David Miliband

Foreign Secretary

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Wednesday 08 April, 2009

US-Turkey-EU

Turkey was a good additional stop on President Obama's tour that started in London last week. And his plain speaking about the geo-politics of Turkish entry into the EU absolutely right. Europe does indeed have to come to its own view, but that does not stop others saying how they see it.

No one says Turkey is ready to join today; its own reforms and modernisation will take some time. But the reforms are more likely to happen with the galvanising prospect of EU entry that would benefit the EU as well a  Turkey. Turkey has choices. Its pivotal geographical, ideological and political/theological location means that it can  be an independent player or add value to the alliances it joins. When I visit Turkey in June, I will be remaking the case for Turkish entry from a British and European perspective.  

Posted at 17:51 08 April 2009 by David Miliband  |  Comments[10]

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I fail to see what democratic right you have to speak for the British people when a you refused the electorate a vote on the Lisbon Treaty, b when an opinion poll is against Turkey being admitted to EU membership http://www.politicshome.com/#7071 and c yet another opinion poll wishes for disengagement of this country from the EU http://www.politicshome.com/#7069

Posted by witteringsfromwitney on April 08, 2009 at 06:16 PM BST #

The British government may support Turkey joining the EU but the British people DO NOT. Sarkozy and Merkel are more in tune with the views of the British than you are.

Posted by Carrie on April 08, 2009 at 06:56 PM BST #

Really, it is never going to happen. The expected changes to voting weights based on population levels coming in under Lisbon would give Turkey higher or near equal voting influence to Germany or France. The key power houses behind the European project have been Germany and France - and I doubt they have any appetite to dilute their power away to Turkey.

Posted by Mark on April 08, 2009 at 07:35 PM BST #

David, Looking at the potential geopolitical and ideological benefits of having Turkey as a member is only right. At the same time, it brings along a risk of seeing Turkey as a prize. That is not a sound basis for the negotiations on Turkey's accession. The main basis has to be the actual integration of Turkey into European politics, law, economy and culture. When you are in Turkey, I hope you'll press the politicians to come forward with a commitment on climate change. Turkey will have to be part of the next global agreement if it wants to get into the EU.

Posted by nanne on April 08, 2009 at 10:06 PM BST #

A few years back I had the pleasure of visiting the European Parliament. I asked a few MEPs about what seemed to be a hot issue at the time. If the European Union is a partnership founded on co-operation and shared culture identities what does the entry of Turkey contribute to these ideals? Or is it purely an economic trading block?. In a few years it seems as if everyone now accepts it's mainly an economic insitution which seeks political power. As long as you meet certain minimal criteria then your cultural bckground doesn't seem to matter.

Posted by Kevin Conroy on April 09, 2009 at 07:18 AM BST #

...and Cyprus..? Turkey... Greece... Cyprus... Come on David, do something positive for once.

Posted by Paul E on April 09, 2009 at 09:26 PM BST #

i'm a fairly left wing person, love turkey, am genetically connected to the arabic world, am about as far away from being some reactionary, prejudiced daily mail reader as you can get, but, the behaviour of turkey's PM at the nato meeting could not scream any louder about the dangers of allowing turkey to join the EU. it's all fine and well that turkey is reforming it's society, becoming more democratic etc but if the citizens of that society then want to move in a more restrictively fundamentalist direction the fact that that society has all very above board elections and has a media that can, perfecting legally, start foaming at the gills about the direction their country is moving in, is not really, in the whole scheme of things, going to make a whole lot of a hill of beans difference to us. they will use the power of the veto to force us to move in the same direction. and will be able to do so democratically. turkey can not be allowed to join. shame but no.

Posted by sarahsmith232 on April 10, 2009 at 01:11 PM BST #

"I will be remaking the case for Turkish entry from a British and European perspective. " This, I assume, is from your perspective; you've actually said that you're in favour of the British people becoming a minority in their own country, a process which Turkish membership will help along. It's vital that this is publicised before the next election, so the British people realise just what we have now got as a Foreign Secretary.

Posted by Robert Ingleby on April 11, 2009 at 02:39 PM BST #

What is the case for Turkey joining the EU? I can see why it may make sense for us to have a military alley in the region but that is as far as it goes. Turkey does not fit into the rest of Europe. The culture, religion and ideology are different from the EU. The French and the Germany recognise this. I live in a two cities with a high proportion of Turkish citizens but after 20 years it is obvious that most Turks do not want to assimilate into a western lifestyle. Am I missing something?

Posted by Paul Macdonald on April 13, 2009 at 12:53 PM BST #

the turkish pm informed a turkish crowd of 16,000 in Cologne, germany that 'assimilation is a crime against humanity'. i'm sorry but you can not seriously think that having near 80 million join the EU that are being encouraged by their prime minster!! to refuse to integrate and assimilate into european culture a beneficial thing? i don't think i want to read about why argentina slowly disintegrated over the 20th cen'. but they apparently went from being one of the most affluent and successful societies on the planet at the beginning of that century to catastrophe because of continuing waves of immigration, they were swamped. you can't allow this level of immigration to continue. you don't have to live around it, i do, it's terrible. we can't stand any longer, the labour government has tighten up immigration laws.

Posted by sarahsmith232 on April 14, 2009 at 01:02 PM BST #

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