On Thursday, 5 November 2009, the International Centre for Black Sea Studies (ICBSS) hosted a lecture by H.E. Egemen Bagis, Minister of State and Chief Negotiator of the Republic of Turkey, on “Turkish Membership and a Stronger EU”. The Turkish proposal for creation of a High Level Cooperation Council to facilitate meetings between Prime Ministers and at ministerial level between Greece and Turkey, his country’s EU accession negotiations and related reform process, as well as the future of EU-Turkey and Greek-Turkish relations formed the core of Mr. Bagis’ speech.
Mr. Bagis opened his lecture pointing to a “new era” in Greek-Turkish relations and stressed the importance of dialogue and Turkey’s willingness to further improve bilateral relations through close cooperation at all levels.
Speaking on Turkey’s EU accession bid Mr. Bagis argued that it creates a win-win situation. Emphasising the geopolitical importance of his country, he underlined that acting as a bridge between East and West, Turkey has a lot to offer the EU. By way of example, Mr. Bagis stated that “70% of resources for Europe’s energy needs are located South and East of Turkey”. At the same time he underlined that the EU accession negotiations are the “most important external driving force” for reforms in Turkey and that the country is strengthening its democracy, addressing past taboos such as minority rights and gender equality. He also remarked that “the Turkey of today is not joining the European Union, Turkey will be different and the EU will be different”, stating that “Turkey, when ready, will join the EU and the EU when ready, will embrace Turkey”.
Concerning the Cyprus issue he stated a solution to be in the interest of all parties and that Turkey supports current negotiations between the Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot leaders, hoping to use this window of opportunity to reach a comprehensive settlement for peace and stability. Regarding the issue of illegal migration Mr. Bagis pronounced himself in favour of a common solution between the EU, Greece and Turkey based on burden sharing and fairness.
In the audience were members of parliament, former ministers as well as ambassadors amongst whom, Messrs. V. Antonaros, N. Dentias, T. Giannitsis, G. Korantis, G.Valinakis, inter alia. Audiovisual material from the lecture will be uploaded on the website of the ICBSS (www.icbss.org) in the next days. With a view to enhancing direct dialogue with citizens the ICBSS provided interpretation between English, Greek, and Greek sign language, while the lecture was also transmitted via live webcast through the ICBSS website.
By: N. Peter Kramer
