N. Peter Kramer’s Weekly Column
According to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, you can put Russia, Turkey and China in line. Talking about EU enlargement she said, that ‘We must succeed in completing the European continent so that it is not influenced by Russia, China and Turkey’.
From the European Parliament MEPs the first reaction was, that Von der Leyen’s blunder contradicts signals for closer cooperation with Turkey in the field of security and defense.
For most EU memberstates, Turkey is an important NATO ally. In July it will host the NATO summit in Ankara. For NATO secretary general Rutte Von der Leyen’s statement came at a worse time, he just started a two-day visit to Turkey to prepare the summit in Ankara. But also for the Commission President herself her words came at an inconvenient time. On Thursday she will travel to Cyprus for an EU summit. The northern part of the island, called the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, is under Turkish influence, while the south, EU member state Cyprus, has Greek roots. The capital Nicosia has been cut in two: for decades, UN soldiers are guarding a buffer zone in the middle of the old centre.
As usual spokes people of the commission are trying to limit the damage of the blunder. Turkish news agency Anadolu has been told ‘Turkey is an important partner. The statement was not intended as a comparison with any other country’...
