Bitter feud threatens to scupper Turkey’s EU membership bid

ISTANBUL: Confetti and fireworks greeted then-prime minister Recep Tayypip Erdogan when he returned to Turkey in December 2004, flush with the good news that his country had been invited to start talks to join the EU.

But, 13 years later, Turkey and Europe are locked in the bitterest of feuds, marked by threats and petty slights that could mark the end of Turkey’s ambitious national project to gain coveted privileges as a full member of the EU.

Erdogan, now the president, suggested as much last month, saying while Turkey could maintain its economic relations with Europe, “we may need to review ties at the political and administrative level”.

Beyond the heated rhetoric, both parties have much to lose from their fight, which threatens to further isolate Europe and Turkey when both are turning inwards and succumbing to xenophobia and nationalist rhetoric, analysts said.

The break-up would leave the EU bereft of a Muslim-majority partner that might have served as a hopeful sign of inclusion and diversity, including for millions of Muslim immigrants living in Europe, and a counterbalance to the right-wing, anti-immigrant parties gaining in prominence.

And as the distance between Turkey and its democratic allies grows, the Turkish state’s institutions are becoming more rigidly authoritarian, as its prisons fill and the tolerance for dissenting voices evaporates. The schism could also have immediate repercussions, most notably for an EU deal with Turkey to stem the passage of migrants headed to Europe.

Last week, in a grim warning about the possible consequences, 11 Syrian refugees trying to reach Greece drowned when their boat sank off the Turkish coast. – Washington Post