Challenges to German and American Foreign Policy

An American Institute for Contemporary German Studies Conference

Workshop

Parameters of Partnership:
The U. S. - Turkey - Europe

4 & 5 November 1998
Bonn
Germany

On November 4-5, 1998, AICGS and the Center for European Integration Studies cosponsored the second in a series of meetings planned through 1999. This latest conference focused on the dynamics of the Turkish/German/EU relationship and the significance of the U.S.- Turkish relations. The following observations represent three major points made at the conference. A publication with papers presented at the conference will be available in early 1999.

Following the EU summit meeting in December of 1997, Turkish attitudes toward the European Union in general and toward Germany in particular were marked by severe disappointment. Turkey interpreted the meeting as an indication that the EU was not treating their application for membership on an equal basis with the other eleven candidates. While much of the blame for this was placed on Greece, Germany was also criticized for allegedly not having committed the support to the Turkish candidacy which Turkish leaders had expected to take place earlier in the year. The Turkish view is that the EU is unwilling to determine a specific time frame for Turkey's eventual membership and is setting other countries ahead of them in a discriminatory fashion. Some argue that it is due to the Islamic factor in Turkey. This posture, it was argued, might lead Turkey to lose interest in the EU and seek alliances elsewhere.

German views suggested that the summit meeting did not exclude Turkey for eventual membership but rather that the proposal is still on the table. However, there is still much to accomplish before Turkey can meet the requirements to become a member of the EU, including domestic reforms at home as well as settlement of the conflict with Greece over Cyprus. Meanwhile, it is argued that the Customs Union agreement between the EU and Turkey has contributed to helping Turkey develop in the direction of eventual membership. In fact, there are more Turks living in Germany than in any other country in the EU and Germany has a vested interest in good relations with Turkey.

American views stressed the strategic partnership between Turkey and the U.S.; demonstrated by Turkeys' long-standing membership in NATO, its assistance during the war with Iraq and its contribution to settling the crisis in Bosnia. Turkey, it is argued, is a part of Europe, but it is also a part of the Islamic world and a part of the Balkans. It has strategic interests in its relations with Syria, Russia, Iran, and Israel. The importance of the networks of pipelines running through Turkey only increases its strategic value to Europe and the U.S. The U.S. encourages the EU to strengthen its relations with Turkey and to concentrate on settling the continuing volatile situation in Cyprus.

Please note that the Institute's last publication on these issues, The Parameters of Partnership: Germany, the U.S. and Turkey, is available for downloading on the Institute's Website.

Agenda

19:30 Opening dinner (for speakers of the workshop, by invitation only)

After-dinner speech
Dr. Ekkehard Eickhoff

Ambassador (ret.), Bonn

9:15 Welcome/lntroduction

Prof. Dr. Ludger Kühnhardt Director, Center for European Integration Studies (ZEI), Bonn

9:30 The Relations between Turkey and the EU - Stock Taking and Prospects

Chair: Dr. Jackson Janes

Executive Director, American Institute for Contemporary German Studies (AICGS), Washington, D. C.

Introducer:

Prof. Dr. Alan Makovsky

The Washington Institute for Near East Policy

Prof. Dr. Haluk Kabaalioglu

Expert Counsellor, Permanent Delegation of the Turkish Republic to the European Commission, Brussels

Dr. Günter Joetze

Director, "Bundesakademiefürherheitspolitik", Bonn

10:15 Discussion

10:45 Break

11:15 The Situation of Turks in Germany

Chair. Prof. Dr. Hüseyin Bagci

Middle East Technical University Ankara

Introducer:

Minorities in Germany: the Case of Turks - An American View
Prof. Azade Seyhan

Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania

The 2nd Generation: Law of Immigration and Citizenship
Cem Özdemir, MdB (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)

Member of Parliament, Germany

The Relationship between Christianity and Islam in Germany
Dr. Barbara Huber

Director, CIBEDO (Christlich Islamische Begegnung), Frankfurt a.M.

12 00 Discussion

12:45 Lunch

Economic and Sociocultural Developments in Turkey
Ishak Alaton

Chairman of the Board of ALARKO Holding A. S., Istanbul

14:00 Turkey in its Surroundings

Chair: Dr. Jackson Janes

Executive Director, American Institute for Contemporary German Studies (AICGS), Washington, D. C.

Introducer:

The Relationship between Turkey and Greece - The Cyprus Conundrum and the EU
Gerd Tebbe

Directorate-General I.A: Foreign Relations, European Commission, Brussels

Turkey and the New Eurasian Geopolitics
Graham E. Fuller

Senior Political Analyst, RAND Corporation, Washington, D. C.

Turkey and the New Geoeconomics
Prof. Emre Gönensay, MP

Former Turkish Foreign Minister

The West and Turkey's Economic Prospects
Rosemarie Forsythe

Mobil Oil, London

15:00 Discussion

15:45 Break

16:15 Components of a Strategy in the U. S.-Turkey-Europe Triangle

Chair: Prof. Dr. Ludger Kühnhardt

Director, Center for European Integration Studies (ZEI), Bonn

Introducer:

Dr. Hans-Friedrich von Ploetz

Secretary of State, Foreign Office, Bonn

Murat Karayalcin

Chairman Foreign Relations Committee, Turkish National Assembly

17:00 Discussion

18:00 Closing remarks