THE question of Turkey's possible accession to the European Union poses a number of dilemmas for left critics of this "Europe." On the one hand, many objections to Turkey's membership are based on nothing more than thinly disguised racism and Islamophobia. On the other, there are perfectly sound reasons to question whether Turkey is a suitable candidate for EU membership.

The Bush administration is enthusiastic for Turkey's entry for purely militaristic reasons and an EU member state bordering several Middle Eastern countries would provide Western imperialism, whether directed from Washington or Brussels, with a major asset.

It must also be remembered that EU membership would benefit only the rich elite which already controls the country, being at best an extremely mixed blessing for the mass of the country's population and more certainly a complete disaster for the millions of Turks living in poverty. I would argue, however, that this is something which Turkish people and the progressive forces in Turkey must work out for themselves.

For the moment, there are more pressing concerns, as the European Commission's most optimistic estimate is that talks will take at least a decade. In the meantime, it would be foolish not to admit that the EU decision to establish accession negotiations offers supporters of basic human rights an opportunity to demand improvements in the country's record on a number of fronts.

Refusing to open negotiations or delaying them would, under current circumstances, only have strengthened the fundamentalist, anti-democratic forces which have acquired increasing strength both among ordinary Turks and within the ruling circles in recent years. Negotiations could enable progressives within Turkey and their supporters elsewhere to exert pressure for effective democratic reforms.

The changes which have already come about as a result of the elite's desire to join their country to the EU have been more than purely cosmetic. Negotiation will make monitoring of such reforms more effective, provided that we keep up the pressure.

Nevertheless, we should be demanding that negotiations be broken off immediately should Turkey fail to hold to agreements affecting the position of religious, ethnic and political minorities in the country or regarding its armed forces' illegal occupation of Cyprus.

Cyprus will, in fact, provide the first measurable test of Turkey's preparedness to hold to agreements, as Ankara has agreed to withdraw ships and military planes within a few months. As long as 40 per cent of Cyprus's territory remains under Turkish occupation, there should be no question of its being admitted to the EU. The EU position in relation to this question is already seriously compromised, given that the terms of Cyprus's own admission accorded the illegal occupation a degree of legitimacy.
If that were not the case, Turkish, an official Cypriot language, would already also be an official language of the European Union.

Equally serious are continuing human rights abuses within Turkey itself. Arbitrary arrests continue to occur, as does torture, while censorship and laws and practices interfering with the freedom of assembly are regarded as entirely legitimate by both the army, which remains the country's most powerful institution, and ruling political and economic elites.

This repression is uneven. I have personally addressed perfectly open meetings of a Marxist organisation in Istanbul and was assured by my hosts that I had nothing to fear, though I was also warned to avoid any open criticism of the military.

Gradual improvement of the situation on the ground in Kurdistan and the relaxation of laws aimed at the destruction of the Kurdish people's language and culture should not lead to complacency. The situation remains volatile. The Kurdish people continue to be the object of serious human rights abuses and, even if Turkish aggression were to cease completely, perpetrators of crimes against humanity should not go unpunished. The Turkish armed forces have come close at times to a systematic policy of genocide in the region and, until the guilty are punished, there should be no talk of simply "moving on."

A much older genocide, which was perpetrated on the Armenian minority in 1915, also hangs over the modern Turkish state. In this case, it is too late for the guilty to be punished. However, it is not too late for Turkey to admit what happened and to take steps to purge its conscience of this shameful episode in its history. Its doing so should be an absolute condition for a "successful" conclusion of negotiations.

Turkey has shown on many occasions that improvements will come only in the face of pressure and those seeking to exert such pressure within the country, generally at great risk to themselves, need our help. In the negotiations to take place over the coming 10 years, we should be insisting that Turkey fully adhere to the human rights aspects of the Copenhagen criteria - the conditions which an applicant country must fulfil if it is to be accepted - and that negotiations be suspended in the event of transgressions.

Kurdistan, the Armenian genocide and the illegal occupation of Cyprus must all be addressed. For all its talk, the European Commission will not prioritise such matters above the economic advantages it believes that the developed countries which form the core of the EU will gain from Turkish accession.

It is hard to see how progress can be made unless the issue of Cyprus is dealt with, but it will be up to us to ensure that Turkey's minorities, her political prisoners, the rights of Turkish women, the Armenian genocide, the victims of war in Kurdistan and the right of all Turkish people to basic freedoms are not allowed to slip quietly from the agenda.

Steve McGiffen is editos of spectrezine. This article first appeared in the Morning Star. To read more about Britain's socialist daily, go to website

See also
http://www.spectrezine.org/war/Wokusch6.htm
http://www.spectrezine.org/europe/Turkey.htm