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AFP - Sunday, January 27 DAVOS, Switzerland (AFP) - - Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan warned
the European Union against becoming a "club of Christians" as he pushed
Saturday for Ankara's membership in the bloc.
"If the EU finds itself as a club of Christians.... it is against the
very soul of the EU," Babacan told reporters on the sidelines of the
annual World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos. EU heavyweights France and Germany are both opposed to full Turkish
membership, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been particularly
vocal on the issue, arguing that the mainly Muslim country does not
belong in Europe. Babacan regretted that the issue of religion had apparently become a
factor in the debate on Turkey's accession. "Religious lines should never be presented as a border," he said, adding
that the current 27-nation composition of the European bloc already
contained "huge differences" in terms of culture, religion and language. "Yet, these countries have been successful to find communality," he said. "At the end of the road, the decision has to be made over whether Turkey
is going to add new richness to the EU, so that the EU has a truly
global voice and a truly representative voice," he added. Babacan also argued that allowing Turkey into the EU would allow the
bloc to act as a bridge between the West and the Islamic world. France and Germany have proposed offering a "privileged partnership"
instead of full membership -- a compromise flatly rejected earlier this
month by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkey has so far opened talks in six of the 35 policy fields that
candidates are required to complete before accession. The EU froze negotiations on eight chapters in 2006 in response to
Turkey's refusal to grant trade privileges to Cyprus, which Ankara does
not recognise, under a customs union pact with the bloc. Babacan also refuted worries that Turkey's powerful military -- which
has unseated four governments in as many decades -- wants to scupper
Ankara's EU, democratic and economic ambitions. Relations between the army and the ruling Islamist-rooted Justice and
Development Party (AKP) party are fraught, with the military fearful
that the prime minister wants to roll back Turkey's cherished secular state. Babacan said that democracy and freedom are fast becoming so engrained
that a return to an undemocratic military autocracy closed to the
outside world "isn't even going to be an issue." "The reform process is becoming more and more irreversible. After
opening up (the country) so much, anyone who dares to close the country
to any extent will get into serious difficulties," Babacan said. "This country ... has only one important way to go, and this is
democratic. Human rights, freedoms and peace will be the new source of
strength." He added that Turkey's military supported joining the EU and that
EU-Turkey negotiations in Brussels and in Turkey often involve army
representatives. "The Turkish military has been a good supporter of Turkey's EU accession
process ... although it is not a black and white thing," he said. "It is a transition progress which we are trying to steer in a
successful way."
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