable member that fulfills the rules of accession. However, Turkey was granted the rank of a potential member of the European Union almost fifteen years ago. Since then, the opposition against it didn't only rally in Germany. In this essay the author examines the major reasons for the resistance among the French people to Turkeys integration.
Inhaltsverzeichnis:
1. Introduction
2. The historical perception of Turkey
3. “Turkey is Asia minor”
4. The religious borders of Europe
5. The human rights issue
6. Too big to fit in.
7. Islam in France
8. Conclusion
Bibliography
1. Introduction
The accession of Turkey into the European Union is one of the most controversial subjects in the process of the enlargement of the EU.
Especially in Germany the possible integration of Turkey an issue that is discussed on a broad scale in the society, since a large part of the German population is of Turkish descent and the aftereffects of a closer relation with Turkey seems to raise personal interest among most of Germany's citizens. The current unrest and rioting in Istanbul along with the censorship of certain media like the internet-based social networking service Twitter by the administration of Recep Tayyip Erdogan added it's share to the futility of an acceleration to the process of Turkeys integration in the European Union. After the visit of the German President Joachim Gauck, a number of German politicians pointed out, that Turkey under it's current government is not going to become a member state of the EU.
One could argue that the current situation in Turkey makes it indeed uneasy to imagine it to become a stable member that fulfills the rules of accession. However, Turkey was granted the rank of a potential member of the European Union almost fifteen years ago. Since then, the opposition against it didn't only rally in Germany. I want to examine in the major reasons for the resistance among the French people to Turkeys integration in this essay.
2. The historical perception of Turkey
A recent survey shows that nearly two-thirds (66%) of the French population oppose Turkey’s EU bid.[1] A quite impressive part if one considers that for example the Serbian accession doesn't seem to have any impact on the public opinion, although France along with its NATO-allies was at war with that country only fifteen years ago.
Historically, the public opinion towards Turkey holds the legacy of the impression of the horrors of the Armenian genocide which happened almost years ago. The Turkish attempts to distance themselves from the genocide and implying that it never happened has led to countries such as France officially recognizing it in 2001[2] Turkey’s recent dark history has definitely proved to be a factor among the French public when deciding whether they trust and desire Turkey in the EU. This mistrust in turn affects the French Government, where we can see a certain continuity although the politicians themselves hold different positions in this matter.
Jacques Chirac was quite sympathetic towards Turkey’s accession bid. He supported it when in power himself but not very rigorously in public. This may be down to the majority of the French electorate not favoring Turkish accession and so Chirac proposed letting the public decide through a referendum[3]. This article of the French constitution has since been removed.
The election of the adamantly-opposed Sarkozy to the Presidency meant a turning point in France’s official position on Turkey’s membership to the EU” [4] Sarkozy has often cited geographical and cultural reasons for Turkey’s exclusion.
After he was replaced in 2012 by Francois Hollande, his successor took a step back from Sarkozy’s harsh opposition and claims to support Turkish accession on the basis of the Copenhagen criteria being adopted successfully. These criteria all now often cited, since the accurate defense of Human Rights seems not to be granted in Turkey at the moment.
Similarly to French public opinion, the majority of the important French political figures oppose Turkey’s potential membership. Laurent Fabius and Francois Bayrou claim it would ‘ severely threaten the political structure of Europe’.[5] As seen above, around two thirds of the French public and quite a similar majority of the main political figures in France oppose Turkey’s accession. The Armenian genocide is undoubtedly a factor in some minds, because especially southern France is inhabited by a armenian minority. Regardless of that, there remains much more influential contemporary political factors in this opposition. Geographical reasons and their validity will be looked at initially as will the alleged ‘Asian’ culture of Turkey, human rights and the Cypriot and Kurdish conflicts and their effect on the French Government’s accession stance. Second to be discussed will be the obstacle of Turkey’s huge population and the effect that it's participation in the European politics would have on France’s linguistic, cultural and politically central role within the EU. The effect on the shift in EU voting power will also be mentioned. To be discussed finally and arguably most significantly will be the closely related issues of religion in Turkey and immigration to France of a raising number of Muslims and the effect this may cause on French society and whether this is a truly important issue in assessing Turkey’s membership. This issue seems to be of current interest, since the extreme right of France's political scene gained some electoral success with using just these arguments.
3. “Turkey is Asia Minor”
This famous quote by the former [6] president of France Nicolas Sarkozy expresses the various geographical reasons that have been used by French politicians to deny Turkey accession to the EU. Sarkozy is also quoted as saying "Europe has ‘natural borders’ which include the Balkans, but exclude Turkey”[7].
However, Sarkozy is not the only politician in France to cite geographical reasons. Former French President, Valery Giscard d’Estaing suggested in an interview in 2002 that Turkish accession "would be the end of the European Union because its capital is not in Europe and 95% of its population live outside Europe. It is not a European country”[8]. D’Estaing is referring to the centre of Istanbul as being the border between Europe and Asia and it is regarded by some that the plot of land to the east of Istanbul (3% of Turkey’s total land) is European but the rest of Turkey including its capital, Ankara, is Asian. It is an undeniable fact that Turkey is located on the very edge of the European continent and is deemed by some to be too far east to be part of Europe but can that be really the reason why France is so strongly opposed to their accession to the EU?
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[1] Bogdani, p.88
[2] Aksit, Senyuva, Ustun, p.14/15
[3] Bogdani, p.102
[4] Aksit, et al, p.2
[5] Aksit, et al, p. 18
[6] Aksit, et al, p.18
[7] Bogdani, p.102
[8] Negrine, et al