EU, EP and new Turkey

In the speech he made at the G20 Summit, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said the EU was considering increasing its sanctions on Russia due to the latest developments in Ukraine. Likewise, German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced that the EU was evaluating additional and individual sanctions that would be implemented on Russia's finance sector due to the crisis in Ukraine.

The U.S., and particularly the EU, are implementing sanctions against Russia due to the Ukraine issue since March 2014.In this crisis, the U.S. does not have the problems the EU has. It is not dependent on Russia in terms of energy resources. The economic embargo put on Russia, which is set to become even more strict, does not undermine the U.S. but the EU. Each economic sanction on Russia is a loss for the foreign trade of the EU.

Moreover, the EU has other problems apart from the Ukraine issue.

The hideous war that dictator Bashar Assad is maintaining against his own people in Syria – where all kinds of human rights violations have taken place – the chaos prevalent in Iraq, the terror Israel has imposed on Palestine where Israel consistently violates human rights, and the ISIS trouble that is attributed to Iraq but already began crossing the borders of this country… All these issues have brought forward various new problems to the EU.

The EU has completely lost its control over Ukraine and the Middle East. For this reason, the G20 Summit held in Australia was to be used by the EU leaders as a search for a solution to the Ukraine problem rather than its actual purpose. But it can be argued that it did not work well. In a period when the EU has such challenges in foreign politics, when the Ukraine crisis led to a chain of problems in domestic policies, including the energy problem, and when a new refugee crisis started to cause social problems due to the civil war in Syria and Iraq, as we saw in the demonstrations organized before the refugee residences in Italy, the EU does not have the option to stay away from the new Turkey.

If the EP could notice the reality of "new Turkey," it would have at least postponed the decision it took last week. Besides, this decision is actually an "own goal" of the EU in terms of its energy problem.

In all the strategies that would be developed to overcome the growth of the Ukraine crisis and to manage the possible energy problems with Russia in the long run, Turkey is actually the most crucial energy line for the EU Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus, Israel, Egypt and Greece can organize innumerable summits to satisfy themselves. Such shows do not contribute to the EU at all. The EU is well aware that it cannot close its energy gap by relying on Egypt since it is not even known how long the coup leader el-Sissi's reign will last in the country. A draft resolution titled "Turkish actors creating tensions in the Exclusive Economic Zone of Cyprus," which was approved in the EP by the majority of all the parliamentary groups last week, can be recorded in history as a defective decision since it is unilateral and contradicts with the EU's own interests.

Explicitly pointing out some issues is actually needed for the EU and the EP.

Though not explicitly mentioned, the reality that is constantly implied is that: the new Turkey and its builder President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has gained victory with prominent public support in all the elections in which he has participated, poses a great problem for some groups in the EU. I can understand why the stance of the new Turkey, which preserves its own interests, has created tension among some circles in the EU. Some EU members are worried over the fact that President Erdoğan symbolizes hope not only for the Islamic world but also the rest of the world, as well.

However, the new Turkey is a chance for the EU. Although the EP members, who took such a wrong decision last week, do not want to see it, the new Turkey is determined to resolve the Cyprus issue. As a country built on EU values, taking crucial steps to resolve the Kurdish question, implementing radical reforms for Alevis, lending a hand to Armenia, achieving economic development, and serving as a guard to protect the aggrieved communities in its geography, the realities of new Turkey cannot be ignored by anyone in the EU.