6 December 2006

1. "EU Supports Suspension of Turkey Talks", the European Union presidency on Tuesday backed a proposal to suspend partially EU membership talks with Turkey because of Ankara's refusal to open up to trade with Cyprus.

2. "US urges EU not to rule out Turkish membership", a leading US official on Monday warned the European Union against closing the door on Turkish membership of the 25-nation bloc, saying such a move would be a major "strategic miscalculation."

3. "Turkey Faces Setback in European Union Bid", in a setback today for Turkey in its quest to join the European Union, Germany and France threw their weight behind a call to partly suspend negotiations with Turkey because of a continuing dispute over Cyprus.

4. "Merkel seeks future Turkey review", German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Jacques Chirac have rejected the idea of setting a deadline for Turkey to comply with EU demands.

5. "Five Kurdish rebels killed in southeast Turkey", five Kurdish rebels were killed in clashes with the army in southeast Turkey despite a ceasefire the militants called in October, the Turkish general staff said in a statement here Tuesday.

6. "Creationism in Turkey", adding to the creationism sightings around the world, Reuters (November 22, 2006) ran a story on Islamic creationism in Turkey, where "[s]cientists say pious Muslims in the government, which has its roots in political Islam, are trying to push Turkish education away from its traditionally secular approach.

1. - AP - "EU Supports Suspension of Turkey Talks":

BRUSSELS / 5 December 2006

The European Union presidency on Tuesday backed a proposal to suspend partially EU membership talks with Turkey because of Ankara's refusal to open up to trade with Cyprus.

Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said the recommendation to suspend some parts of the negotiations "provides a good basis for a decision" on Turkey when European Union foreign ministers meet next Monday to discuss the issue.

Vanhanen said EU foreign ministers should decide on whether to adopt that recommendation at their meeting Monday, because he did not intend to take the issue to a summit meeting next week.

Although he acknowledged that the negotiations were in "a difficult situation," Vanhanen told a meeting of EU legislators that the long-term plan to bring Turkey into the Union should go ahead.

The leaders of Germany and France underlined their support Tuesday, Cyprus expressed support Tuesday for a proposal to give Turkey 18 months to open its ports to Cypriot trade.

"European Union membership is part of a global vision, it is the most important project of the 21st Century," Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said. "It is an issue that cannot be sacrificed to small calculations and mundane issues.

"To distance Turkey from the negotiating table would be a grave mistake.

"Turkey has nothing to lose. If anyone loses, it will be the EU."

2. - DPA - "US urges EU not to rule out Turkish membership":

BRUSSELS / BERLIN / 5 December 2006

A leading US official on Monday warned the European Union against closing the door on Turkish membership of the 25-nation bloc, saying such a move would be a major "strategic miscalculation."

US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns told reporters in Brussels that Washington firmly backed Ankara's drive to join the EU.

"We see this a strategic decision. Turkey is a European country. Europe cannot be complete without Turkey...we hope that the various problems between the two can be overcome," Burns said at a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

The US envoy said the EU's decision last year to open accession talks with Turkey - "a major secular Muslim democracy" - was one of the most important decisions made by Europe at the beginning of the 21st century.

"Closing the door (on Turkey) could be a major strategic miscalculation," Burns warned, adding that building bridges between the West and the Islamic world was a key challenge.

"Turkey is the bridge," he underlined.

Burns' comments came after the European Commission cautioned Germany and France against giving new ultimatums to Turkey over opening its ports to Cypriot vessels, saying experience had shown such deadlines did not work.

With German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Jacques Chirac expected on Tuesday to call for tougher conditions on Turkey's bid to join the European Union, a spokeswoman for EU enlargement chief Olli Rehn said Turkey's relations with Cyprus could only be solved in the context of a comprehensive United Nations deal.

Experience had shown that when it came to Turkey's dealings with Cyprus, "strict deadlines do not produce results," the spokeswoman Krisztina Nagy told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

"We need to look for a balanced solution," Nagy said. The commission last week called for a partial freeze in Turkey's EU membership talks after Ankara refused EU demands for opening its ports and airports to Greek Cypriot traffic.

But Nagy said the EU must also keep Turkey's accession process alive given the country's "strategic importance" to the EU.

Rehn's comments came after officials in Berlin confirmed that Merkel wanted to make it more difficult for Turkey to resume EU negotiations by imposing a so-called "revision clause."

This would mean that even if Turkey complies with EU demands and opens its harbours and airports to Cyprus there would be no automatic resumption of membership negotiations.

Instead, all of the EU's future 27 members (Bulgaria and Romania are due to join on January 1, 2007) would have to vote unanimously to resume talks with Ankara. Merkel wants such a vote to take place in mid-2008, meaning 18 months of limbo for Ankara's EU talks.

Officials in Berlin say Merkel is keen to keep the Turkish EU membership controversy off the agenda of the German EU presidency during the first half of 2007.

The German leader strongly opposes Turkish EU membership and instead calls for Ankara to be given what she terms a "privileged partnership."

A final decision on action aimed at Turkey is expected at the EU's Brussels summit on December 14 and 15.

France, Greece and Cyprus back Merkel's bid to toughen terms for Turkish EU talks.

But the move is likely to be opposed by Britain and the Nordic countries as well as Italy, Spain and the European Commission, said diplomats in Brussels.

Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, on a visit to Greece, urged the EU to leave the door open for Turkey's attempt to join the bloc.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has warned it would be a "serious mistake" to send Turkey a negative message on its bid to join the EU.

Merkel seeks tougher line on Turkey's EU membership bid

Last Wednesday the commission said talks should be frozen on eight Turkish negotiating chapters including transport, trade, agriculture and external relations.

Finland, which holds the current EU presidency, has been struggling for several months to strike a compromise deal allowing free trade through Famagusta in Turkish Cyprus in exchange for a move by Turkey to open its ports and harbours to Greek Cypriot traffic.

Ankara insisted, however, that the EU must first lift its trade embargo on Turkish northern Cyprus, whose government is not recognized by the EU.

Turkey has not established diplomatic ties with the Republic of Cyprus, which became a member of the EU in 2004. Discussions on reuniting the island - divided since 1974 - are under way at the United Nations.

3. - New York Times - "Turkey Faces Setback in European Union Bid":

PARIS / 5 December 2006

In a setback today for Turkey in its quest to join the European Union, Germany and France threw their weight behind a call to partly suspend negotiations with Turkey because of a continuing dispute over Cyprus.

The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the president of France, Jacques Chirac, also urged the European Commission to report back to leaders of the union in 18 months on the question of whether Turkey was meeting the union’s conditions for membership with respect to Cyprus, a step that would have the effect of imposing a deadline on Turkey.

The commission, the union’s executive body, proposed last week that talks with Turkey be halted on 8 of the 35 “chapters,” or subject areas, involved with Turkey’s bid for membership.

Ms. Merkel said today after meeting in Germany with Mr. Chirac and President Lech Kaczynski of Poland that the commission’s suspension plan was a “good basis” for discussion. Mr. Chirac said that his government felt the same.

“We don’t want to set any kind of ultimatums,” Ms. Merkel said during a joint news conference in Mettlach, a town in the Saarland area of southwestern Germany near the French border. But she said the commission should tell the union’s leaders “what has been achieved and how we can proceed.”

She insisted that the move did not constitute a “sharpening” of the German position, but she said, “Something that we expected didn’t happen. It must have certain consequences.”

“We have the same position, French and Germans, on this problem,” Mr. Chirac said.

Ms. Merkel referred to what the union has said is a lack of progress by Turkey on human rights, religious freedom and other issues since the membership talks with the union began in October 2005. Politicians in some member countries have since grown increasingly concerned about the economic and political costs of integrating Turkey, a large, predominantly Muslim nation that is much less wealthy than most of Western Europe, into the union.

But the most intractable issue has been the status of Cyprus, which has been divided for 32 years between a zone in the south controlled by the island’s ethnic Greek majority and one in the north controlled by its ethnic Turkish minority. The government on the Greek side is internationally recognized and belongs to the union; Turkey alone recognizes the government of the Turkish side, which was set up with the aid of a Turkish military invasion in 1974.

The union has repeatedly demanded that Turkey open its ports and airports to Greek Cypriot ships and planes; the commission’s proposal to partly suspend the membership talks was made after Turkey had again refused to do so, saying that the union should first lift its embargo on the Turkish part of the island.

The issue will be discussed by the union’s leaders at a summit in Brussels on Dec. 14 and 15.

The prime minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, urged his European counterparts today not to make a “historic mistake” at the summit by pushing Turkey away.

“Membership is part of a global vision, it is the most important project of the 21st Century,” Mr. Erdogan said. “It is an issue that cannot be sacrificed to small calculations and mundane issues.

To distance Turkey from the negotiating table would be a grave mistake. Turkey has nothing to lose. If anyone will lose, it will be the EU.”

Some member states appear to agree with him. The British prime minister, Tony Blair, called on fellow leaders last week to send “positive signals” to Turkey. The Swedish foreign minister, Carl Bildt, travelled to Ankara this week to express support for Turkey’s European ambitions.

“We are both convinced of the need to retain the strategic perspective for Turkey and the E.U.,” Mr. Bildt said, referring to Turkey and Sweden. “Whatever happens, we must have a continuation of the negotiating process.”

Tension worsened last week after Turkey rejected a compromise proposal by Finland, which now holds the rotating presidency of the union that involved easing the union’s embargo, though not lifting it entirely, in return for an opening of Turkish ports and airports to Cypriot ships and planes.

Germany is next in line for the union presidency, beginning Jan. 1. .

4. - BBC - "Merkel seeks future Turkey review":

5 December 2006

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Jacques Chirac have rejected the idea of setting a deadline for Turkey to comply with EU demands.

Mrs Merkel, who takes over the EU presidency in January, said "We don't want to set any kind of ultimatum".

But the two leaders said the EU should issue a new progress report on Turkey's EU membership bid between next autumn and European elections in 2009.

Turkey's troubled bid will be on the agenda of an EU summit next week.

On Tuesday, Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn called on Ms Merkel and Mr Chirac to look for a "balanced solution" rather than calling for a strict deadline to be imposed on Turkey.

Earlier, a German government spokesman had said Mrs Merkel thought an 18-month deadline was an "appropriate and sensible instrument".

'Grave mistake'

Mrs Merkel and Mr Chirac said they supported the European Commission's recommendation to partially suspend Turkey's accession talks.

The Commission is recommending the move because Ankara has failed to open its ports to ships from Cyprus, despite promising to do so in 2005.

Turkey says the EU should first fulfil a commitment to end the economic isolation of breakaway Turkish northern Cyprus, which is recognised only by Ankara.

Earlier, the Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, told Mrs Merkel that suspending talks would be "a grave mistake".

"Don't let this historic opportunity be hampered by the Greek Cypriot party with cheap tricks," he told her in a message quoted by Turkey's Anatolia news agency.

Greece also came out on Tuesday in favour of an 18-month deadline for Turkey.

EU foreign ministers will discuss the Commission's proposals at a meeting next Monday, and make recommendations to the EU summit on Thursday and Friday.

The French and German leaders were joined by Polish President Lech Kaczynski for informal talks in Mettlach, Germany, on Tuesday.

5. - AFP - "Five Kurdish rebels killed in southeast Turkey":

ANKARA / 5 December 2006

Five Kurdish rebels were killed in clashes with the army in southeast Turkey despite a ceasefire the militants called in October, the Turkish general staff said in a statement here Tuesday.

The fighting occurred Monday in the mountains near the town of Beytussebap, in Sirnak province, which borders Iraq and Syria, it said.

Five others -- four presumed members of the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels and one soldier -- died in clashes in the same province last week.

The PKK, which has been fighting the Turkish army since 1984, proclaimed a unilateral ceasefire from October 1, saying it hoped this would pave the way for a peaceful resolution of the conflict.

The truce, like previous ones called by the rebels, was rejected by Turkey, but fighting has decreased markedly since then.

More than 37,000 people have died since the PKK took up arms for self-rule in the mainly Kurdish southeast of the country.

6. - National Center for Science Education - "Creationism in Turkey":

4 December 2006

Adding to the creationism sightings around the world, Reuters (November 22, 2006) ran a story on Islamic creationism in Turkey, where "[s]cientists say pious Muslims in the government, which has its roots in political Islam, are trying to push Turkish education away from its traditionally secular approach." The main source of antievolution propaganda in Turkey is Harun Yahya -- a pseudonym probably for a pool of writers, headed by Adnan Oktar -- which, as Taner Edis told Reuters, "has managed to create a media-based and popular form of creationism." Efforts to popularize "intelligent design" in Turkey are lagging, Reuters suggests, because most Turks "see no need to avoid naming God," but Education Minister Huseyin Celik recently told CNN Turk that "intelligent design" should not be disregarded just "because it coincides with beliefs of monotheistic religions about creation."

A story (subscription required) in the November 23, 2006, issue of Nature on creationism in Europe devoted a few paragraphs to creationism in Turkey, which is presently seeking to join the European Union. The geneticist Steve Jones, just returned from Istanbul, told Nature, "Creationism is a major issue in Turkish politics; the debate is much more tense than in the United States," adding, "All biology textbooks now used in schools are creationist in tone." Although the story also mentioned recent creationist activity in Poland, Germany, Britain, Italy, and Russia -- evidently forgetting Serbia, where the teaching of evolution was banned and then unbanned in the course of a busy week in September 2004 -- it reported that Jones was not particularly worried about the prospect of its undermining science in such countries. But, he added, "I am not so optimistic about Turkey."