Tyrkia blokkerer EU-deltagelse på NATO-toppmøte

Tyr­kia har sagt nei til at EU kan delta på NATOs topp­møte 21. mai, hvis ikke også Kon­fe­ran­sen av islamske sta­ter får delta. Tyr­kia har dess­uten blok­kert for at Israel kan være til stede.

By Ser­vet Yanatma, Today’s Zaman

Ankara says it will block EU par­ti­ci­pa­tion in an upcoming NATO sum­mit unless the Orga­niza­tion of the Isla­mic Con­fe­rence (OIC) is also allowed to be present.

EU mem­ber sta­tes had pro­po­sed par­ti­ci­pa­tion by some of the top EU bure­au­crats, inclu­ding Euro­pean Com­mis­sion Pre­si­dent José Manuel Bar­roso and Pre­si­dent of the Euro­pean Coun­cil Her­man Van Rom­puy, who are now unsure whether they will be able to attend the sum­mit taking in Chi­cago on May 20-21 as repre­sen­ta­ti­ves of the union due to the objec­tions from Tur­key, the Wall Street Jour­nal (WSJ) reported on Fri­day. Rai­sing the EU’s com­mit­ment to a NATO peace mis­sion in Afgha­ni­stan, EU mem­ber countries inclu­ding France had argued that the EU should be repre­sented, while Tur­key is main­tai­ning that there should only be mem­ber state par­ti­ci­pa­tion in the sum­mit, the WSJ claimed.

“If non-NATO mem­bers will also par­ti­ci­pate, the OIC should be repre­sented [in the Chi­cago sum­mit] first and fore­most,” Tur­kish diplo­ma­tic sources said in expla­i­ning Ankara’s position, speak­ing to Today’s Zaman on Sun­day. The sources clai­med that the OIC’s com­mit­ment exce­e­ded the EU con­tri­bu­tion in the Afgha­ni­stan peace mission.

The EU has exerted efforts for the recon­struc­tion and democra­tiza­tion of Afgha­ni­stan in pre­pa­ra­tion for the post-NATO-mission period in the coun­try. The EU laun­ched a rule of law mis­sion (EUPOL) under the ban­ner of the Euro­pean Security and Defense Pro­gram (ESDP) in June 2007. The union has also ini­tia­ted a pro­gram for jus­tice reform and is hel­ping to fund civi­lian pro­jects in NATO-run Pro­vin­cial Recon­struc­tion Teams (PRTs).

Mean­while, the OIC, a bloc of 56 countries, is also taking a growing inte­rest in the situa­tion in Afgha­ni­stan and Pakis­tan, and in 2010 it accep­ted a pro­po­sal by mem­ber sta­tes Tur­key and the Uni­ted Arab Emi­ra­tes to appoint an OIC per­ma­nent repre­sen­ta­tive for Afghanistan.

The US admi­ni­stra­tion has joined the push for grea­ter OIC involve­ment in Afgha­ni­stan for the last couple of years, which would bring bene­fits in efforts towards recon­ci­lia­tion between the Afghan govern­ment and the Taliban.

The Tur­kish diplo­ma­tic sources also noted that the dif­fe­rent pro­po­sals coming from NATO mem­bers on who will par­ti­ci­pate are still being discus­sed and there is not an ulti­mate deci­sion yet. They added that there are also objec­tions from other non-EU NATO mem­bers to the pro­po­sed EU par­ti­ci­pa­tion in the Chi­cago summit.

The back­ground to Turkey’s objec­tion to EU par­ti­ci­pa­tion in NATO acti­vities invol­ves a more long-standing dis­pute. Greek Cyp­rus, repre­sen­ting the entire island as a full mem­ber of the EU, blocks Tur­kish par­ti­ci­pa­tion in Euro­pean defense insti­tu­tions such as the Euro­pean Defense Agency (EDA). Tur­key, a NATO mem­ber, has respon­ded by obstruc­ting the EU’s inte­gra­tion in NATO activities.

Rejec­tion of Israeli part­nership in NATO

Tur­key has also blocked Israel’s par­ti­ci­pa­tion in the sum­mit in a sign of Turkey’s deter­mi­na­tion to pre­vent its new foe from coope­ra­ting with the alli­ance following a deadly ship raid.

For­eign Minis­ter Ahmet Davutoğlu said during a NATO meeting in Brus­sels on April that Tur­key will not allow Israel, a mem­ber of the Medi­ter­ranean Dia­lo­gue, a NATO out­reach pro­gram inclu­ding seven non-NATO nations, to take part in the alliance’s new “Part­nership Coope­ra­tion Menu (PCM).

Turkish-Israeli rela­tions wor­se­ned in May 2010 and have remai­ned strai­ned since then after Israeli naval com­man­dos stor­med the Mavi Mar­mara, a ship car­ry­ing huma­ni­ta­rian aid to breach Israel’s Gaza blockade, kil­ling nine Tur­kish civilians.

Tur­key insists that NATO-Israel rela­tions can­not be resto­red until Turkey-Israel rela­tions are normalized.