Relatie Turkije en EU gebaseerd op verkeerd beeld volgens rapport (en)
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The quality of the debate on Turkey's EU i accession since the country has been an official candidate for membership has been "rather poor" and "poisoned by misperception, misinformation and at times outright prejudice", according to a report released on Wednesday (3 October).
Ankara was formally granted the status of EU candidate in December 1999, but since then, the interest has "focused on whether Turkey should join the EU rather than on how Turkey's accession could take place", writes Nathalie Tocci, editor of a joint report by the Italian Institute for International Affairs (IAI) and the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV).
The perceptions about what the impact of Turkish accession could be vary in member states depending on the angle chosen in the public debate, Ms Tocci said during a discussion in the European Parliament i following the release of the report.
In the UK, Finland, Poland, Slovenia, as well as in Turkey itself, the debate is focused on the global consequences of Ankara's membership in the economic and foreign policy fields. Consequently, these states are rather positive about the possible impact of Turkey becoming an EU member.
By contrast, in member states such as France, which focus more on Turkey's impact on the EU's internal affairs - political, social or cultural - the feeling is rather negative.
However, the directions of national debates often depend on internal political agendas while serving domestic political goals. That is why "the media holds a major role and responsibility" to bring "greater clarity to the EU-Turkey debate", according to Ms Tocci.
Misperceptions on religion
Apart from the debate on EU accession, Turkey's broader image as a country is also distorted, particularly so after the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001, the report says.
Since then, and despite its secular tradition, Turkey tends to be viewed as a Muslim or "Islamic" country, introducing a debate on religion in EU-Turkey relations and presenting the country as fundamentally different.
This in turn misplaces the debate and transforms it into one on European values and beliefs and on Turkey's inability to accept them, potentially feeding nationalistic feelings, racism and xenophobia.
On top of that, Turkey's "otherness" leads to the creation of "casual links which simply do not exist", reads the 140-page document.
There is no reason, for example, why Turkey's EU integration would "mirror the integration of Pakistanis in the UK, Algerians in France or Moroccans in Spain".
The EU is as uncertain as Turkey
Meanwhile some MEPs taking part in the debate added to the uncertainty about Turkey's EU hopes by pointing to the uncertain future of the bloc itself.
Greens leader Daniel Cohn-Bendit stressed the fact that Turkey-EU negotiations are an "open-ended process" for reasons that have to do more with the EU than with Turkey.
"It is an open-ended process because Europe itself has an open-end debate on where it is going. How will Europe be in ten or 15 years? We will have privileged partnerships with Poland and the UK, a European constitution, a new framework of institutions".