The end of a European fairy tale: What Ukraine should learn from Turkey
A catchphrase: “Ukraine will join the EU immediately after Turkey, but Turkey will never.” There is no longer relationship than the EU-Turkey relationship, and it appears to be coming to an end. Do you still say: “Ukraine is Europe”? It would be better if it were Turkey!
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Türkiye is a key NATO player in the Middle East region. She is the founder of the Council of Europe, the founder of the OSCE. The country became an associated member of the European Economic Union back in 1963, that is, 50 years ago. Turkey applied to join the European Union in 1987, but did not become a candidate until 12 years later. The process of negotiations on Turkey's possible accession to the EU began in 2005, but did not end that way.
For a long time, the very entry into the European Union for the Turks was not even an economic aspiration, but a desire to identify, to justify themselves as Europeans. The old identity on which the Ottoman Empire rested was destroyed by Ataturk and the Young Turks in the 20s, society was secularized, the alphabet switched from Arabic to Latin, and the country was declared European.
Kemal Ataturk developed and strengthened Turkey, but far from thanks to European identity, but rather in spite of it. They did not need to join the EU in order to gain economic benefits, or rather, far from it. Having entered there, they wanted to rank themselves among the great European civilization, which, by the way, was partly built as a result of the Turkish threat. Thus, the great Emperor Charles V, who founded the Austrian Empire, directed his entire life, all his endeavors, desires and strengths to the fight against the Ottomans. The Austrian Empire, created by Charles V, became an outpost of the struggle against the Turks and the Islamic threat. The experience of creating Austria-Hungary, along with the German Confederation, formed the basis for the creation of the European Union itself.
Now only 1/5 of Turks want to join the European Union. The second most powerful leader of the Turks in the 20th century was Prime Minister Erdogan. And he turned Turkey’s policy in a completely different direction, from a large pro-European country, a buffer between Europe and the Middle East, to leadership in the region.
Turkey itself, unlike Ukraine, when negotiating accession to the EEC or the EU, never renounced not only its industry, but demanded financial compensation that would compensate for losses after accession. Mykola Azarov, who made the largest number of real steps for Ukraine’s associated membership in the EU, could not even mention compensation, but Turkey talks about them constantly. That’s why, by the way, he gets a refusal.
In addition, Turkey's accession to the EU is hampered by unresolved territorial and political conflicts, which have become more numerous in recent years. This is Cyprus, these are the Kurds. The EU demands that the Kurdish Workers' Party be abandoned as a terrorist organization, but this is unacceptable for the descendants of the Ottomans.
Turkey has a powerful lobbyist in the EU, much more influential than Poland and Lithuania. This is Great Britain. Turkey's entry into the union would strengthen NATO's influence in the European union itself, and, consequently, the position of Great Britain and the United States itself. But this did not happen and probably will never happen, since Great Britain itself, through the mouth of the Queen, announced a referendum on the country’s exit from the EU in 2017. And the point here is not that Great Britain has lost interest in the European Union. The point is different: the United States is showing interest in him with a predatory smile.
The US task in the next year or two is to sign a free trade zone with the EU, similar to the one signed by Ukraine. This is a process of global restructuring of the world in which the United States wants to maintain its hegemony. Thanks to the FTA with the EU, industrial goods from America will flow duty-free to Europe, on the one hand giving rise to industry in the USA, on the other – burying the whole spectrum of European industry.
The UK needs the 2017 referendum only to reinsure itself against American influence on the economy.
Last week, the Eurasian Economic Union, an analogue of the European Economic Union, signed a free trade area with Vietnam, a country with a population of one hundred million and a huge economy. Experts note that in the changed economic and political realities that will become established by 2017-18, Turkey will also sign economic agreements with the Eurasian Union, up to joining it as a permanent member.
Turkey's complete renunciation of the EU is a matter of two or three years.
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