Dnevnikov Objektiv (Slovenia)

Interview: ABDULLAH GÜL, PRESIDENT OF TURKEY

EUROPEAN UNION IS NOT PRESENT ON THE INTERNATIONAL STAGE

by Ervin Hladnik – Milharcic


Turkish President Abdullah Gül paid a visit to Slovenia in one of the most interesting periods of Turkish history. Just days before arriving to Ljubljana, he protested on the Twitter against the government’s decision to censor Google and YouTube. “I am absolutely against this measure. That is why I demanded from the competent institutions to find an appropriate solution. I demanded a change in the legislation.”

Google and YouTube are not in accordance with the Turkish laws, since they enable access to critical articles about the founder of the modern Turkish Republic, Kemal Mustafa Atatürk. Turkish President Gül has on the Twitter explained his views on the restrictive state policy with regard to internet.

Abdullah Gül himself is among the founders of the religiously inclined party, which has strongly revised Atatürk’s understanding of relations between religion and state, yet at the same time censoring the web-pages that are opposed to the broadly-accepted public moral. The first political party, which he was involved in, was banned at the end of the nineties because of its Islamic program. Together with the current Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Mr. Gül established a new party, which has participated at the elections. Later he became the new prime minister, however he remained in office only until the changes that enabled Mr. Erdoğan to take over his post, have been adopted. Mr. Gül has been Turkish Foreign Minister until 2007, when Turkey’s Constitutional Court blocked his presidential candidature. Secular political parties strongly protested against him, a member of the religiously inclined party, who had broached the separation between the church and state. One of their arguments was that his wife wears a headscarf in public.

Atatürk’s constitution, created in the 1920s, prohibits any mix between the religious and state institutions and is extremely restrictive on the religious symbols. Erdoğan made his candidature a question of principle. He risked and called early elections, at which his party won by a 47% support, and the Turkish Parliament immediately appointed Gül as the new Turkish President. At the same time, a new law has been adopted, according to which the next president will be elected at direct elections.

The consolidation of the Islamically inclined political party on power has caused a lively debate about the future of Turkey. At home, the Kemalist political forces have been defending Turkey’s secular legacy together with the army, which has the second largest number of soldiers in the NATO alliance. Throughout various European capitals, a serious discussion was taking place, whether to allow Turkey to become a full EU member or not. Turkey made the first step on the path towards EU membership in 1963, when the EU was nothing more than just an economic union. President Gül was 13 at the time, meaning that he has been living since his earliest childhood years in a country, striving to enter the EU. Reasons not to let Turkey to become an EU member were very diverse – from fear of the influence of the Islamic religion on the Christian heritage of Europe to the fear of the excessive dominance of a country with seventy million people on the European politics.

Turkey’s EU membership was a question of principle, which was raised over and over again in various discussions. In the meantime, Turkey transformed itself into a modern state. The government, in which Mr. Gül held one of the key positions, built a fast railway connection between Istanbul and Ankara and several highways. There are many automotive factories in Turkey, among them of Toyota, which is producing personal vehicles, and Mercedes factory, making buses. As many as 36.000 Mercedes buses have been produced so far in Turkey.

Gül’s party came to power in a period when Turkey was faced with huge economic problems. Turkey declared bankruptcy in 2000, finding itself in a spiral of the severe crisis in the banking sector. Turkey experienced a 72% inflation, huge budget deficit and unemployment rate as well as general decline of all economic indicators. Situation is completely changed in 2010. Turkey is namely speaking with Europe in an almost patronizing tone. When Prime Minister Erdoğan recently paid a visit to Athens during the recent demonstrations, the Greek opposition voiced its dissatisfaction as if to say that Turkey is currently too strong in the economic sense to discuss with it the unresolved issues between both countries.

Quite a bizarre argument if we consider that Turkey has been until very recently treated as an undeveloped country, which will find it hard to come close to the EU standards. Yet at the moment Turkey’s economic indicators would make proud every EU member state. State debt, currently at 47% of the GDP is considerably lower than the required 60%, needed to become a member of the Euro-zone. Economic growth stands at 11.7%, whereas the budget deficit at a yearly level will be below 3%. Turkey is pursuing an independent regional policy, mingling in the monopoly, held by the world superpowers, reshaping old alliances and creating new ones.

You have arrived to Slovenia in a period of huge economic crisis, especially with regard to financial problems in state budgets. Turkey meets all criteria, needed to become a member of the Euro-zone. Only the inflation rate is a little bit to high, however still ok if being compared with some EU members. Do you feel good in this position?

I have to say at the start that the economic crisis in Europe is not something what Turkey is pleased of.

Can you please explain me the implications of the before-mentioned on Turkey’s EU accession negotiations? Will Turkey enter the Euro-zone before becoming a full EU member?

Turkey is a part of Europe. This is an undeniable fact. For now, we are members of the Customs Union with the EU. If there is a big economic crisis in Europe, Turkey immediately feels the consequences. European and Turkish economy are closely connected and inter-dependent. At the same time, your question is based on facts, so your implications are definitely right.

Turkey is doing really well at the moment, if it is being compared to many European countries. Our position is much more solid. This is definitely true for current state of the economy, robust economic growth and also for other economic indicators. Turkish economy is not stagnating, just the opposite. We recorded an 11.7% economic growth in the first six months of 2010, our economy meets most of the required Maastricht criteria, as for the bonuses for the risk bonds, we are doing much better than Italy or Spain.

Did we obtain all this by ourselves? No. Our economic success is in many ways connected with our relations with Europe.

As I have said, Turkey is already a member of the Customs Union with the EU. One of the criteria to enter the EU is the existence of a free market economy. We have tried very hard to meet the required criteria. The demands and the conditions, set forth by the EU, have undoubtedly contributed to Turkey’s economic success and the current very good position. No one can doubt about it. There is no reason to start thinking about some alternatives. We are a part of Europe and the Customs Union represents for us only a step towards the full EU membership. We are making all our efforts to achieve this goal in the shortest time possible.

You have plenty of experience with regards to huge problems that Europe is facing at the moment. Turkey was faced with huge problems in the public sector and the crisis in the banking sector already a decade ago.

You are right.

Your financial system collapsed at that time.

Yes.

I am sure you know pretty well how fast can deteriorate the economic crisis…

Oh, yes.

And you probably know the effects of the economic crisis on the policy-making?

Yes, you are right.

What have you learned out of this? What is your advice to Europe?

When the financial crisis first affected the financial markets in the United States, later followed by Great Britain and the rest of Europe, we recalled what happened in Turkey in 2000. We know really well the mechanisms which lead to collapse and we had prepared the security mechanisms. Turkey took care of the latter a decade ago. In 2000 we set up a broad program, aimed at the restructuring of the banks. We introduced an ambitious package of economic reforms and have among other adopted the law on social insurance. United States adopted a similar law only this year. We did not make this step as if we were pressured by the IMF, but because we alone wanted to create a solid economic basis for our society and state.

We have consolidated our banks, which are currently the most solid financial institutions in Europe. During the recent financial crisis in the developed world, our government did not have to spend even a cent from our state budget to enable their normal functioning. Lessons we have learned from past crises and from our efforts, aimed at the restructuring the financial flows, have brought significant results during the current crisis.

We have been carefully monitoring our banks since 2000, demanding the observance of all measures, which have adopted at that time. There must be no exceptions. We demanded a very conservative credit policy from our banks and have made sure that they are not able to abuse it. We have adopted a whole series of laws that were not easy to adopt. The law on social insurance was not very easy to be formulated; the same can be also said for the tax reform. The adoption of these two laws enabled us to avoid a too strong effect of the crisis.

Within the EU, there are two opposite camps with regard to Turkey’s EU membership. One of them is saying that Turkey’s full EU membership is a good idea, yet the other is opposed to it, and is using all kinds of objections – Turkey is a Muslim state, undeveloped, too big. Turkey is very confident at the moment. Do you deem political language has changed?

No European state has directly stated that Turkey can not become an EU member, since it is a Muslim state or something similar. All EU member states voted in favour of the start of the EU accession negotiations with Turkey. That occurred five and not twenty years ago. Yes, it is true that different people, politicians and political parties have been voicing their different opinions and very contradictory views all the time. We are very patient in that regard, trying to be wise. The views, expressed by different statesmen today, might change tomorrow. These are not permanent views.

Turkey is a country with a very young population and a growing and fast developing economy. If you take into consideration the purchasing power, our GDP stands at one thousand billion euro on a yearly basis. Turkey is a country which can not be overlooked in the European context. No one can pretend that we do not exist. Everybody knows and has to know that Turkey will not contribute to the EU only in the geographical sense but also to its growth.

So what concretely will Turkey contribute to the EU?

Imagine EU as a cake. Some believe Turkey wants to become an EU member just to take its share and leave. They are afraid that Turkey will take something that belongs to someone else. However, the reality is just the opposite. Turkey is actually increasing the size of the cake and is enriching it. Turkey contributes to its growth, so that everybody can take a bigger share. When the negotiations on our accession started, and the strategic report was being prepared, EU members were posing themselves these questions. There have been many questions posed to Turkey. We have responded to all of them. We have given adequate answers and attached the certificates to prove the authenticity of our statements.

That is no secret. Everybody knows our strategic vision and in what way Turkey is planning its future. Occasionally some European political parties express different opinions just to please the internal policy interests. We respond them by saying they should not forget that Turkey’s foreign policy and economy represents a great asset for the EU. Turkey wants to enter the EU as a factor, which is working in Europe’s benefit. We expect from Europe to appreciate it. These are our expectations that we advocate all along and we are insisting on them.

What do you say to your partners in the European politics?

I explain them not to approach Turkey with populist presumptions and generalized prejudices. I call on them to embrace our strategic vision as their own and look ahead. When you are talking about Turkey it is always good to have a broader strategic view on the future of the European continent.

Did you perceive some strategic vision in the EU? Do you see Europe as a continent, which is fostering a strategic vision towards the Middle East? Slovenia is currently at one of the EU’s eastern borders, yet we find it very hard to perceive this vision. A question arises how to adapt to a general strategy if we do not know its content.

I am being confronted with such questions several times. What can I say? My perceptions derive from my personal experiences. I will be honest and direct. On the global scene, one very important international player is often absent. That player is the European Union. It is surprising, since the EU is a very strong player, which could have a tremendous influence on the course of events. Yet it is acting as it would not be aware of its strength, and is carefully standing by and only observing. EU is ceding its place to others, weaker players. That is really surprising. We all feel that time has come that this really important player confidently joins the game.

Some months ago we were witnessing EU’s very cautious reaction to the Israeli attack on the Turkish ferry in front of Gaza. What consequences had this fact on Turkey’s understanding of its role in this part of the world? We have heard that Turkey will shift away from Europe and become a Middle-Eastern state. We also heard that it will settle for a role of a regional force. Yet we have not experienced anything dramatic so far.

First of all, I would like to thank Slovenia, since it was the only member of the European Union, which has at the United Nations Human Rights Council’s session voted in favour of an independent investigation. Your country did not eat its own word, when dealing with the case of great injustice.

For us, the aspect of international law is very important in this case. What are we talking about? It was a case of an attack on a civilian ship in international waters. EU missed a great opportunity to pass a test. It did not pass it greatly. It did not stand strongly by its own principles. EU decided to abstain, when the important decisions are on the table. I am talking about the EU, however I am thinking about its member states. EU Commission adopted a statement about this issue. It was not a discussion which would determine if we were in favour or against Israel. This is not even the case. It was an occasion when we had to take our stand about something that was obviously wrong, and an occasion to defend our principles in a brave manner. It was an opportunity to show what is wrong and to speak out loud about it. It was a case, when the EU stumbled.

You said that EU member states did not pass the test. Did somebody else pass it?

Your country passed the test. Slovenia maintained a strong stand and voted in favour of the investigation. That is why I have expressed recognition to Slovenia.

I did not intend to seek compliments for my country.

I am not paying compliments. This is how it was. These are the facts.

We usually do not understand Slovenia as an important player in the international relations. Apart from the international law, we do not have many instruments, on which we can rely on. The principle of international law can be defended by those countries, which are strong enough to do so.

The UN Security Council has adopted a decision to establish an investigation commission. This commission has to do its job and present a report.

We are observing Turkey via two aspects. Turkish politics helps us to understand better the European and Middle-Eastern politics. We use Turkey to test our world theories. Your country is an active regional force, with regard to Georgia and Syria. Together with Brazil you have offered Iran a solution on the question of nuclear energy. How do you formulate your vision of the world at your eastern borders?

No, this is not a good approach to tackle these issues. Look at Slovenia. You also have in your region close and distant neighbours. In the east, there are Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia. It is natural that you are interested in what is occurring in these countries. If the situation turns for the worse, you are concerned, since you do not want big problems in your neighbourhood.

We are just like you. We do not want wars at our borders. Really. We want security and stability to prevail. It would be wrong to understood Turkey as an advocate of one country. All our efforts in the region base on one clearly set goal. We do not want to have big problems in our region, since we do not want instability in our immediate neighbourhood. We are actively investing our efforts to obtain this. The Caucasus is in our immediate neighbourhood. Iran is our neighbouring country. It is clear that we care a lot that there is no war in the Caucasus and that the dispute with Iran is solved as peacefully as possible. We are not speaking about some distant countries. These are our neighbours.

When can we expect the EU flag on the border with Syria?

With Syria?

Yes. When do you expect the EU flag to wave on the border with Syria?

Excuse me. There is already an EU flag hanging on the border between the European Union and Syria.

Sorry?

Yes. On the border with Syria an EU flag is hanging. Cyprus is a member of the European Union. Cyprus and Syria are separated just by a half-an-hour boat trip. These are two neighbouring countries. There is only a border between them. And on this border, the EU flags are waving.