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HERMAN DE CROO My first visit to Turkey dates back to 1973, when as a rapporteur of the General Nato Assembly-I was first elected in the Belgian Parliament in 1968- I had the pleasure to meet the President of the Republic and to walk over the first bridge joining Asia and Europe. It was also my first visit to Ankara and Istanbul. I had the opportunity to come back three or four times, always on official visit as a Minister of Transport and later as a Minister of Transport and Foreign Trade, with a delegation under the presidency of our King Albert, then Prince Royal and Chairman of the Belgian Board of Foreign Trade. That Turkey has changed greatly became obvious to me after my latest visit in April 2000 leading an official delegation of the Belgian House of Representatives. Istanbul has always been a big city with many languages, religions and people of many origins. What has changed in the meantime is that it has attracted a lot of people from remote parts of Turkey, especially from the Southeast. Due to the recent dramatic earthquake, my visit wasn't limited this time to the great cities of Ankara and Istanbul. It gained an additional dimension in as much as I inaugurated the Belgian village of Düzce. Situations of urgency or catastrophes have always been test-cases for solidarity. It happened once again with the terrible double earthquake Turkey endured last year. There was solidarity, not only among the Turks but also from all around the world and especially from Belgium. The Greek solidarity helped writing a new page in the relations between both countries. In April I had almost twenty different contacts with, among others, the business community in Istanbul, the almost 75 years old Belgian-Turkish Chamber of Commerce, representatives of important Belgian firms in Turkey, the editors of important newspapers and media, not to mention my official visit to the President of the Republic, the Speaker of the House, the Minister of Defence, the Chairmen of Parliamentary Committees, such as Foreign Affairs and Human Rights. The NGOs we also met proved very aware of and attentive to all the problems still connected with human rights and more generally with the improvement of the fate of hundreds of thousands of people living in Turkey. My global impression after all those meetings as well with the Minister of Defence, the Speaker of the House, the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, the Chairperson of the Human Rights Committee as with President DEM‹REL, can be sketched as follows: 1. Turkey had to wait for a very long time before the perspective of new relations with the European Union finally became a reality. Its impatience is perfectly understandable. Now, after Helsinki great hope is developing, perhaps too great and I think a step by step policy would be advisable; don't forget the long waiting years which Spain and Portugal had to undergo before they could really join the Union. Moreover the Community Was then less sophisticated and developed than it is now. 2. I am thoroughly convinced that once again Turkey is playing a crucial part located as it is between the perhaps two most sensitive areas in that part of the world: the Balkans and the Caucasus. I mean in particular the energy corridors, the situation in Ukraine and Russia and the religious influences in the Caucasus and in the Central Asian Republics. 3. Turkey is a large country with, very soon, as many citizens as reunited Germany. The country has an important economic-but not only economic-potential since the young population is developing fast and possesses a deep sense of national pride and national unity. But Turkey has to know that if it wants to join a Union like the one we have in Europe, certain contradictions will have to be solved. The very essence of the Republic is indeed national integrity, seperation between religion and state and strong self-confidence. Any country joining the Union has to abondon absolute sovereignty in fields as finance, defence, institutions, law, trade and social affairs. This could be a dilemma. Proud and sovereign Turkey is knocking at the door of Europe. Once the door is open it will automatically lose a great part of that same sovereignty. I'm confident the operation will be a success with a modern approach of human rights and with respect for those who would like to live their own way in the great country Turkey is. The last reports, quite open, issued by the Human Rights Inquiry Committee of the Grand National Assembly are a testimony that this hope is not vain. The serenity of the debates concerning the succession at the Presidency is another sign of political maturity which can only be a positive factor in the eyes of foreign investors. In addition to this, no doubt the Turkish population, thanks to the quality of education, is motivated to contribute to the realization of Ataturk's almost prophetic vision: Go West. HERMAN DE CROO: "YUNAN DAYANIŞMASIYLA YENİ BİR SAYFA AÇILDI" Türkiye'ye ilk olarak 1973 yılında gelmiştim. O zaman Sayın Cumhurbaşkanı ile görüşmüş ve Asya'yla Avrupa'yı birbirine bağlayan ilk köprüden yürüyerek geçmiştim. Son ziyaretimde ülkenin çok değişmiş olduğunu gördüm. Bu defa depremde zarar gören Düzce'ye de gittim. Yunanistan'ın deprem sonrasında gösterdiği dayanışma ile yeni bir sayfa açılmıştır. Nisan ayında gerçekleştirdiğim ziyarette, iş dünyasının temsilcilerinin yanısıra üst düzey devlet yetkilileriyle de görüştüm. Biraraya geldiğimiz sivil toplum kuruluşlarının temsilcileri de insan hakları ile ilgili sorunlar konusunda duyarlılıklarını sergilediler. Bütün bu görüşmelerden edinmiş olduğum başlıca izlenimler şunlar: 1. Türkiye'nin AB üyeliği konusundaki sabırsızlığı anlayışla karşılanmalıdır. Helsinki Zirvesi'nden sonra artık daha somut adımlar atılabilir. ‹spanya ve Portekiz'in de Birliğe girmeden önce uzun yıllar beklediğini unutmamak gerekir. 2. Türkiye konumu itibarıyla Balkanlar ve Kafkasya açısından büyük önem taşımaktadır. 3. Türkiye genç nüfusuyla büyük bir ekonomik potansiyel taşımaktadır. Ancak, Türkiye, Birliğe üye olmak istiyorsa, kimi sorunları çözüme kavuşturmalıdır. Türkiye Cumhuriyeti milli birlik, laiklik ve kendine güven esasları üzerine oturmuştur. Birliğe üye ülkeler finans, savunma, hukuk ve benzeri konularda mutlak hakimiyeti bir kenara bırakmak zorundadır. Bu bir sorun teşkil edebilir. ‹nsan haklarına ilişkin olarak da gerekli düzenlemeler yapılmalıdır. Türk insanı Atatürk'ün vizyonu doğrultusunda, Batılı olma yolundaki ilerleyişini sürdürecektir.  Elegans'a mail |
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