Turkey's Presidential Elections and EU

 

The result of yesterday’s elections may be seen as a victory over pro-westerners in Turkey. There are numerous underlying reasons and one of them is directly related with EU.

36 years of stubborn negation of full membership finally created another opposing pole at the eastern front of Europe.

The elections show that half of the Turkish citizens gave their support to a conservative coalition which is not so attached to the West.

Many Turks have already been alienated from EU not because of their conservative governments but because of EU's own policies.

Many Turks believe EU sympathizes separatist warlords at her south-east border more than Turkey’s existence and democracy.

Many Turks believe EU is selfish by closing its doors to refugees but encouraging Turkey to host several millions of immigrants from Middle East.

Many Turks believe EU is unfair by having new member states with no economic significance but refusing a G20 country just because she is mainly Muslim.

Many Turks believe EU does not respect sovereignty of Turkey by interfering her internal policies and denying her rights in East Mediterranean, North Syria and Northern Iraq.

Many Turks believe EU has double standards in Cyprus conflict ignoring Turkish side’s approval of UN Reunification Plan in 2004 and still keeping the issue on the table to obtain more concessions.

Many Turks believe EU does not care about Turkey’s vital defence needs by being silent to unilateral breach of F-35 Fighter Jet Contract with US, ignoring demands for air defence systems etc. yet expecting Turkey to act as a shield against the problems of Middle East.

Many Turks believe EU does not want to improve interaction by imposing strict visa restrictions and carelessly putting them in endless visa queues while all other Europeans freely move.

The list may go on. At the end many Turks believe EU does not show genuine friendship so why should they?

If there had been a plebiscite whether to join or not join EU in the aftermath of yesterday’s elections the result would have been much more definitive in favour of not joining.

In the attachment of this article, you may see the photo of mine travelling from Greece to Italy on a Cyprus-flagged boat in 1993. At that time, I was a 23 year old student and Turkey was a candidate for European Economic Community. Now that I am a 53 year old middle aged person and Turkey is still a candidate.

This is not sustainable. EU has underestimated and excluded Turkey for too long and we all face the consequences. Now it is time to ponder.

Volkan Gönenç

İstanbul

May 15, 2023

Bu yazı ve içeriğinde yer alan fotoğraf K. Volkan Gönenç'e (Yazar) ait olup, 5846 sayılı Fikir ve Sanat Eserleri Kanunu ve 5237 sayılı Türk Ceza Kanunu kapsamında korunmaktadır. Bu hakları ihlal eden kişiler, 5846 sayılı Fikir ve Sanat eserleri Kanunu ve 5237 sayılı Türk Ceza Kanununda yer alan hukuki ve cezai yaptırımlara tabi olurlar. Yazardan yazılı izin alınmadan kısmen veya tamamen herhangi bir vasıtayla basılamaz, kopyalanamaz, ancak yazarın adını ve web sitesini kaynak göstermek kaydıyla özetleme ve kısmi alıntı yapılabilir.