Turkey and the EU - January 19, 2003

I am a Turkish citizen living in Malta and would like to clarify some points made by Dr Paul Sant Cassia (The Sunday Times, January 5). First of all, I agree with "Roamer's" reply, carried in the same issue, as to why and when Turkey should be eligible to join EU. This has been made very clear. However, I feel that Dr Sant Cassia's article was one-sided. Unfortunately he is not the only one in Europe who seems to share these one-sided opinions on Turkey.

There is a real paranoia in Europe with regard to Turkey which dates to the Ottoman Empire and which makes some people fear Turkish membership of the EU. Unfortunately, this fear and paranoia does not seem to go away.

In some aspects Dr Sant Cassia is right to say that Turkey is not a fully fledged democratic country and the EU has a right to demand that it fulfills these requirements. However, he is underestimating many of the facts which make Turkey a unique country, where Islam meets democracy.

He actually makes a rather rude statement that just because Turkey is a secular Islamic country, it should not be treated differently. What he does not say, though, is that Turkey is the only secular Islamic country which has been and is still trying to be a fully fledged democratic country. Since the beginning of the Ottoman Empire, Turks always looked toward the West and felt closer to Western democracies.

Regarding our human rights record, Turkey has issues and needs to rid itself of any mistreatment of its citizens. However, one should not undermine the value of the recent changes in Turkish laws on the abolition of the death penalty and giving more rights to minorities; these were historical changes which even the Turks themselves could not believe could take place. These dramatic changes have just been completed and there are more positive changes to come.

Unfortunately, Turkey is one of the most misunderstood countries in the world. There is a saying in international business that a business person cries when he finds out that he has to work in Turkey but also cries when he has to leave Turkey. Naturally, most people still have the impression that Turks are all barbaric till they arrive in Turkey but when they get to know them and make friends, they don't want to leave since the Turkish people are as friendly as the Maltese and most foreigners really appreciate this friendliness.

It is sad to see that Dr Sant Cassia opens his article with an accusation of genocide in Turkish history which I will not go into for the complexity of the issue requires a genuine background in history. However, that is when I realised that his article had one purpose - to give a negative image of Turkey. When the EU was being established by the Germans and the French years ago, I wonder how many articles asked who would remember the Germans' genocide of the Jews and the French troops' torture of the Algerians?

You would not dream of this since these and some other European countries consider themselves superior. Shall we open the history pages of each country to see who did what to whom and base our decision on EU membership on this consideration? I really wonder, if we did this, how many of the current EU member states would have been eligible to join the EU!

Although human rights abuses were never and should never be acceptable by the citizens of Turkey, one has to know where Turkey lies and read a little bit of its history to understand what Turkey had to deal with to remain a unified country.

Turkey is located in a region where radical Islam is very strong and has been trying to destroy democracy in Turkey. Moreover, Turkey has been fighting against the PKK (Kurdish) terrorist group for the last 15 years, which cost the lives of 30,000 Turks. Turkey has been dealing with the Kurdish uprising in its southeastern region, demanding that Turkey give up its territory.

I would like to ask Maltese citizens: would you be willing to give up St Paul's Bay and Qawra if a terrorist group demanded it? Well, Turkish people would not either and had to fight for their territory. As those were extraordinary times, since we were officially at war against terrorism, there were some human rights abuses. This country is trying to shed the years of fighting to remain unified and democratic in the face of all these challenges.

About all these poor Turks flooding European countries and taking their jobs, why is not the same thing said about Poland? Isn't Poland one of the biggest countries in Europe with lower income levels? How about Bulgaria and Romania, which are trying to join the EU by 2007? Are they richer then Turkey?

I would like to remind readers of the days when Germany needed cheap labour to rebuild itself from the ruins of World War II. German politicians were waiting with presents in their hands at train stations for Turks to arrive. But that was then and unfortunately this is now. They needed the Turks then, but now, the Turks are again the unwanted citizens of Europe. I take it that this double standard only applies to Turkey!

Overall, the main reason for Dr Sant Cassia and people like him not wanting Turkey in the EU is the phobia, dating hundreds of years, which unfortunately they cannot shake off. Moreover as they consider themselves superior to other nations, especially to Turks, most Europeans cannot grasp the concept that one day, when Turkey joins the EU, they would be considered equals! If this mindset is not racist and against all democratic principles, what is?