News on Turkey

Turkey's EU Aspirations Can Inspire Muslims, U.S. Diplomat Says

State's Bryza also discusses cartoon controversy, Cyprus proposal

08 Feb 2006

By Vince Crawley
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- Turkey’s ambition to join the European Union (EU) can show the Muslim world that it is possible to accomplish democratic reforms while respecting cultural differences, a U.S. diplomat said February 7 at a press roundtable in Brussels, Belgium, that also touched on the Cyprus peace process and the recent publication of inflammatory cartoons parodying Islam.

Turkey’s eligibility for the European Union will be determined by EU members and by Turkey’s ability to meet political and economic benchmarks, said Matthew Bryza, the deputy assistant secretary of state for southeastern Europe and Central Asia.  “Of course, we want to do everything we can to keep Turkey’s accession process on track,” he added.

Bryza said, “Turkey has a proud history of advancing secular democracy -- secular democracy in a predominantly Muslim society. In that sense Turkey is a unique country. Unique as a European country and as a partially Middle Eastern country, all at the same time.”

From the U.S. vantage point, he said, Turkey has strategic value in showing Muslim-majority countries that democratic reforms are possible and in inspiring Muslim populations in European countries that a Muslim country can engage with Europe in economics, politics and culture “while maintaining a respect for cultural differences.”

For that reason, Bryza said, “I think both our friends in the EU Commission and the Council [of Europe] and we in Washington see that there’s a deep strategic interest in Turkey continuing the [EU] accession process and completing the process.”

He said he believes the European Union “has more deeply absorbed the reality that this Turkish process is moving forward,” and cited a recent statement by the European Parliament that said a special partnership between the EU and Turkey is unacceptable if it falls short of full membership.

CYPRUS

The United States favors a January 24 proposal by Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul that calls for lifting port and trade restrictions on Cyprus, the ethnically divided Mediterranean island, according to Bryza. (See related article.)

He said the Turkish plan is consistent with a recommendation by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan that the international community set the stage for future reunification of Cyprus by easing the isolation of Turkish Cypriots. The United States plans to spend about $30 million in economic aid this year to help develop small and medium enterprises in northern Cyprus, Bryza said, adding that this would help lessen the economic isolation of northern Cyprus.

Bryza also responded to questions about the publication in European newspapers of satirical cartoons that depict the Prophet Muhammad. The cartoons have sparked violent protest in the Middle East and elsewhere. (See related article.)

“It’s a tragedy, what’s happened over these last few days, really a tragedy,” Bryza said, adding that he does not believe that confrontation is inevitable between Islam and the West, but lies rather within Islam, “between so-called extremists and so-called moderates.”

Bryza said he recently met with European leaders in The Hague, Netherlands, to discuss cooperation on integrating Europe’s Muslim communities into mainstream European society. However, with the recent publication of the cartoons and resulting violence, “that whole process is severely damaged now,” he said.

A transcript of Bryza’s meeting with reporters is posted on the Web site of the U.S. Mission to the European Union.