European Union-Turkey relations… “The European Union is weak and without a plan”

It is known that Turkey’s relations with the European Union have not been good for a long time. It’s not a secret. Relationships sometimes get tense and sometimes soften. But what the Turks know best is that they have never been able to become a member of the European Union, whose origins date back to 1951. Because the foundations of the European Union are based on the European Coal and Steel Community, which was formed in 1951 with the participation of six countries, and the 1957 Treaty of Rome… Turkey On the other hand, shortly after the establishment of the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1958, Turkey applied for partnership on 31 July 1959. The subsequent 1960 coup dealt a serious blow to Turkey’s journey towards unity.

The only problem is coups and democracy?

The dominant narrative in Turkey in the 2000s was that the coups prevented Turkey from joining the EU. After the 1960 coup against Adnan Menderes, military actions such as the 1971 memorandum and the 1980 military coup had seriously damaged Turkish democracy. As a matter of fact, the February 28 coup in 1997 was a manifestation of this situation. However, there are approaches showing that coups are not the only problem in Turkey-EU relations. After the AK Party came to power in 2002, it is seen that no progress has been made in the relations, which gained momentum especially since 2015. Recently, while the abolition of visas between Turkey and EU countries was discussed, relations broke down. EU countries reacted late to the coup attempt in Turkey in 2016. These events clearly show that coups are not the only problem in Turkey-EU relations.

Kalin’s reaction: I’m wondering

Speaking to the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Turkish Presidential Spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said: “I wonder why we haven’t made any progress anywhere. It can’t just be Turkey. The EU is weak and without a plan.”

Describing it as disappointment that the EU wants to provide only one billion Euros for each year to support Syrian refugees, hosted by Turkey, over the next three years, Kalin said that 3.7 million Syrians were excluded if the millions of displaced people in the corridor under Turkish control in Syria He reminded that the refugees live in Turkey, and that there are also hundreds of thousands of refugees from countries such as Afghanistan. Emphasizing that the demands are not only about budgets and numbers, but also about correct political participation, Kalın noted that the EU did not fulfill the convergence promised in the first migration agreement in 2016. Kalin pointed out that this includes high-level meeting formats, renegotiation of the obsolete customs union and visa exemption.