I have read the article by Mr. Frits Bolkestein ("What's wrong with Turkey?", Dec. 12, page 9).
The answer to the question in the title is "There is nothing wrong with Turkey, but it seems that there might be something wrong with the author of the article."
First of all, anybody who tries to pass judgement on the relations of Turkey with the EU must have at least a basic knowledge of the country. Mr. Bolkestein, while trying in his article to sound like an expert, cannot hide his ignorance and seems to be confused as to the capital of Turkey as he refers to the Turkish government as "The Istanbul government." His confusion does not end there. While criticizing members of the Turkish Government for being intolerant, he refers to an incident which took place in Copenhagen. Contrary to Mr. Bolkestein's claim, it was the Turkish Prime Minister Mr. Tayyip Erdogan -- and not Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul -- who walked out of a press conference at which a reporter from a Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)-linked TV station was present. (Readers should be aware that the PKK organization has been responsible for the loss of some 30,000 innocent lives in Turkey.)
Mr. Bolkestein, while trying to justify his objection to Turkey's admission to the EU by accusing the former of lacking democracy, forgets that in a democratic country the judiciary is independent and acts in line with the laws of the country. Therefore, if an individual -- or in this case, Orhan Pamuk -- breaks the law then he has to face the consequences. The Turkish courts should not be asked to drop charges against a person just because he is a popular author in Europe. By the way, Mr. Pamuk's court hearing has not even started yet.
Reading the article one should not mistakenly believe that Mr. Bolkestein is opposing Turkey's admission on the grounds of democracy, freedom of speech or tolerance. The real source of his opposition is obvious when he writes that Turkey is not a Christian country.
If Mr. Bolkestein truly believes that religion is the main obstacle to membership in the EU then one could argue that his approach is not much different from the racist attitude that brought great disaster to Europe in the past.
Certainly, his approach is not in line with the realities of the 21st century.
Burak Gursel
Representative, Turkish Trade Office
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