EU may not be able to let Turkey join : German parties

The European Union may not be able to accept Turkey as a member, German parties negotiating a coalition government have said, while making clear the EU's "privileged relationship" with Ankara should be developed further.

In a paper on foreign policy, Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives and the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) describe EU membership talks with Turkey as "open-ended". A coalition panel led by Merkel is expected approve the paper on Tuesday.

The wording is slightly tougher than the language in a 2005 coalition contract between the parties. That document, put together shortly after EU membership talks with Turkey began, said Germany had a "special interest" in deepening ties with Turkey and linking it to the EU, without explicitly supporting or rejecting full membership.

Since then, public support in Turkey for joining the EU has slumped and German doubts about Ankara's candidacy have grown, following the Turkish government's crackdown on protests earlier this year.

"If the EU is not in a position to accept (new members) or if Turkey is not able to fully meet the criteria for membership, Turkey should be bound closer to European structures, allowing it to further develop the privileged relationship it enjoys with the EU and Germany," reads the paper, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters.

Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian allies, the Christian Social Union (CSU), have long been wary about allowing a largely Muslim country of 76 million people into the EU. But the SPD has supported the idea; talks on Turkey's joining began under Merkel's SPD predecessor, Gerhard Schroeder.

Earlier this month, Turkey and the EU began a new round of membership negotiations. The start of the talks had been delayed since June, after Germany and several other EU governments blocked them. They cited Ankara's response to the protests, when six people were killed and 8,000 injured.

"The talks that began in 2005 with the goal of membership are an open-ended process, with no automatism and a result that cannot be guaranteed beforehand," the coalition document reads.  hurriyetdailynews.com
19/11/13
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****HURRIYETDAILYNEWS READER COMMENTS

Baris 11/19/2013 10:42:19 PM @Mark Mark, in your eagerness to get the phrase "benefit hungry Turks washing around Europe" in, you seem to have overlooked one tiny detail, that a visa doesn't necessarily mean a right to settle and claim benefits. @Laz K, why should we want to be part of the EU? For everything the EU represents: democracy, human rights, prosperity, peace, etc. FYI, Turkey is well integrated with European institutions, hence the EU. Before TR, the Ottomans were trying to adopt European ways for over a century.

JRC JRC 11/19/2013 9:35:54 PM Being a Muslim country is used widely here, as a reason why the EU doesn't want Turkey to join. Just to play the devil's advocate, what should attract the EU to so many Muslims joining? Would it be the sectarian strife? The low education standards? The corrupt business practices common in all Muslim countries? The determination of large numbers of extremists to introduce Sharia law into all societies? Exactly why should they want any of this?

mara mcglothin 11/19/2013 9:25:12 PM So what if Turkey ever joins the EU. The whole point of the process was to bring Turkey in line with the democratic norms of the rest of the free World. I know there are many Turks who would love to comply with all the EU guidelines and then choose to turn their backs and not join. Come on- you can do it!

Rimon Tree 11/19/2013 8:47:30 PM Most European countries have connected the AKP-Turkey's joining of EU to a plebiscit. The result will not at all be in favour of AKP-Turkey. Maybe there could be chance in a post-Erdogan Turkey, he is very much despised here!

Murat 11/19/2013 8:21:48 PM Turkish membership was doomed the moment EU took the Greek/Cyprus poison pill. Even without other factors, Turkey is just too big for Europe, it would seriously undemine French-German hegomony. It aint happening.

Penelope Parisis 11/19/2013 7:51:22 PM No illusions! No one, but no one, wants Turkey as a member of the EU in its current form!!! Only the Ataturk ideology will push Turkey forwards!!!

Ken Alden 11/19/2013 7:42:31 PM Britt in Turkey, this brings Mark Twain's "Everybody talks about weather but no one does anything about it" quip to one's mind! I would say that Turkey is at the watershed of it's future, as it is catching-up with the Industrial Revolution but is restrained by its past and its customs.

Hans-Joachim "Terrorist" Zierke 11/19/2013 6:52:28 PM Ottoman Reactionary, of course you can prefer to lie to yourself, but repeating illusions like a broken record won't bring you anywhere. EU citizens do NOT define as Christians in first place. For such a result, you have to poll the USA. If we would accept Turkey, we could as well accept Russia - the human rights record is pretty the same.

Laz K 11/19/2013 6:47:54 PM @Ottoman, I do agree with you on the fact that we are a Muslim country and that that is the mayor reason for not letting Turkey into the EU...but we must be fair....what about the democracy in Turkey, the frreedom of speech, the enclosed journalists,Cyprus, the Kurds, Alewiet, Christians, Jews rights, and more importantly Turkey is NOT EUROPE. Just a tiny tiny part is in Europe. We are an ASIAN country, not a European, not an Arabic, so why should we want to be part of the EU??For me NO NO NO..

alkan alkan 11/19/2013 6:47:26 PM Gezi Park, Cyprus, Hagia Sophia Mosque, Kurdish Problem etc: EU is a mirage !

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