Washington Kurdish Institute February 7, 2021
Excerpt points from an interview conducted with anthropologist and Turkey expert, Dr. Nickos Michailidis.
The EU’s wrong thinking
Many EU officials believe that taking substantial measures against Turkey would feed the Islamist nationalist narrative, and which I think is wrong. The ongoing wait and see policy of the EU only strengthens the [Turkish] regime. Turkey’s current economic crisis has been caused primarily by the regime’s mismanagement, nepotism, and huge public construction projects with little economic return. The devaluation of the Turkish currency cannot be stopped, continually driving prices higher in the country.
The EU’s importance to Turkey
The EU is a vital partner of Ankara in trade, in borrowing, and in investment. Turkey desperately needs to improve the existing customs union and deepen its economic dialogue with Brussels more than ever before. The EU still has important leverage over Turkey.
How the European Union should approach Turkey
The EU still has important leverage over Turkey and for these reasons, I argue that instead of following an unproductive appeasement policy:
- The EU should not think of Anatolia as a kind of buffer zone as they have been doing for many years now.
- They also should not think of the people of Anatolia as a kind of cheap labor force or consumers for European products. These are very shortsighted and poor strategies that undermine Europe’s security, and they use credibility as a value and norm-based community with democracy and the rule of law at its core
- The EU should develop a long-term policy for the real democratization of Turkey by using multiple tools
- Institutionalize an arms embargo against Turkey, and of course, against countries that disrespect the rule of law and threaten NATO member States. Germany, which is a core country in European Union, should suspend its delivery of various kinds of weapons to the Turkish military in order to avoid igniting a war in the Eastern Mediterranean, and also in order to protect all the oppositional groups within Turkey that have been facing Turkish State violence and persecution.
- The EU must take measures that will target the autocratic regime of Tayyip Erdogan. These measures could range from economic to political measures such as:
- Freezing customs union with Turkey
- Blocking Ankara’s financial system, and other institutions from European funding
- Freezing all accounts of Turkish officials in Europe
- Canceling Schengen visas of all Turkey’s bureaucrats, and officials
- Demanding the release of all political prisoners in Turkey
- Calling for democratic and constitutional amendments and for a peaceful solution to the Kurdish issue through dialogue and taking concrete steps in that direction.
These measures together would produce different outcomes and would obligate the Turkish regime to sit down and negotiate and start the process of democratization.
The EU can help Turkey’s citizens
The EU can help those who live in Turkey or abroad by creating various kinds of funding, like educational, diplomatic, and journalistic tools. And this of course will be good for both the EU and the citizens of Turkey, regardless of their ethnic origin. The children of whom deserve to live in the geography of peace and democracy.
Turkey’s anti-US, EU, and NATO rhetoric
The relationship between Turkey and the US is at a low point for many reasons including Turkey’s decision to launder Iranian money, support Iran’s nuclear program, and purchasing the S-400 missile system from Russia.
The decision of Turkey’s regime to buy the S-400 missile system from Russia is a huge area of conflict with the United States and NATO. Of course the attempts of the Turkish regime to use foreign prisoners as bargaining chips under the cover of a remote-controlled judiciary in the orbit of their regime. As we all know, there is no independent judiciary in Turkey. Now the heretic that Turkey is supposedly too important of an ally is highly disorienting and problematic. I do not think it’s true. These rhetorics that Turkey is supposedly very important for the West is a remnant of the cold war. It is propaganda that is constantly reproduced by the Turkish influence networks in Europe and in the United States. I’m talking about journalists, think tank analysts, people who are actively involved in lobbying, et cetera. What is interesting to note is that while the Turkish regime does its best to propagate itself as Western bacon in the Middle East, at the same time, it cultivates very strong ties and relationships with Russia, Iran, and China. We should not forget that. Turkey is doing its best to undermine US interests and presence in the Middle East and recently in calf cashews with a war together with Azerbaijan against Armenia.
Dr. Nickos Michailidis, professor of Anthropology at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Dr. Michaildis is an expert on Greco-Turkish relations.