AKP to EU: Size of bread determines amount of meatballs

We are of the opinion that the reform process in Turkey has indeed slowed down and that while new reforms are late in coming, the reforms enacted over the past few years have still to be implemented properly. The most glaring example here is the question of rising police brutality and the inability, or lack of desire, by the government to intervene effectively, even though it has promised to pursue a policy of "zero tolerance" towards torture and ill treatment by officials, be they policemen, prison wardens or otherwise.

As for some key political reforms, and legal reforms, that are required desperately by the country - regardless of what the EU may want on this score - there appears no sense of urgency over these either, even though the government received a very strong mandate from the people in the July 2007 general elections. Talking to highly placed officials, and asking them about the declining EU enthusiasm in Turkey, not just among the public but also at the level of the government, we have come out with a better understanding of the government’s stance at the present time.

The best way to describe this policy is by means of a Turkish saying which, when translated roughly into English, means "The amount of bread you give determines the quantity of meatballs you get."

Put another way, the government has apparently decided to pursue the EU perspective at a pace that if believes has been set by the EU itself when it slapped on a host of artificial restrictions on Turkey’s negotiating process by using - Turks would say abusing - the Cyprus issue. One highly placed official, who for obvious reasons wishes to remain anonymous, told us recently that there was little reason to take the EU seriously on this score. "To what extent have they unblocked and opened our path that they expect us to rush on it" he said.

He added that if Turkey were to speed itself up now, it could very well end up in a short space of time not having anything left to negotiate since so many chapters have been blocked due to the Cyprus issue.

When asked if Foreign Minster Babacan should not give up his job as chief EU negotiator, since this is a full time job that is difficult to maintain together with the job of Foreign Minister, this official had a similar reply. He basically suggested that there was no point to this, since the situation on the ground did not bring with it a great sense of urgency to merit such a move.

Officials we have talked to also indicated across the board that if the EU were to act honestly towards Turkey Ğ and hardly anyone in Turkey believes it does Ğ and to give a date for accession (provided conditions are met by that date) then they would see a completely different Turkey moving towards the EU by displaying a startling enthusiasm.

All of this may sound logical to the ear but it still points to a cynical approach by the government, which is hardly welcome for the average Turk. After all, everyone recalls Prime Minister Erdogan saying in effect, and on numerous occasions, that if the EU decided not to play ball with Turkey, then his government would name the "Copenhagen Criteria" as the "Ankara criteria" and continue soldiering on, "because what was being done was for the sake of Turkey, and not simply to please the EU."

These words of defiance of course sound nice to the ears but in fact are completely hollow. The current government policy, as described above, completely belies this approach. The slowed pace of the reform process shows, contrary to what it argues, that the government is not thinking of Turkey, when the subject of reforms comes up, but of pleasing the EU.

This, at the end of the day, is what is worrying for supporters of EU membership in Turkey, because if the prospect of this membership is no longer sufficient as a driving force vis a vis the reform process, then the EU has little, if any, significance left for Turks as a political phenomenon to be aspired to.