Turkey's dream to join the European Union seemed more elusive than ever on Friday after the government was forced to put reforms on hold to tackle an economic crisis and political wrangling. The fate of comprehensive national reforms was thrown into uncertainty when Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit stormed out from a National Security Council (MGK) meeting Monday after a clash with President Ahmet Necdet Sezer.
The unprecedented row, which broke out after Sezer charged that the government's anti-corruption drive was insufficient, wreaked havoc at the financial markets and triggered fears of political instability. An IMF-backed anti-inflation reform program was abandoned on Thursday as the Turkish government allowed the country's currency to float in a bid to prevent massive outflow of private capital.
"Political stability is our biggest concern since everything has become unpredictable," an EU diplomat told AFP on the condition of anonymity. "Turkey had set very ambitious targets—an IMF program and candidacy for EU membership at the same time. It was too much," he said.
Turkey was declared a candidate for EU membership in December 1999, coinciding with the IMF's approval of a three-year $4 billion stand-by deal aimed at establishing fiscal discipline in the public sector and reducing Turkey's chronic inflation.
In the current climate of economic hardship, "there will certinaly be delays in Turkey's preparations for EU membership, and with each delay we are becoming more concerned," the diplomat added. Turkey was supposed to finalize its calendar of reforms by mid-February, but disagreement between the coalition partners, particularly on the thorny issue of Kurdish cultural rights, had already protracted the process.
The powerful Turkish generals, who are part of the MGK, have also expressed reservations on Kurdish cultural freedoms on fears that such rights could encourage separatist-minded Kurds and rekindle the recently scaled-down struggle of Kurdish rebels in southeast Turkey. The disrupted MGK meeting on EU reforms has been rescheduled to next Monday.
“They must adopt the program as soon as possible. There is no time to lose, because the EU cannot wait forever and its patience is running out," Huseyin Bagci, professor of international relations, told AFP. "But given the economic crisis, the situation seems very difficult. I do not know whether they will have the opportunity to discuss EU reforms at the meeting on Monday," he added.
Foreign policy analyst Sedat Sertoglu said Friday the need to wrap up the reforms calendar bore the potential for fresh turmoil within Turkey's leadership. "The next crisis, which has been sending signals for some time, will be on the EU program. That is for sure. There are some divisions in the coalition that cannot be overcome," Sertoglu wrote in the mass-circulation daily Sabah.
His comments were an apparent reference to the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), which has raised vocal objections against granting the Kurds cultural autonomy. Bagci stressed that even if the leaders manage to reach a compromise, the text was unlikely to include commitments on Kurdish rights, which in turn will certainly raise questions in Brussels on Ankara's resolve to improve its troubled human rights record and crippled democracy.
Increasing political pressure, meanwhile, will add to the badly damaged credibility of the government, which is already facing angry calls for a cabinet reshuffle and even an all-out resignation. —(AFP)
© Agence France Presse 2000
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
