From: Tabe Kooistra (tabe@ozgurluk.xs4all.nl)
Date: 15 December 2000 03:55 uur
Turkey blocks Nato deal on EU force
Special report: European integration
Ian Black in Brussels
Friday December 15, 2000
Turkey was blocking plans for the European Union's
rapid reaction force last night by refusing to allow it
to use Nato equipment in a future crisis.
Alliance foreign ministers, meeting in Brussels, were
struggling to issue a final communique after Ankara
rejected pleas from Madeleine Albright, the US
secretary of state, to withdraw objections to crucial
arrangements between the fledgling EU force and
Nato. Usually the content of end-of-year
communiques is settled well in advance.
Bulent Ecevit, the Turkish prime minister, had earlier
received a personal appeal from President Bill
Clinton.
Turkey, a key member of Nato, is doggedly blocking
"assured access" to Nato assets in an attempt to win
full participation in EU military decision-making -
despite not being a member of the union.
"Turkey has a particular concern in that it wants
access to planning capabilities to be on a
case-by-case rather than an assured basis," Robin
Cook, the foreign secretary, said.
Turkey has a difficult relationship with the EU, which
has refused it membership for more than 30 years. It
is worried that the planned 60,000-strong
European force could operate in Cyprus or the
Aegean, where Turkey is in conflict with Greece.
"What the Turks actually want is a kind of occasional
membership of the EU," said one diplomat. "And
that's just not possible."
Mrs Albright made clear why the US wanted assured
access: "This is not a gift from Nato to the EU.
Rather, it is in our own interest to avoid duplication
and enable the EU to focus on improving capabilities
in the field."
And in comments interpreted as a message to
France, which has sent mixed signals about the autonomy of the European
force from Nato, she warned: "In this effort, there is no room for
rivalry,
jealousy or complacency. The stakes are simply too
high and the consequences of a failure to cooperate
would weaken Nato, the EU and Europe as a whole."
French diplomats complained that France was being
used as a "whipping boy" because Nato was bogged
down in disputes over what terms to agree with the
EU.
Lord Robertson, the Nato secretary-general, said he
was confident that the US and Europe would not
drift apart under President George W Bush.
"There is no danger of decoupling taking place," he
said. "The Europeans are building capabilities they
didn't have before. European defence and Nato are
two sides of the same coin. The grand bargain for
Europe is access to Nato assets."
--
Press Agency Ozgurluk
In Support of the Revolutionary Peoples Liberation Struggle in Turkey
http://www.ozgurluk.org
DHKC: http://www.ozgurluk.org/dhkc
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