Friday, November 26, 2010
Impediments of Turkey’s Accession into the European Union Turkey is a country located on the artificial border between Southeastern Europe and Southwest Asia that is currently under the application process to join the European Union. Turkey has been under review by the EU and has faced huge roadblocks due to social, cultural, geographic, religious, and economic factors. These issues can be pinpointed by the Armenian genocide by the Turkish people, the ongoing battle for the island of Cyprus, Turkey’s Islamic heritage, the location of Turkey in the European continent, low literacy rates, and below EU average earning levels. These factors, teamed with Turkey’s history of violence makes it unlikely to gain admission to the EU in the near future, although eventual membership is not out of the question One of the most predominant factors is the Armenian Genocide, in which troops of the Ottoman Empire slaughtered an estimated one and one half million Armenians. Armenia, which neighbors Turkey to the East and has a population of 3.3 million, has proven to be a major impediment in Turkey’s application to the EU (cia.gov). The Armenian genocide began during World War I and was a systematic killing of all Armenian citizens in the Ottoman Empire (umich.edu). The first step of this genocide was disarming, and eventually killing, any Armenian member of the Ottoman army; this measure was taken to avoid any uproar within the ranks. However, most would note that April 24, 1915 was the first official day of the Armenian genocide because “300 Armenian leaders, writers, thinkers and professionals in Constantinople, which is now present day Istanbul, were rounded up, deported and killed. Also, on that day, 5,000 of the poorest Armenians in Constantinople were butchered in the streets and in their homes” (umich.edu). The Ottoman reign of terror merely began with that first step, unfortunately, the bulk of the killings were soon to come. The remaining almost 1.5 million Armenians still living in the Ottoman Empire “were called from their homes, told they would be relocated, and then marched off to concentration camps in the desert” (umich.edu). When the imprisoned Armenians were marching, they “would be denied food and water, and many were brutalized and killed by their ‘guards’” (umich.edu). The Ottoman troops would march these people into the desert and simply dump them in the open, where they would die in the burning sun from dehydration and starvation (Lewy 22). In 1915, the Committee of Union and Progress (essentially the “Young Turks” in power of the Ottoman Empire at the time) had a meeting discussing the potential for the execution of the Armenians (Lewy 50). Here it was decided, under this proposal, that the plan for Ottoman attack was definite:
“If we are going to be satisfied with the kind of local massacres that occurred in Adana [an Armenian city] and other places in 1909… if this purge is not going to be universal and final, instead of good, it will inevitably result in harm. It is imperative that the Armenian people be completely exterminated; that not even one single Armenian be left on our soil; that the name, Armenian, be obliterated. We are now at war; there is no more auspicious occasion than this; the intervention of the great powers and the protests of the newspapers will not even be considered; and even if they are, the matter will have become an accomplished fact, and thus closed forever. The procedure this time will be one of total annihilation – it is necessary that not even one single Armenian survive this annihilation” (Lewy 51).

The issue at hand is not so much the actuality of the killings, rather present day Turkey’s inability to accept what they did as an act of genocide. Turkish people today allege that it was part of “a battle against an enemy combatant during World War I,” a claim that infuriates and disrespects Armenians who experienced the effects of this crime against humanity (Anderson 360). Many people of “Armenian origin point to the large number of their people who perished during the course of the deportations of 1915-1916 as proof that the large death toll must have been of a premeditated plan of annihilation,” and this of course would constitute genocide (Lewy 53). Armenians today have demanded a formal apology from the Turks, but, to the dismay of most, the Turkish government absolutely refuses to classify the slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians as “genocide.” “Until Turkish officials and scholars deal honestly with this tragic episode in their history, skepticism about the viability of Turkey’s EU application will grow” (Anderson 360). Another critical factor for Turkey’s accession to the EU again deals with Turkey’s inflexibility. The island of Cyprus has been a recent factor of major turmoil in Turkey, raising warning flags for member nations of the EU. Greece and Turkey have both made claims rights of the island however neither side is willing to budge on the issue. “Since 1960, the year Cyprus gained its independence from Great Britain, the Greek and Turkish Cypriots have been in conflict with each other,” these conflicts are rooted both culturally and historically and are too deeply embedded into their societies to be put to an end by a peace treaty (upenn.edu). Historically, Greece and Turkey have been enemies and frequently in conflict for many seemingly irreconcilable differences. These countries have “had frequent wars, especially from 1892 to 1922 although the first war goes back to Greece's liberation from Ottoman rule in 1821” (upenn.edu). From 1821 to present day 2010 there has been an ongoing conflict between these two groups causing significant social trouble for both nations. As a result, “the Greeks mistrust the Turks because of the Ottoman rule, and the Turks mistrust the Greeks because of their liberation from Ottoman rule” (upenn.edu). This mistrust had lead to violence, aggravation, disrespect, and outside intervention by the United Nations. This need for intervention has called global attention to the conflict putting another massive obstacle in front of Turkey as it tries to enter the European Union. (Anderson) Today in Cyprus there has been minimal progress in the issue of the ownership of the island, mainly because Turkey and Greece are still in bitter conflict in part to both underlying and evident reasons. A subtle yet omnipresent factor the Turkish and Greek unwillingness to budge on the Cyprus conflict is the mistreatment of opposing minorities in respective countries. This abuse of minorities was first started in 1923 after the “killing and expulsion of over a million Greeks from Turkey” occurred resulting from Turkey’s decision “to create a national state” after the fall of the Ottoman Empire (upenn.edu). After this mass eviction of their people from Turkey, Greece has not been able to work with Turkey constructively or effectively which is an enormous factor in the stalemate that Cyprus has become. On the forefront of Greece’s unwillingness to settle to agreement is Turkey’s demand for air control responsibilities. Turkey, much to the dismay of the Greeks, wants to control a more significant amount of airspace over the Aegean Islands, which include Cyprus. Greece is disinclined to allow this privilege to Turkey because they fear they will be open to an air attack from the Turkish. The Greeks, however, are justified in their thinking because in 1974 the Turkish invaded Cyprus. This invasion was meant to uproot Greek Cypriots and force them out of their territory, giving Turkey more power over the island. This invasion was reason for an intervention from the UN. Although there is more of a peaceful relationship today between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, the island is far from steady. (upenn.edu) Although violence seems to be the most prevalent barrier of Turkey’s EU membership, there are other issues that have arisen in lieu of the application process. Stemming from the presence of the Ottoman Empire, the religion of Turkey is predominantly Islamic. Presently, there is a 99.8% Muslim population in Turkey (cia.gov). This massive population of Islamic Turks is not seen by the rest of the EU as a desirable attribute of a potential member state. Islam is seen by most Europeans as a radical religion embedded with violence. Although Turkish Muslims do not have a history of being violent in the name of religion, Islam’s reputation today is a factor that cannot be overlooked during Turkey’s application to the EU. Islam in Turkey itself is a concern of EU members, however what is most unsettling to the EU is Turkey’s proximity to the politically and religious unstable countries of Southwest Asia. Turkey, which could be considered predominantly in Asia, shares borders with Iran and Iraq, which are viewed as two of the most controversial and dangerous countries in the world today. Turkey also shares borders with Greece and Bulgaria, which is why many Europeans fear “opening borders with a country so close to the volatile Middle East” (Anderson 363). Unfortunately, Turkey’s physical location is another negative aspect of the potential EU member. Socially, Turkey is not on par with most of the other EU nations. Turkey currently has a population upwards of 77 million and if admitted, the country would be the second most populous in the EU (Anderson 362). Adding a country with this many citizens into the EU would not be such an enormous problem if the Turkish had the same economic and educational standards that the rest of the member states of the EU have. For example, Turkey’s literacy rate is 87.4%, significantly lower than most other EU countries.
Although this statistic seems disappointing, what is more troubling for the Turkish is the gender inequality with regards to literacy rates, males are 95.3% literate while females significantly lag behind with only a 79.6% literacy rate (cia.gov). The significant lag in gender equality with regards to education is not consistent with the characteristic of other members of the EU, especially charter members who will be reviewing Turkey’s application with most scrutiny. The educational gaps in Turkey stem from extremely unstable economic conditions deeply rooted in the modern society of the country. The most frightening economic factor for EU members is Turkey’s “average per capita income of about $9,000” (Anderson 362). This $9,000 average “compared with the EU average of over $29,000” is especially troubling because in addition Turkish “inflation and unemployment have hovered around 10%, and government debt equates to more than 70% of its gross domestic product” (Anderson 362). Turkey is not economically comparable to the EU, which when looked at by richer, more powerful member states is another negative for Turkey during the application process. Turkey’s formal application to join the EU was submitted in December 2005, but clearly there are many impediments blocking the country from being a member of the EU. Turkey is viewed as a poor, Islamic country serving as gateway to the violent Middle East which is why the Turkish application will most likely not be accepted in the near future. These reasons teamed with Turkey’s unwillingness to acknowledge genocide in Armenia and refusal to budge on the issue of Cyprus further solidify the stark reality Turkey is facing as its application is under review by current EU members.

Works Cited

"FACT SHEET: ARMENIAN GENOCIDE." KNIGHTS OF VARTAN ARMENIAN RESEARCH CENTER. University of Michigan, 04 apr 1996. Web. 26 Nov 2010. <http://www.umd.umich.edu/dept/armenian/facts/genocide
Anderson, Sheldon. "Turkey & the EU." International Studies: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Global Issues. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2008. Print.
Lewy, Guenter “The Armenian Massacres in Ottoman Turkey.” A Disputed Genocide. Salt Lake City, Utah: The University of Utah Press, 2005. Print.
"CYPRUS: THE UNRESOLVED CONFLICT." CROSSINGS. University of Pennsylvania, May 1996. Web. 27 Nov 2010. <http://www.stwing.upenn.edu/~durduran/dergi/kalou1.htm>.
"Turkey." CIA World Factbook. CIA , 11 Nov 2010. Web. 29 Nov 2010. <https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/tu.html>.