Today’s Turkey has no place in EU, says Greek minister
rick murphy
Dimitris Droutsas: "the country that would gain accession to the bloc
is not the Turkey of today or a Turkey that plays with the thought of
an Ottoman past." He or anybody in Europe does not have a right to
criticize Turkey for its "Ottoman past". Because it is the Greeks and
the all Europe that remind the democratic Republic of Turkiye of its
"Ottoman past".
Everytime Turks and Turkiye say they are not an extension of Ottoman
Empire, the whole Europe including Greece call Ottoman Empire the
"Turkish Empire" ignoring the fact that Ottoman Empire never claimed
itself as a "Turkish Empire". And, Ottoman Empire was much more a
Greek/Byzantine empire than anything else even much more than the
representative of the religion, Islam, (which it tried to expand most
ambitiously and violently throughout the centuries) or its inventor
Arab culture. It revitalized much of the Greek.Byzantine institutions,
employed Greek people in its ranks showing off to World it was a Greek/
Byzantine Empire in Islamist/Jihadist skin.
Yes of course there are those of Ottoman descend in Turkiye (mostly
former Ottoman Jannisaries who were Ottoman crack military and state
officials and employees recruited from Ottoman Christian subjects as
tax) play with that "Ottoman Turkish Empire" idea. But they are in a
very small minority and do not count to much. Secondly, "‘failure’ to
open its ports to shipping from Greek Cyprus" belongs to Greek of both
Cyprus and Greece, just because they failed to convince the Turks of
both Cyprus and Turkiye that they will not annex Cyprus to mainlan
Greece and they will not make another attempt to massacre the Turkish
population of the island.
Today’s Turkey has no place in EU, says Greek minister
Monday, December 14, 2009
ATHENS - Hürriyet Daily News
Only days after the EU foreign ministers’ warning over Ankara’s
‘failure’ to open its ports to shipping from Greek Cyprus, Greece’s
Deputy Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas says although Turkey has a
place in the bloc, it is not the Turkey of today. He describes the
closing statement of the EU meeting as a victory.
The deputy foreign minister of Greece said although Turkey had a place
in the European Union, the country that would gain accession to the
bloc is not the Turkey of today or a Turkey that plays with the
thought of an Ottoman past.
In an interview with the populist weekly Greek newspaper Proto Thema,
Dimitris Droutsas said he considered the recent meeting of the EU
foreign ministers in Brussels a success. He added it was the first
time that the EU had recognized the right of a member state to
question the development of a chapter of a candidate nation.
On Dec. 8, the 27 EU foreign ministers released a statement regretting
Ankara’s failure to open its ports to shipping from Greek Cyprus. A
day after the meeting, Turkey said it was clear that any attempt to
carry problems of bilateral relations to the EU platform through
biased approaches would not bring any benefit to the solution of
problems.
In another statement, the Turkish Foreign Ministry criticized the EU
declaration, which it said reflected the attitude of the Greek Cypriot
administration amid ongoing negotiations to reunify the war-divided
island of Cyprus.
Reconciliation talks between Turkish Cypriot President Mehmet Ali
Talat and Greek Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias were launched
last year by the United Nations. However, momentum has slowed as a
looming election due to be in held in Turkish Cyprus next April
overshadows the meetings.
“We achieved to make sure vital statements on Turkey and Cyprus had a
place in the closing declaration,” Droutsas said. “The lightening
period during the past couple of years has ended. Issues were once
again set on right bases. Turkey could not escape being evaluated. We
managed to lift very dangerous statements on the closing declaration
that would not prevent bilateral problems from being an obstacle in
[Turkey’s] EU accession process.”
He added that his government had managed to secure the veto rights of
Greek Cyprus and other member states to prevent new chapters from
being opened and to make sure the international naval law that they
regarded as very important had a place in the declaration.
“Greece’s international targets are not changing, but its means of
arriving at those targets are changing. Turkey has a place in the
European Union but not the Turkey of today. Not the Turkey that plays
with the thought of an Ottoman past. The time of empires is gone. Now
is the time of a European future. Greece presents this future in its
region. We would also like to present this future to Turkey, but
Turkey still has a lot to accomplish to reach European democracies.”
Hypocrite policy
Droutsas added that if EU countries did not respond to Turkey’s
attitude toward Greek Cyprus, the bloc’s honor would be harmed. “If
the governments of 27 countries overlook Turkey’s non-recognition of
Cyprus, the 2006 decision calling on Turkey to change this attitude,
as well as the EU’s honor, would become worthless. Is this being
hypocritical? Yes, it is. I do not have any reservations in saying
this. But this is the field we are playing on. And this is the field
we should get results on.”
“Greece can discuss any issue with Turkey on the condition that it
does not interfere with its sovereignty,” said Droutsas. He added that
Greece wished to add dynamism to the talks between the two countries.
“The resolution of the issue about deciding the continental shelf
between the two countries lies before us. There is no need for much
philosophy. The international naval law was adopted by 160 countries.
This is a treaty that Turkey needs to accept eventually. And, for the
first time, this has had place in the council’s official document on
Turkey after the summit in Brussels.”
Upon a question on determining a common attitude in the Aegean between
the two countries, Droutsas said, “The best attitude would be for
Turkey to stop violating international law.” Droutsas said Greece and
Greek Cyprus supported U.N. efforts to find peace on the island.
Responding to a question, he said Athens did not view favorably the
proposal by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for a meeting
between Turkey, Greece, Turkish Cyprus and Greek Cyprus before March
2010. The “only dependable procedure” on the Cyprus issue remains
talks between the rival Cypriot leaders, Droutsas said. “We need to
support the ongoing negotiations between Talat and Christofias,” he
added.
-----
Daily News reporter Chris Loutradis contributed to this report from
Athens
redkit
Do they deserve being in EU with 300 mio € debt?
Also, does EU deserve Turkey as a member?
I think Turkish government has to ask it to its citizens.
"Do you want EU or not?"
The answer is clear enough : "NO!"
Nobody wants to be in a "LOSER" company.
> http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=today8217s-turkey-has-no-pla...
Grand Sen~or
I agree. EU is just another icon of sekularo-fascists. It is mono-law,
monolithic tyrannical structure. It doesn't recognize right to law to
SPEEs. It has to be dissolved before it collapsed and create a lot of
mess like climate change etc.