SHOULD TURKEY JOIN THE E.U.?
(December 2004)
(Comments: Tony.Papard@btinternet.com)
All nations partly or wholly in the continent of Europe should be eligible to join, providing they comply with the E.U. Constitution and Bill of Rights. One day I hope not only Turkey, but Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and all the other former Soviet European republics will join the E.U., but democracy has a long way to go in some of these states.
Turkey has come a long way in improving human rights in recent years. The Cyprus problem is now a non-issue – it is the Greek Cypriots who are now solely responsible for the continued division of the island. The Turkish Cypriots voted for reunification in the 2004 referendum, the Greek Cypriots voted against it.
Of course Turkey should recognize the Greek Cypriot Republic of Cyprus, but by the same token Greece and the rest of the world should recognize the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. The only way around this is for the Greek Cypriots to vote for reunification of the island in another referendum.
This Cyprus issue should not affect Turkey’s application for membership of the E.U.. Greece was allowed to join, even though it caused the division of the island by organizing the coup in 1974 which inevitably led to the island being divided in two.
The question of mainland Turkish troops stationed in the TRNC can be resolved, may be by being replaced by an EU or UN peace keeping force to protect the Turkish Cypriot population. This force could be extended to the RoC to protect the Greek Cypriot population if felt necessary.
The problem of economic migrants from Turkey and other poorer countries of Eastern Europe flooding into Western Europe cannot be solved by permanent ‘bans’ on immigration. The solution is for the E.U. to help these countries raise their standard of living, so economic migration is no longer so attractive.