I would like to talk about two main things one is kind of. And I’ll do that in the second part but look at the broader nature of the EU project and how Turkey fits in this project but also first look at more kind of the characteristics of individual EU countries and how the debate has been done on Turkey in these countries. So as I said its very difficult to portray what the EU think about Turkey because we are talking about 27 countries that have very different interests but what is every interesting to see is the way they think about Turkey is always through the lens of what is going to happen once Turkey is in the EU. And does it mean that I am going to lose power or gain power institutionally. Is Turkey going to side with me on some of the important issues I am interested in and so yeah this is a lot of kind of not thinking so much of Turkey strategically in its region but more once in the EU how would my own position in the EU change regarding this.
And of course when we talk about the EU. And especially in it’s relation with Turkey there are two main countries that are really more important and the two ones I can also talk about a little bit more which are France and Germany for very different reasons. And even more in the case of Germany you can see how the issue of Turkey is very much a domestic issue, and especially in Germany this is very much linked to the issues of immigration and three millions or more Turkish immigrants in Germany. And how basically it is tying Germany in having a very ambiguous positions towards Turley, both because in a way they can not really say no and kind of shut the door to Turkey because if Turkey is defined as being a side of the EU is going to create a big problem for Turkish minority in Germany because it will kind of like suddenly mean, okay we said no to Turley because we thought it was not European what does this mean for the three million immigrants we have inside.
So in a way Germany can not be really have too much of a distant with Turkey. At the same time they really look at Turkey domestic and kind of foreign policies through the lens of we have this, we have a Turkey which is said only they are much interested in business and kind of our initiatives, and this remind us of the Turks at home who are also a kind of very active in the economy and doing good thing. Then we’re going to have another event and it’s going to be, we have this prime minister who said only has this Islamist line all this reminds of our communities which are also kind of very conservative and religious. And so every thing is read a little bit through this less, which kind of change a lot the debate on how it is. So there is a feeling that whatever Turkey is doing is exacerbate this good or bad issues at home in Germany later on.
In France the debate is a little bit even more interesting I think. There is and this was a line I kind of discovered recently but this was very [IB] I was in France just two weeks ago and even people I met with this was kind of the like that kept coming and coming especially when talking about why we know what kind of the position of France especially since Sarkozy is the president there was a very clear of we don’t want Turkey in the EU we want a strategic partnership, but we don’t talk about it right because we are not even close to getting there so we are just kind of delaying postponing talking about this issue. But regarding kind of France officials are reaction towards what Turkey has been doing with the [IB] with the Iran no vote there has been really this line that I found a little bit amusing in a way of France does not really have a problem with the substance of what Turkey is doing, the problem is more one of competition and there is the fear that Turkey is going to replace France and the role that France is playing in the Middle East, which is a very I think absurd and illogical way of looking at things but there is a little bit this idea and this kind of goes to back who is gaining more power within the EU or more in general in the region and there is this feeling of competition which I kind of very strong in France.
But among these issues I studied before the EU doesn’t really look at Turkey as kind of strategic foreign policy issue. They really look at it, once Turkey is going to be inside of the EU what type of decision, I mean if they differ if Turkey differs fundamentally on some of the decisions how are we going to be able to have this coherence European foreign policy. So the big question I think for Europe that needs to be and this is what we did also into the report is to what extent really Turkish foreign policy and Turkish behavior in general compatible or not with this kind of the broader EU project and then the kind of values that [IB] trying to project in it neighborhood. And so this kind of leaders to look not so much the kind of the events that kind I make headline but look the more kind of structural underpinnings of why Turkey is having this a more active foreign policy in the region and what we find in the report is that in many ways Turkish foreign policy is very compatible with European foreign policy is actually even in a way doing kind of the European [neighborhood] policy that the EU has been trying to do not so successfully buy in a way Turkey is doing that in a more active and on some issues in a more successful way.