Slow accession

Turkey wants to join the European Union. The first steps are set. But if Turkey wants to draw its chair up to the table of the united democracies of Europe, the country needs to make some drastic changes. Especially when one looks at the social rights, discovered Christel Witteveen who as the only Dutch journalist participated in a group of European journalists who recently visited the country on invitation by the European Commission.

Men covered with sweat are working in the hot Turkish sun on the expansion of the highway between the airport and Ankara. Along the new asphalt arise colorful apartment buildings, the balconies decorated with playful mosaic design. Heaps of stones against the hills are the only reminders of the houses that stood there not too long ago.
Ankara grows quickly and at this moment counts 4.5 million inhabitants. Because families live more and more packed in the apartment buildings, the city council constructs extensive parks for the enjoyment of both young. "In some parts of the city the crime rate decreased by sixty percent thanks to these parks," proudly explains the mayor of Ankara, Melih Gokcek, during an alcohol free dinner in the Mogan Park.
Gokcek is a member of the Party for Justice and Development (AKP). AKP won the elections in 2002. The success is partly due because the AKP is a strong supporter of Turkey's efforts to join the European Union, explains Dengir Firat, the vice-president of the AKP the day after the dinner. The headscarf-wearing interpreter of Firat translates his words into English: "Accession of the European Union and the fight against corruption are our most important themes."

Islam
Accession of Turkey is a sensitive subject in Europe, especially in the older member-states. The country is big. With about 72 million inhabitants it would, after Germany, become the largest Member State. And the country is predominantly Islamic. Calculations show that the amount of Muslim-inhabitants in Europe will double by 2025 from 15 to 30 million. With the accession of Turkey, the number of Muslim-inhabitants in the European Union would reach 100 million inhabitants. The consequences of Turkish accession are hard to predict and that feeds the fear in the other Member States of the European Union.
At the end of 2004, the Socio-Economic Council (SER) published at its own initiative an advice about possible accession of Turkey. The council emphasized the need for securing social rights, amongst others the right to join and form labor unions. Such rights lay the foundation for healthy socio-economic conditions in a country. If Turkey wants to fulfill the requirements of the European Union then it needs to make major improvements in this field, concluded the SER almost two years ago.
"The corporate world doesn't like people to join a union," says Ismail Hakki Tombul, president of one of the larger Turkish unions. According to Tombul, Turkish employees can be fired for no cause. As far as the Kurdish minority is concerned, Tombul explains that Kurds are allowed to join an existing union. They are however not allowed forming their own union. Tombul: "Other unions even want to take up the weapons against the Kurds."
Tombul was only one of the many speakers during the conference about possible EU-accession of Turkey that took place in Ankara last June. In a small room at the faculty of economics at the Technical University of Ankara, the group of 15 European journalists learned about the political system of Turkey and the position of Kurd and Alevi minorities through speeches of several political scientists.

Strike
After the military coup in 1980 the social rights of Turkish employees were strongly restricted. Since then the situation has somewhat improved, but still more than 700,000 government officials like the military, policemen, judicial employees and directors and deans of schools and universities have absolutely no right to join a union. The rest of the 2.3 million government officials may join a union but they have no right to bargain for collective labor conditions or to strike. Employees at corporations do have the right to strike but, according to Tombul, hardly anyone makes use of this right. Strikers have to follow strict procedures. People who don't follow the rules exactly, can encounter fines, dismissal or they can even end up in jail for 6 months.

Sheraton
Turkish business life looks at the situation from a totally different perspective. Ahmet Pasaoglu, the Chief Financial Officer of Nurol Group, the largest company in Ankara and nationwide in the top-100, has invited the group of European journalists for dinner in the luxurious Sheraton Hotel. He tells us that Turkish unions do have a strong position and that they know how to defend the worker's rights.
The construction company Nurol has had to deal with strikes from time to time, just like European companies, he says. According to Pasaoglu, unionized workers know how to demand higher wages better than workers that do not join a union.
The question 'should everybody have the right to strike?' raises a loud laugh from the top executive. "Who will defend the country if the Turkish army is on strike?", he answers. And to the question if it is true that workers that join a union are easily fired, Pasaoglu answers: "Any employee that's fired can go to court. If the judge decides that the dismissal was incorrect, than the company has to employ the person again."
Dismissal without good cause may not occur at Nurol, in the company there's another practice that raises a European manager's eyebrow. It is forbidden for women to wear a headscarf during working hours. Pasaoglu: "We simply don't hire women that wear a scarf." Pasaoglu can't deny that employees are fired when they all of a sudden decide to start wearing a headscarf.

Elections
Even before serious talks about a possible accession started, around 2 years ago, the European Commission demanded that the rights of the workers needed to improve. The country had to legally define that workers are allowed to form a union. Turkey now fulfills all the legal requirements since it signed the appropriate ILO-treaties. But now it seems that the issue has very little priority. The Turkish government seems to be in no hurry to enforce the treaty. Not only the Turkish government feels that way. Tombul: "The European Union doesn't consider labor rights a very important issue in the negotiations about the accession. That also explains why the Turkish feel little pressure in making any improvements at all for the position of employees."
With the upcoming elections in 2007, Turkey has other things on its mind than merely the European Union. The elections come right at the time that the Turkish economy has stagnated. Whether the AKP retains a majority has yet to be seen. Nobody knows whether a new government will be behind accession to the European Union. Ankara may be expanding rapidly, but further democratization of Turkey is on the back burner for now.

Kemalists consider the European Union mainly as a threat
The ideology of the Turkish State is based on Kemalism. Until the end of the First World War the country belonged to the Ottoman Empire. But starting in 1923 Mustafa Kemal Ataturk began to reform Turkey into a modern republic. Ataturk's plan for reform contained amongst others a radical rupture with the Ottoman past and secularization of the state.
Kemalism has been under pressure since the emergence of right-wing parties in the fifties. With the worldwide rise of the Islam, that pressure has increased even more. The past years Kemalism mainly stands for secularization and defense of a united Turkey.
In Turkey several NGOs and women movements strongly support Kemalism. Some parties that do not see the benefit of joining the European Union even make alliances with extreme right organizations. Transferring part of the sovereignty to an umbrella organization as the European Union is seen by many Kemalists as a threat to the unity of the Turkish State.

Seminars to focus on Europe
The European Journalism Center (EJC) in Maastricht organizes, in cooperation with the European Commission, seminars for journalists from the 25 current Member States. The goal is that through their reporting as many people as possible are involved in the most important European issues. This article is the result of one of these seminars.
With respect to the plans for the enlargement of the European Union with Bulgaria, Croatia, Rumania and Turkey, the EJC organizes 4-day programs that each focus on a different country. The seminars take place both in Brussels, and also in the country of focus. In Brussels journalists hear the viewpoint of the European Union about the enlargement. In the acceding country meetings are held with professors, representatives of corporate life and of labor unions. In addition, meetings with leaders of parties, representatives of human rights organizations and local governments are arranged. The European Commission and the EJC jointly cover travelling and accommodation costs for the journalists that have been selected. These institutes have no say about the final article.

Copyright (c) Christel Witteveen

Published in SER bulletin, september 2006