Ankara says cannot accept Plassnik's candidacy for OSCE chief
05 June 2011, Sunday / TODAY'S ZAMAN, ANKARA
Turkey's foreign minister has made it clear that it is impossible for his country to accept the candidacy of a politician who questions Turkey's European identity as the next secretary-general of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), namely former Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik.
“From the very beginning, we have told our counterparts in an extremely clear way that Ms. Plassnik's candidacy is not worthy of Turkey's acceptance,” Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency late on Saturday. His remarks came in response to a question while speaking to Bugün TV in the central Anatolian province of Konya where he has been running his campaign for the upcoming parliamentary elections on June 1.
Turkey's objection to Plassnik's candidacy should definitely not be considered a veto against Austria as a country, Davutoğlu underlined. Turkey is not lending support to Austria's candidate because Austria hasn't put forth a candidate who appreciates the “encompassing” characteristic of European identity, he said.
Recalling that in the last seven to eight years Plassnik has been questioning Turkey's European identity both through her approach and with her public statements, Davutoğlu added: “As of yesterday [Friday], we conveyed to both Austria and to the term president Lithuania that we cannot accept a candidate who questions our European identity as head one of the most important international organizations of Europe, such as OSCE.”
In late May, Austrian newspaper Der Standard reported that current chair of the OSCE, Lithuania, has proposed Plassnik as the OSCE's next secretary-general, with the conviction that her candidacy has the broadest support among the organization's 56 member states. Turkey, which has so far led many international organizations, has proposed Ambassador Ersin Erçin, currently representing Turkey as ambassador in Brasilia, for the same post.
Davutoğlu said although Erçin, who is also President Abdullah Gül's special envoy for European security, has gained significant support from member countries, Ankara has recently been informed that his candidacy will be vetoed by the Greek Cypriot administration and Armenia. Because of this Erçin is currently in the second row in regards to the votes gained from member countries, he said.
Back to the December 2004 summit of the EU in Brussels, where the decision giving the go-ahead for opening membership negotiations with Turkey in October 2005 was made, the process was thrown into crisis by hostility towards Turkey's entry from Austria's then Foreign Minister Plassnik. A breakthrough was made at the summit only after Plassnik backed down after hours of intense talks chaired by then UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.
In April 2008, during an official visit to Turkey, Plassnik said Turkey should consider a tie-up with the EU short of full membership, but that this did not mean the bloc's doors should be closed to the candidate country. Plassnik said membership talks to join the 27-nation bloc should continue but suggested an alternative to Turkey's cherished goal of membership. “I could imagine a tailor-made Turkish-European community as another rational, realistic alternative,” Plassnik said at the time without elaborating.
Ankara vehemently and categorically denies any formula which would fall short of full membership in the EU, such as the ambiguous formula of “privileged partnership,” which has been favored by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Crisis at OSCE
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Originally Posted by Hookah Smoking Caterpiller
in the EU.
