Turkey’s Minister for EU Affairs Egemen Bagis (L) introduces Latvia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Maris Riekstins to Turkey’s delegation members in Riga February 26, 2010.REUTERS/Ints Kalnins

Here are a few accounts of what Onur Öymen, deputy chairman of a social democrat party, CHP,  experienced at EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee meeting…

MEHMET KAMIŞ – CHP to face trouble when it goes abroad

?Duel on Guarantorship? in Cyprus

Fatma Yilmaz-Elmas, USAK Center for EU Studies
The President of the Turkish Republic of Cyprus, Mehmet Ali Talat, and leader of the Greek Cypriot Administration, Dimitris Christofias, came together once again on February 24 and restarted direct talks, aimed at finding a comprehensive settlement to the division of the island after a 23-day interval. The leaders dealt with the economy during the talks and representatives and technical delegations will keep discussing the economy in the following days. The next meeting will also be held on March 4.

Turkey and Schengen

Murat Daoudov, Director of European and International Relations at the Union of Municipalities of Marmara, has an interesting piece in which he considers Turkish membership in Schengen. This ties into the below post on Europe’s varying visions of integration.

Turkey and Visions of European Integration

Not to bury a most interesting article in all the political developments occuring at the moment, but worth a read is Ziya Onis’ excellent article, ” ?Contesting for the ?Center?: Domestic Politics, Identity Conflicts and The Controversy over EU Membership in Turkey (a working paper put out by Bilgi University’s European Institute),? on the future of European integration and Turkish accession. A portion of the article has been excerpted on Changing Turkey in a Changing World:

AMANDA PAUL – Turkey and the EU are both to blame

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was quoted in the Spanish media this week complaining (again) that the European Union asks more from Turkey than any other candidate country.

ABDULLAH BOZKURT – Öymen and the gang should blame themselves

Turkey and Armenia: Zero progress

From The Economist print edition

WHEN the Turkish government signed a deal with Armenia last October, it looked like a clear achievement for its policy of ?zero problems? with its neighbours. The old foes agreed to establish relations and open their common border, which had been sealed by the Turks in 1993 in solidarity with Azerbaijan, during its nasty war with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh, a mainly Armenian enclave. The deal offered the hope of burying the ghosts of the past by setting up a joint committee of historians to investigate the mass slaughter of Ottoman Armenians in 1915.”Suddenly, the EU seems less attractive for Turks – Hurriyet Daily News and Economic Review

Human Rights Discourses and the European Process

The European Stability Initative has posted a paper by Anne K. Duncker, a doctoral candidate at Phillips-University of Marburg in Germany, on the use of human rights discourses by various Turkish human rights groups competing for funding and media attention in the thick of the European process and the tremendou amount of grant monies that have come with it. The whole paper is well worth the read. Excerpted here is the abstract:

U.S. Gets More Involved In Armenia, Turkey Reconciliation | Eurasia Review

ETYEN MAHÇUPYAN – Turkey unable to assimilate the protocols

It was thought that the protocols signed between Armenia and Turkey were a precursor to a new period. The protocols were essentially shaped around three main items that were anticipated to usher in a new period of mutual understanding.

The EU Parliament: “Missing the Confederate Cyprus Train”

The Turkish government responded strongly last Wednesday to the European Parliament (EP)’s resolution on the European Commission’s 2009 Progress Report, namely its call for Turkey to ratify the Addition Protocol of its association agreement with the European Union, remove its troops from Northern Cyprus, and return a section of Maras (Varosha) in the Cypriot town of Famagusta, which is currenty sealed off and occupied by the Turkish military. The resolution states that the EP

A SHORT INTERVIEW WITH DR. CATHERINE MACMILLAN

Dr. Cathy Macmillan is an Assistant Prof. at Yeditepe University, Istanbul. Her doctoral dissertation was on ?Expanding Fortress Europe? Enlargement and the EU?s Justice and Home Affairs Policies?. Her main area of interest is Turkey-EU relations, European integration and Europeanisation.

Turkey and Turks in the German media | Mora | International Journal of Human Sciences

“Turkey and Turks in the German media
Necla Mora
Abstract

It is known that the prejudices, which have emerged in the historical process, are engraved in the social memory of the nations; conveyed from the past to the future in language, art, literature, history and many other fields; and reproduced via media especially in the periods of crisis.

Putting Turkey Back of European Tracks

from Turkish Politics in Action by Ragan Updegraff

The ECHR, the Aczmendis, and Bad Reporting

from Turkish Politics in Action by Ragan Updegraff

“April 24” Approaches . . .

With the Turkey-Armenia protocols now deadlocked, Washington is applying pressure on the Turkish government to move forward with ratification despite the Turkish government’s recalcitrance and diffuse public opposition.