ISTANBUL \u2013 H\u00fcrriyet Daily News<\/p>\n
Far from \u201csitting in the waiting room\u201d of the European Union, Turkey is following its own independent path in the area thanks to its regional weight, according to a number of foreign policy experts.<\/p>\n
As a reaction to the lengthy and reluctant behavior of the EU on Turkey\u2019s snail-paced accession process, Ankara has started to shape a new foreign policy position in the world in recent years, according to Professor Peter Balazs, a former Hungarian foreign minister and former EU commissioner for regional policy.<\/p>\n
\u201cTurkey could play an extremely important role as a model and potential mediator. This would be a proof, once again, that not only does Turkey need Europe for her further modernization and welfare, but Europe needs Turkey as well for her stability and security,\u201d Balazs said in \u201cThe Cost of No on Turkey\u2019s Membership to the EU,\u201d a report recently published by the Open Society Institute.<\/p>\n
Five different contributors, three of them are from current and upcoming EU presidencies, wrote articles for the report.<\/p>\n
Ankara has carved out a space in the region thanks to its longstanding economic, strategic, cultural and historical ties with a large neighborhood in the Middle East and beyond, Balazs said.<\/p>\n
One of the contributors warned of the potential fallout if Turkey did not ultimately become an EU member.<\/p>\n
\u201cWere the EU to continue to drag its feet on Turkey\u2019s accession negotiations, then it would not only lose a country which the Arab world views as a successful example of a Muslim democracy, it would also forgo the opportunity to avail itself of Turkey\u2019s historical imagination and the sensitivities to the Middle East and North Africa which that brings,\u201d said Krzysztof Bobinski, president of Unia&Polska Foundation.<\/p>\n
Cyprus issue<\/p>\n
Philippos Savvides of the International Center for Hellenic and Mediterranean Studies highlighted the potential role of a united Cyprus in accelerating Turkey\u2019s EU membership process, as well as in the promotion of security and stability in the Middle East and North Africa.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe resolution of the Cyprus problem will not only embolden the island\u2019s role, but will also help revitalize Turkey\u2019s EU accession negotiations. On the other hand, the continuation of Turkey\u2019s EU accession process will help the negotiation process. Moreover, it will reassure the skeptics that Turkey will remain committed to the solution that Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots agree upon,\u201d said Savvides.<\/p>\n
Energy resources<\/p>\n
Shahin Abbasov and Farid Gahramanov presented Azerbaijan\u2019s public opinion on Turkey\u2019s EU accession process.<\/p>\n
\u201cTurkish accession to the European Union [has received the] active support of national elites and ordinary citizens in Azerbaijan and the Central Asian countries,\u201d they said. \u201cOnce Turkey enters the EU, these countries will have a trusted advocate for their interests in the European community with wide political, economic and financial resources. With Turkey\u2019s accession to the EU, Azerbaijan\u2019s energy resources will be directly delivered to the EU market without any corridor.\u201d<\/p>\n
via Turkey finding own path instead of waiting for EU, experts say – Hurriyet Daily News and Economic Review<\/span>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ISTANBUL \u2013 H\u00fcrriyet Daily News Far from \u201csitting in the waiting room\u201d of the European Union, Turkey is following its own independent path in the area thanks to its regional weight, according to a number of foreign policy experts. As a reaction to the lengthy and reluctant behavior of the EU on Turkey\u2019s snail-paced accession […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":776961,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eu-members"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33991\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/776961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}