The Independent Commission’s Report on Turkey: Call to Break the Vicious Circle

The Independent Commission on Turkey –headed by Martti Ahtisaari, a former Finnish President and Nobel Peace Prize winner and including among its members Marcelino Oreja, a former Spanish Foreign Minister and European Commissioner– boldly defends Turkey’s ailing bid to join the EU and rebuffs the stiff opposition to its full membership from the French President Nicolas Sarkozy and some other EU leaders. Spain, which co-sponsors the ‘Alliance of Civilisations’ initiative with Turkey, is an active supporter of the country’s EU membership. Negative comments combined with growing public hesitation about further EU enlargement have deepened resentment in Turkey and slowed the necessary reforms, creating a vicious circle. The Commission urges EU governments to honour their commitments and treat Turkey’s bid in the same way as that of other countries and presses the Islamist government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan to regain the momentum of a golden period of reform between 2000 and 2005, thereby re-establishing the virtuous circle of Turkey-EU convergence