Diplomatic World 67

H.E. FARUK KAYMAKCI
DEPUTY MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
AND DIRECTOR FOR EU AFFAIRS
REPUBLIC OF TÜRKİYE
YOUR EXCELLENCY, YOU HAVE MENTIONED ON
A FEW OCCASIONS THAT TURKEY WANTS TO
PROCEED WITH A POSITIVE AGENDA WITH THE
EUROPEAN UNION – WHAT ARE THE KEY PILLARS
UPON WHICH THIS POSITIVE AGENDA SHOULD BE
BASED AND TAKEN FORWARD?
The positive agenda is also proposed by the EU side at the
European Councils. We do not need to look for new ideas. We
have already the structure: the 18 March Statement with all six
dimensions.
THE FIRST DIMENSION IS THE ACCESSION
NEGOTIATIONS
Unfortunately, our EU accession negotiations have been brought
to a standstill due to some political issues even though it is mainly
a technical process. Consequently, our accession negotiations
did not advance as fast as we wanted. But we are still a negotiating
candidate country. Turkey’s EU accession perspective should
be protected and strengthened.
The more Turkey believes that it will become a member of the
EU, the faster the reforms will happen in Turkey and the better
Turkey-EU relations will be. But if Turkey feels being discriminated
among candidate countries, or pushed away from the rest of
Europe, then we will have less and less trust towards each other,
and this is not helpful.
We are not saying that we will join the EU tomorrow. Turkey will
join the EU only when we fulfil the membership criteria. But also
when we have a better understanding between the Member
States and candidate countries. Until that time, we should not
have any pre-judgement and should continue the accession
process. Therefore, the accession process has to be revitalised.
THE SECOND DIMENSION – THIS IS A LOW
HANGING FRUIT – REFERS TO TURKEY-EU
HIGH-LEVEL DIALOGUE MEETINGS
We had already established high-level dialogue meetings
between the related Turkish Ministers and European Commissioners
on economy, energy, transport and foreign policy.
However, they have been suspended by the EU side. Later on,
the EU decided to have new high-level dialogue meetings on
climate change, migration and security as well as on health after
the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, we would like to hold all
these high-level dialogue meetings, both the new and old ones,
but also to revitalize already established mechanisms between
Turkey and the EU such as the Association Council meetings and
Political Directors’ meetings. Turkey should also be invited to all
meetings that candidate countries are regularly invited, such as
Gymnich meetings and others.
THE THIRD DIMENSION OF POSITIVE AGENDA
WOULD BE THE UPDATE OF THE CUSTOMS
UNION
Turkey already implements the EU’s trade and competition policy
in line with Turkey-EU Customs Union (CU). Turkey, in terms of
trade, economy, and competition can be already considered a
Bosphorus Bridge
member of the EU. No other candidate country has a CU with the
EU. The CU, which has been in force since 1996, needs to
be updated. The updated version can include services, agriculture,
energy and maybe other areas. As Turkey and the EU economies
are highly interlinked and interdependent, the modernization
of the CU would create a win-win situation for both sides.
Half of the Turkish exports towards the EU are composed of
goods produced by EU companies in Turkey. Turkish companies
have also billions of dollars of investment in other European
countries. By the way, it is not easy to differentiate between the
Turkish and German companies, as there are so many joint ventures.
Also, the Green Deal requires us to update the CU since
the new trade mechanism has to be green and digital. So, we
cannot continue with the system of 1996.
FOURTH DIMENSION IS VISA LIBERALIZATION
The EU and Turkey have agreed that when Turkey fulfils 72
benchmarks on visa liberalization dialogue, Turkish citizens
should be able to travel freely– we are not talking here about the
free movement of labour – within the Schengen zone. We are
working on fulfilling the remaining few benchmarks.
Due to the current visa system, Turkish citizens cannot travel
freely in the Schengen zone. Entrepreneurs of the small and
medium-sized companies are faced with constant difficulties.
Thousands of Turkish students who are part of the Erasmus+
Programme and researchers who are part of the Horizon Europe
Programme cannot easily travel into the Schengen zone. They
have to wait for weeks to get visa to come to Belgium. We consider
the visa liberalization important to ensure people-to-people
dialogue, but also to prepare our common future, because this
is the Erasmus generation. This is the Horizon generation. I think
exchanges between the peoples of Europe is vitally important.
This is why we have to be more flexible in terms of visa liberalization
for Turkish citizens.
Photo: Shutterstock
Counter-terrorism is another important dimension as there is a
mistrust issue between Turkey and some of the Western countries.
When we see terrorist organizations like the PKK acting
in European capitals, making propaganda, recruiting people,
practising money laundering or getting involved in the narco
business, we are worried for all of us and our common future.
This requires us to have a good cooperation in the fight against
terrorism, all sorts of terrorist organisations including PKK,
Al-Qa’ida, Daesh, Fetullahist Terrorist Organization (FETO) etc.
We would like to be like Luxembourg or the Netherlands, where
we have no complicated neighbours or no close terrorist threats.
This global challenge necessitates our close cooperation. I think
it is important that we come to the same level everywhere in
terms of our fight against all sorts of terrorist organizations.
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