TURKPULSE No:138
TURKISH DIPLOMACY WILL
ENERGIZE AFTER JULY FOR EU
TURKPULSE No:138
TURKISH DIPLOMACY WILL
ENERGIZE AFTER JULY FOR EU
It is claimed that the Erdogan Government has slowed down, even lost heart, in its EU accession policy after a feverish work tempo last year until it received, on December 17th, the date for full membership negotiations. It is dragging its feet even for assigning a chief negotiator for the accession talks ahead, go these claims, which, in fact, stem from Washington’s disenchantment of Turkey’s equally energetic activities in the first half of the year for expansion towards Eurasia and Africa. There is no truth in slacking on the part of Turkey about the EU accession, a number one target for all Turkish governments, today or in the past. The temporary switch away from the EU in the first half was planned in view of the realities of the world, as there are, in the meantime, elections in the Turkish part of Cyprus and in the UK who will take over the reins in the EU as from July, as well as a referendum for the new European constitution in France. To see what Turkey is doing pending EU accession activities as from July please read the article below.
TURKPULSE No:139
TURKEY-U.S. – ARE
RELATIONS BEING BASED ON OTHER GROUNDS?
After a period of loud complaints from especially the American side about Turkey over the last few months, mutual relations are tending to take a cautious turn towards normalization on other grounds, only if Washington eventually resigns to having the Incirlik base as a very limited logistics centre renewed on a yearly basis, as the new Turkish decree calls for. In exchange for this decree, the U.S. has already dropped or rather eased its kind of embargo on modernizing the Turkish Air Force with an agreement it signed in Ankara a couple of weeks ago. Is this slight improvement in mutual relations a lasting change in substance for basing mutual relations on a new footing or is it a cosmetic and superficial effort on both sides to save face for the time being? For the answer and for an attempt to analyze the profound reasons for this never ending strife in the “strategic alliance” between Turkey and the United States for the last 60 years, please see the following article which is an analysis of the obvious problems and trends.