トルコのEU加盟問題、暗礁に乗り上げる
8年前、トルコはEU加盟申請を行ったが、2009年以降、交渉は一向に進まない状況が続いていた。これ以上、トルコのような大きな国をメンバーに入れることへの不安により、とくにドイツは懸念を示していた（同時期に申請したクロアチアは加盟している）。それにキプロスはユーロ・メンバーである（この国もギリシア経済の破綻の影響を受けたりして危機に瀕している）が、ギリシア系であり、トルコはここからの輸入を禁じている。
そこにきて、現在、イスタンブールの公園を取り壊して、建設作業に入ろうとしたところ、いまでは騒ぎは大きくなり、反エルドガンの色彩を帯びるに至っている。エルドガンはそれを強権的に抑える作に出たが、かえってそれは反対運動に火をつけており、かつヨーロッパの国民は、エルドガンのデモ鎮圧のやり方に一斉に批判の声をあげている。
おまけにエルドガンはデモ参加者をテロリストと呼び、それを外国が支援しているという論調に出ており、EU加盟交渉どころではない。
そしてトルコの外相がメルケルを名指しで批判し、かつ交渉が延期になれば、こちらにも考えがある的発言をしているから、非常に状況は緊迫度を増している。絶対的な力をもっていると考えられていたエルドガンが、急転直下、政権維持が困難になるかもしれない状況に現在追い込まれている。トルコは中東の政治的安定にとってアメリカ・ヨーロッパからみてきわめて重要であるだけに、問題の進展次第ではより深刻な事態に発展しかねない要素をはらんでいる。
Turkey's EU membership bid falters as diplomatic row with Germany deepens
Efforts to resume negotiations and break three-year stalemate dashed in wake of Ankara's ruthless response to street protests
• Ian Traynor in Istanbul
• guardian.co.uk, Friday 21 June 2013 15.02 BST
Angela Merkel visited Turkey for talks with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in February, but relations between Berlin and Ankara have since deteriorated sharply. Photograph: Adem Altan/AFP/Getty Images
Turkey's chances of a breaking a three-year stalemate and relaunching its bid to join the European Union look like being dashed because of the government's ruthless response to three weeks of street protests amid worsening friction between Ankara and Berlin.
The foreign ministry in Berlin summoned the Turkish ambassador to Germany on Friday to explain the harsh language directed at the chancellor, Angela Merkel, by Egemen Bağis, the Turkish official in charge of negotiations with the EU.
Merkel had said earlier this week that she was "appalled at the very tough" response by the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in ordering riot police to clear central Istanbul of thousands of protesters last weekend.
Bağis accused the chancellor of playing domestic politics, said that anyone using Turkey for political purposes would suffer "an inauspicious end" and warned of severe retaliation if the negotiations were called off.
Turkey opened negotiations to join the EU eight years ago, at the same time as Croatia. While Croatia joins next week as the 28th member, Turkey's bid has been frozen for three years and it has closed just one of the 35 chapters of EU law required to complete the accession. Another 12 chapters have been opened.
Merkel and the German centre-right remain firmly opposed to Turkey joining. Her Christian Democrats' draft manifesto for the general elections in September states: "We reject full membership for Turkey because it does not meet the conditions for EU entry. Additionally, the EU would be overstretched because of [Turkey's] size and because of its economic structures."
Exasperated by the slow progress, Ankara has taken to warning that the EU needs Turkey more than it needs Europe. The Germans, French and Dutch take a different view.
Negotiations were supposed to resume next week after a long hiatus because the French president, François Hollande, lifted the block imposed by his predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy, as a gesture of goodwill. Talks were to take place on regional development, an issue that could have influenced Ankara's policy towards parts of the south-east populated mainly by Kurds who have long been campaigning for greater rights and more devolved government.
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