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Turkey’s Concerns Block NATO Consensus On EU Ties
by Robert MacPherson
BRUSSELS (AFP) - Turkey, putting its security concerns first, blocked consensus Thursday among NATO foreign ministers on a comprehensive framework for the U.S.-led alliance's relations with the European Union and its 60,000-strong rapid reaction force.
British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said Turkey was "the only country" in the 19-nation alliance opposed to giving the EU permanent access to NATO's operational planning and other military assets.
It was pushing instead for EU eyes to look at NATO blueprints "on a case by case basis," Cook said, revealing no change in Ankara's stance despite pressure this week from U.S. President Bill Clinton.
NATO Secretary General George Robertson, without citing Turkey by name, acknowledged that "a number of complexities" were involved in defining how NATO and the EU shall work together.
But he added: "The discussions are still ongoing, in an increasingly friendly way. We're making progress."
U.S. officials said European NATO members were putting forward proposals to assure the Turks that a special effort would be made to coordinate with them any EU operations in Turkey's part of Eurasia.
But one official acknowledged: "The Turks are still not confident enough."
NATO spokesmen said the foreign ministers would resume their talks Friday at 9:30 am (0830 GMT).
The EU wants to tap NATO's unique planning know-how for the rapid reaction force - actually a pooling of national military resources - that it intends to put in place in 2003 to hop into Balkans-like peacekeeping and humanitarian missions for up to a year at a time.
The United States and other NATO allies like that idea: they feel it would ensure that the EU does not wind up setting up parallel military structures that would undermine time-tested Atlantic bonds.
"The strategic partnership we are all seeking to forge between NATO and the EU cannot be part-time. It cannot be turned on and off like a faucet," said U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
But Turkey, a candidate for EU membership that defended NATO's southeast flank throughout the Cold War, wants to be sure it is not going to be sidelined if and when the EU intervenes close to its borders.
"We don't have any ideological or institutional opposition to the European defense initiative," a Turkish official said. "But it should be understood that we have security concerns that should be taken into consideration."
Though Cyprus is Ankara's prime security worry, the most obvious hotspots that the Europeans might send troops into are in the Balkans and Central Asia - both in Turkey's geopolitical neighborhood.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official denied Turkey was isolated. "Discussions are still going on," he said. "This should be seen as an effort to satisfy all allies."
Concerned that Turkey's concerns might stop the cementing of EU-NATO links, Clinton personally wrote this week to Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit, urging him for cooperation.
Albright followed Thursday with a one-on-one meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem, though U.S. officials said the results were inconclusive.
Thursday's foreign ministers' meeting, which continues Friday with a visit by Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, followed a ringing reassurance at the EU summit in Nice last week that NATO remains "the basis of the collective defense of its members."
Missing from the oval NATO meeting table was French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine, who instead of coming to Brussels went off on a quick peace mission to Gaza, Israel and Jordan as France winds up its turn at the rotating EU presidency.
Robertson denied Vedrine's absence was a "snub," adding that he was expected back Friday in time for an "historic" dinner of peers from all 19 NATO nations and the four non-NATO EU member states.
That dinner, he said, "will send a key signal of the establishment of a genuine relationship between our two organizations."
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