In September 2009, President of SFG, Sundeep Waslekar wrote an article about EU,
Turkey and the World in 2030. The following comments about the article were made by
Mr. Yasar Yakis, chair of the European Union Harmonization Committee and former
Foreign Minister of Turkey:
Congratulations for your in-depth analysis of Turkey's EU membership question. I subscribe to all views expressed in your article. However one point may need further elaboration: You tie the reluctance of certain EU countries on Turkey's EU accession to the question of unemployed youth. This may be one of the reasons, but not the only one. I have the feeling that the reason of the reluctance is a combination of several subjective elements that take their roots from history; more specifically from the Ottoman legacy.
The question of unemployed youth may be used by certain political leaders to dissimulate their negative prejudices about Turkey and Turks. For centuries, the Ottoman Turks played an important role in the shaping of European history. However this legacy is now remembered mainly for its negative aspects. Several European countries formed alliances with the Ottomans against other European countries, but this aspect of their history is often ignored.
Furthermore, the common prejudice that prevails in the mind of many Europeans for everything that is not European is often valid for Turks as well. What the Germans and French did to harm each other's interests for centuries is now forgotten fortunately and a new blank page is turned with the establishment of the Coal and Steel Community that led to the establishment of the EU. However similar big vision could not be displayed on the question of Turkey's entry to the EU by the present leaders of the same countries.
Another major reason that shapes the vision of the Europeans is their religious identity. Judeo-Christian culture has sometimes difficulties to regard other cultures as equal to its own and more so in the case of Islam. The emergence of Al-Qaeda put salt and pepper on the wound and Turkey, as a country with predominantly Muslim population took its share of this. The fact that Turkey is a secular country and as a consequence of this, the country that could better communicate with EU than all other Islamic countries, did not help much to change this attitude.
The image that the first generation of Turks who were invited to the EU countries in the early 1960s as cheap labor is also another factor for this negative attitude. This generation was composed mainly of illiterate and unemployed Turks. They had difficulties in integrating in the societies of their new countries of residence. Neither Turkey nor the host EU countries did much at the beginning to help them integrate in the societies of their new countries of residence, because both Turkey and the host countries thought that these Turks would come back to their home country as soon as they earn a minimum amount of money to start a small business in Turkey. However it did not work that way and they did not come back. They still live in these countries without being fully integrated to their new countries of residence. The present Turkey is not any longer that of 1960s. However, those who look for pretexts to keep Turkey away from the EU for other reasons, use this lack of integration as an additional reason why Turkey should not join the EU.
This list could be prolonged, but I mentioned these few factors to point out that the root cause is more complicated.
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