The other side of the coin: the growing opposition in turkey against to the european union accession

V.2.1. Accession Negotiations of Turkey to the European Union
Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited three important central European countries, namely Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia, to review and strengthen bilateral ties of Turkey with them on February 3-6, 2013. Erdoğan made several critiques on the EU accession process of Turkey via giving messages directed at EU officials by answering questions the Turkish journalists who accompanied him and also at the press conferences in Czech Republic.
According to his visit to Czech Republic on February 4; Turkish PM Erdoğan met with his Czech counterpart Petr Nečas, mainly to talk about the growing economic cooperation between two countries. PM Nečas showed the support of Czech Republic to Turkey on the EU matters by saying “Not only are our two countries close allies in NATO, Turkey is a key partner not just for the Czech Republic but for other EU member states in the region. We believe that if Turkey can fulfill the respective accession criteria it deserves the chance to become a fully-fledged member of the alliance”. By indicating the relations between Turkey and the EU, PM Erdoğan said that “Delaying the accession process further is unforgivable. Our cooperation and solidarity with European countries will of course continue even if they do not accept us. But we are urging the EU once again: let us conclude this process now”.⁸⁵
On the other hand, Erdoğan elucidated the Turkish journalists, who had been accompanying him during his visit in Czech Republic, about his thoughts to join some international organizations, namely Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) or the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) that also known as the Shanghai Five. Besides underlining that these organizations are not an alternative to EU membership, he expressed his discomfort about the EU accession process by criticizing the EU due to slow down the membership negotiations of Turkey. “Turkey's membership process began in 1959 and was accelerated in 1963 and we have been patient all this time. How far we have come? When you look, there is the customs union (1996) and the Helsinki summit (1999), when Turkey was given candidate status (2005) and the official start of Turkey's negotiations. We can call these three important steps. Except these three, they only engaged us. Has any other country been treated like this? No. This is in essence disrespect to Turkey. What is more natural than us expressing this situation? ... But is the EU a sine qua non for Turkey? Let me say that too, it is not something we can't do without. It is not the end of the world if they don't accept us to the EU. And the world is still here. We are still continuing on our path in a stable manner.” During the conversations with Turkish journalists, Erdoğan also emphasized that on EU matters the most important steps were taken by Justice and Development Party (AKP) government after Tansu Çiller’s⁸⁶ government. He added to remind the critiques to her after signing the Customs Union Agreement that “And so many attacked her when the customs union agreement was signed”⁸⁷ However, it is significant to specify that the Islamist political party, Welfare Party (Refah Partisi, RP), was criticizing Tansu Çiller and, at that time, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was a member of RP. (Republic of Turkey Prime Ministry Records)
Furthermore, another comment about the slow negotiation process to the EU accession came from Turkey’s Minister of Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu on March 31, 2013. “If the EU gives us passage, we'll walk on that path as per our strategic goals. If it blocks our path, they go their way, we go our way.”⁸⁸
In addition to the EU negotiations, Turkish President Abdullah Gül also criticized the EU, especially about the visa policy of EU, at the Lithuania-Turkey Business Forum in Vilnius. By stressing the problems of Turkish business people, he said that “Visa procedures unfortunately take too long and this is a big injustice. What we request from Lithuanian officials, primarily from President Dalia Grybauskaite, is to discuss in meetings, which Turkey doesn’t attend, that this is not fair and to take steps that we expect ... It is a shortcoming for the EU not to sign a visa exemption agreement with a big economy like Turkey while signing it with Brazil, which is a Latin American country, and with countries which haven’t even started membership negotiations”. Gül also added that “In 2005, the European Union members’ presidents and prime ministers started Turkey’s full membership negotiation process. For sure, it is our right to expect all member states to show loyalty to their signatures”. ⁸⁹