Ma ima toga radi Izraela al ima i ljubomore malo. Zamjeraju im i sto su previse sekularni
Samo za Germu jedan clanak o tome
:D:D
Arab Reaction Dulls
Turkey's EU Inroads
Middle East Is Ambivalent
About Membership Talks
That Could Bridge Divide
By HUGH POPE and DAN BILEFSKY
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
December 20, 2004; Page A13
The U.S. and some European leaders hailed Turkey's big step Friday toward membership in the European Union as a new bridge between Islam and the West. But in much of the Middle East itself, the breakthrough was seen as having little immediate effect on the region's morass of interlocking religious, political and economic problems.
While thousands of flag-waving Turks welcomed Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan home from Brussels as a hero for anchoring Turkey's medium-term future in Europe, commentators from Damascus to Morocco had mixed reactions to Turkey's hard-won, formal invitation from European Union leaders to start full membership talks next October.
The deal, despite considerable European reluctance, is a milestone in Turkey's four-decade-long struggle to join the EU, the world's biggest trading bloc. If the talks are successful, they will bind a Muslim country of 70 million to this wealthy and largely Christian club.
The talks are expected to last at least a decade, will include unprecedented conditions and are specifically "open ended," giving room for the strong opposition in some European countries to try to stave off the merger. There also is a requirement that Turkey recognize the Greek-run government of EU member Cyprus. The Turks balk at further undermining a separate regime for the 18% Turkish minority they have set up on the northern third of the Mediterranean island.
Turkey put a brave face on the tough negotiations in Brussels, which included at least two threatened walkouts by Mr. Erdogan. "The Islamic world should be happy," Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul told the pan-Arab satellite-television station al-Jazeera. "We won't just represent Turks but the whole Muslim world."
But the difficulties ahead -- and the ambivalent views in the rest of the Islamic world toward Turkey and its Westernizing ambitions -- made some Mideast commentators skeptical. "We are appalled at the Turks being beggars, groveling just to get into Europe, where the majority doesn't want them and where minnow-size states can decide if they join or not," said Khaled al-Maeena, editor of Saudi Arabia's leading English-language daily, Arab News.
Mr. Maeena brushed off the idea that Turkey's political and economic advances could be seen as an inspiration for change in the Middle East, a major argument used by the U.S. and pro-Turkish EU states to persuade the EU to open its door wider to Turkish membership.
"Nobody [in Saudi Arabia] takes the Europeans or Americans at their word," Mr. Maeena said. "I cannot go into a club that doesn't want me."
Modern Arab states harbor mixed memories of five centuries under Ottoman Turkish rule until World War I, and they are only beginning to move beyond perceptions that modern Turkish secularism sells out Islam and is a poor imitation of Western models. Turkey's longstanding relationship with Israel also troubles many Muslims.
"There's an assumption in Washington that Turkey ...has a demonstration effect. But I don't hear Arabs talking about Turkey ," said Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East program at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Perceptions of Turkey are changing amid the country's recent return to strong economic growth, the lowest inflation in a generation and a stable, democratically elected government. The Arab state closest to Turkey , Syria, was a vitriolic critic of Turkey until five years ago. Now it has become a friend and a trading partner, sponsoring Turkey to become an observer at the Arab League in 2003.
In Syria, "there is an excitement...about where Turkey is heading. If Europe becomes our neighbor to the north, that will help stability," said Nabil Sukkar, a leading economist in Damascus, which sees Turkish friendship and an imminent trade deal with the EU as shields against recent U.S. threats against its regime.
In Egypt, the most-populous Arab state, most people are more focused on Egypt's triangle of relations with the U.S. and Israel. But strategists saw hope in the EU's offer to Turkey .
"It sends a strong message that Islam in itself does not pose a threat to the Western civilization. This can defeat terrorism," said Mohamed Essayed Said, deputy director of the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. In Egypt "there is a fascination with the Turkish experiment," he said. "Turkey's example shows that it is possible to have a democratic Islamic formula."
A member of the guidance office for Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, Abdel-Moneim Abul-Fotouh, supported Turkey's EU entry. "Turkey will become a bridge for communication between the Islamic world and the West," said Dr. Abul-Fotouh. "The two civilizations should cooperate and complement each other rather than collide."
Al-Jazeera television led its news programs with reports about Turkey's EU breakthrough. While participants on an evening talk show dismissed Europe as irrelevant, one academic on the show insisted the Arabs take notice. "Europe today is saying 'yes' to Turkey ," said Hassan Bu Qantar, a Moroccan professor of international law. "The Turks are ruled by Islamists, but they have understood that the future is in Europe."
Write to Hugh Pope at
[email protected] and Dan Bilefsky at
[email protected]
i malo vise imas ovdje
... i ne culi ...