Turkey's Vision for the Transatlantic Partnership, Summer 2003

Membership to EU and a genuine partnership with the United States are not alternative policies. On the contrary, we see it in the framework of our ties with the western world and will pursue both. As part of the Euro-Atlantic world, we in Turkey have been following the transatlantic tensions with concern. Yet a strong Europe including in foreign and security affairs and a robust NATO and transatlantic link should be able to coexist. The fact of the matter remains that the Europeans and Americans continue to need each other. Unilateralism or narrow coalitions would end up duplicating efforts and wasting our resources for defense and security. Now that Europe finally has been successfully overcoming the division of the continent and virtually “ending European history,” time has come for another major project that would end the recent history in the Middle East. Lifting up the greater Middle East is an ambitious project. neither the countries of the region, nor Turkey, nor the U.S. or Europe can tackle it alone. There needs to be a synergy in which Turkey too should be actively...Please click here to read the text in full.