The cost of no EU-Turkey: four views

Open Society Foundation, May 2009, Istanbul                   Türkçe

Hakan Altınay, Michael Lake, Carl Bildt, Paulina Lampsa, Hakan Yılmaz

We as the Open Society Foundation care deeply about EU-Turkey relations, because we strongly believe that Turkey becomes a more open society as it gets closer to the EU. We also believe that the open society values in the EU grow stronger, as the Union gets ready to admit Turkey. When Turkey is admitted as a member of the EU, the new Union will be in a much better position to project open society values in the world, which we consider equally important.

Erdoğan promotes Turkey’s EU bid in Paris

Casse-tête turc pour Renault et Sarkozy

Courrier International (France), 28 janvier 2010, p. 9

Ufuk Sandık, Sabah (Istanbul)

Produire ou non la Clio IV en Turquie. C?est en ces termes que le président français a posé le débat. Mais il méconnaît l?importance du site de Bursa dans la stratégie mondiale du constructeur.

Greek Deputy Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas, left, and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu seen after a news conference followed by their talks in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, April 8, 2010. Turkey and Greece say they hope efforts to improve their relations will lead to reduced defense spending in both countries. The countries have been at odds for years over airspace boundaries and flight procedures over the Aegean Sea that forms the border between them.(AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)

A New Look at the Armenian Genocide Issue

Der Spiegel’s English-language website has a very interesting article about a new German documentary that looks into the Armenian genocide issue. You can read the article here.

ABDULHAMİT BİLİCİ – Opposing the EU in the name of Atatürk

Turkey, Armenia to discuss ties in Washington

The New Turkish Foreign Policy and the Future of Turkey-EU Relations

Documenti IAI (Istituto Affari Internazionali-Italy) 10|03,  February 2010

Emiliano Alessandri *

The article refutes the often-heard argument that Ankara?s recent ?activism? in the Middle East indicates that Turkey is ?drifting away from the West?. Turkey?s improving relations with its neighbors (not only in the Middle East), are mainly a result of the end of the Cold War and of domestic developments which have ?unlocked? Turkey, transforming it into a more open and democratic country with an even greater stake in EU membership. At the same time, the many international and domestic changes that have occurred since Turkey was granted candidate status call for a ?re-foundation? of the Turkey-EU relationship. Lacking the latter, the future of Turkey-EU relations will indeed remain uncertain.

The European Neighbourhood Policy and the Southern Mediterranean / Michele Comelli, Atila Eralp, Çiğdem Üstün (eds)

The International Spectator (Italy), Vol. 45, No. 1, March 2010

Silvia Colombo

The European Neighbourhood Policy and the Southern Mediterranean / Michele Comelli, Atila Eralp, Çiğdem Üstün (eds). ? Ankara : Middle East Technical University Press, 2009. ? xiv, 181 p. ? ISBN 978-9944-344-79-1

The countries of the southern shore of the Mediterranean are increasingly critical of the set of policies that the EU has devised and has been implementing towards them since the early 1990s. This criticism, together with recent and not necessarily positive political and economic developments in the region, have spurred a much required reflection on the EU Neighbourhood Policy in order to assess its flaws and potential in the new international context. The book aims at meeting this need by studying the inter-relationship of EU deepening and widening in the context of EU-Mediterranean relations and by exploring expectations on both sides.

Turkey and the Wider Black Sea Region

Zeyno Baran, ?Turkey and the Wider Black Sea region? in The Wider Black Sea Region in the 21st century: Strategic,
economic and energy perspectives. Washington, DC: Center for Transatlantic Relations, 2008, pp. 87-102

Zeyno Baran

The Black Sea is the world?s most isolated sea, connected to the rest of the world?s oceans only by the two Turkish Straits. The Black Sea region has been witness to significant political and religious tumult over the millennia, featuring prominently in the histories of the Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman Empires.

Italy insists EU ?partnership? not enough for Turkey – Arab News

TR-ARM Bridging the Gap / Carnegie Paper

The current crisis between Armenia and Turkey will likely reach a head by April 24, the date commemorated as Armenian Genocide Day. While there is virtually no hope that the 2009 Armenian?Turkish Protocols will be ratified soon, both parties should take small steps to rebuild confidence and affirm their faith in the process.

If ratified, the Protocols would open the closed Armenia?Turkey border, promising Armenia long-term economic transformation and an end to its regional isolation. For Turkey, ratifying the protocols gives it a new role in the Caucasus and is a major step toward ending the humiliation of foreign parliaments passing genocide resolutions condemning Turkey.

Key Conclusions:

• Turkey, which has dragged its feet this year, needs to make goodwill gestures toward Armenia to keep the process alive. Steps could include opening the border for noncommercial travelers near the ancient city of Ani to allow Armenian tourists to visit the site inside Turkey.
• The Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorny Karabakh remains the deepest problem facing the South Caucasus, and for the Turkish government, the major obstacle to ratifying the Protocols. Although Armenian?Turkish normalization is negatively affecting the Karabakh peace process in the short term, in the long run it has the potential to change the dynamics of the region and help the resolution of the Karabakh conflict.
• Negotiations over Nagorny Karabakh are stalled. Mediators should not push the parties too hard on status issues, but instead focus on other areas that will underpin a final agreement, such as Track II talks and economic development and reconstruction plans.
• The Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhichevan offers a ?win-win? opportunity in the Nagorny Karabakh conflict. If Armenia agrees to open up communications with the enclave in tandem with the opening of the Armenia?Turkey border, all sides could claim success.