Turkey's accession talks with the EU for full membership have been ongoing since 1963 and within this time period the EU has welcomed new members, but not Turkey. Greece, for example, joined the EU family in 1981 although it applied for membership the same year as Turkey. More surprisingly, South Cyprus was made a member while its sovereignty conflict continued – an open violation of EU codes. Eastern European states are another example of those who gained EU membership despite the fact that they hadn't implemented any EU criteria, as were demanded of Ankara.On top of that, the European Parliament recently announced that EU members will convene next week to discuss whether to suspend the years-long accession talks with Turkey or not.
The EP parliamentarian's reasons for it are nothing but double standards.
The European Parliament representatives listed some reasons for such a decision, such as some executives of the PKK's political wing, the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), being in detention or under investigation by the Turkish legal and security bodies. This was one reason for frozen ties with Ankara, they say.
Reportedly, the said HDP members have many times violated the Venice Commission principles by "systematically supporting violence" – a law regulated by the commission is enough to close a political party. Rather than shutting down the party, Turkey chooses democratic ways of dealing with the situation and brings HDP members before the courts since crime is private, according to the Turkish codes, and limited to the culprit.
Meanwhile, in Spain and the United Kingdom, there have been many forceful reactions and applications in the struggle against separatist movements. Not so long ago, it was the Spanish army that prepared an operation against the independence referendum in the Basque region. According to the European Union, the member states are free to take hard measures in order to provide national security, but Turkey cannot have such a right. It is simply where the very double standard appears.
Other criticism voiced by the European Parliament against Turkey is Ankara's legal challenge against the plotters of the deadly coup attempt perpetrated on July 15, 2016. Turkey's fight for civil politics and democracy through extending the struggle against coup members is a bigger problem than the coup itself, the EU thinks.
Within this context, I am sorry to say that I feel ashamed of being a supporter of Turkey's EU journey. So pure-minded was I that I was unfortunately convinced that the EU was here to strengthen Turkey's democracy and civil politics and encourage it to fight against the then-present system of military tutelage. The EU, on the contrary, didn't really care for it.
Surveys show that the Turkish people are now disappointed by the EU's attitude toward their own country. One of the latest straws for Turkish society was when EU member states worked on improving ties with Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi while it was reported that the Egyptian leader executed nine opponents in the country.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, however, is still calm and rational although he is aware of his people's anger and demands. It may be because Erdoğan was the one who had launched full membership negotiations with the EU in 2005. He must be hoping that the efforts of the past are not futile.
I, as a Turkish citizen, therefore, call for EU decision-makers to stop acting as if they know nothing about what's going on and permanently stop accessions talks with Turkey rather than suspend it. Let us free.
Going forward, the European Union has become a weak structure that has lost competitive power, suffers from an aging population and economic recession and Turkey does not want to hover in its doorway nor does it want to be a part of a disunited union.