4 April 2009
Nato
The election of the new Chief of NATO has opened a new rift between Turkey and the Western Alliance. Turkey shows resistance to the election of Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen as the new Chief of the NATO due to Danish politician’s attitudes regarding the latest caricature crisis. Moreover, Turkey shows resistance to Rasmussen on the ground that Danish Prime Minister has not suspended a television channel’s activities in Denmark that is associated with PKK, a terrorist organization in Turkey.
Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan¸ said that “we do not want NATO to lose power. The media organ of the terrorist organization in my country broadcasts from Denmark. We submitted documents four years ago, but he still could not or did not stop them. We had a cartoon crisis as well. We asked them how to overcome the situation, but they still did not approach positively. Indeed, I take a dim view of his candidacy.”
These statements create new tensions between Germany and Turkey. Since German Prime Minister Angela Merkel strongly supports the candidacy of Rasmussen, objects Turkey by saying that “it would be wrong for a candidate country to try to block the candidacy of an EU member state’s Prime Minister.” Ms. Merkel also implies that this would create new obstacles in front of Turkey for her full membership.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in his recent statement challenged Chancellor Merkel and dismissed her statements as being “unacceptable.”
Prof. Dr. Mehmet Ozcan, the Head of USAK Center for EU Studies commented o the issue by saying that “carrying international problems under the umbrella of EU integration is not compatible with the EU’s policies up to now. The latest attempt, in this regard, is the Cyprus question and the EU members understand their mistake. Making international problems an integral part of the EU integration process, does not yield good results. In this sense, Merkel is playing with the fire by using Turkey’s EU membership bid as an instrument to convince Erdogan on Rasmussen’s candidacy.”
The German newspapers write that “if Ms. Merkel can not succeed to convince the other leaders on Rasmussen, it would be a clear embarrassment for her.” Ozcan underlined this point by saying that “due to the incoming elections in Germany, Ms. Merkel tries to politically benefit from NATO summit. Yet, it is obvious that it would not be good trade-off for the future of European enlargement.”
By JTW and news agencies
