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December 9, 1999

The Honorable William J. Clinton
President of the United States
The White House
Washington, D.C. 20500

Re: Turkey's Accession to the European Union

Dear Mr. President,

I am writing in connection with the comments on December 7, 1999 by the State Department Deputy Spokesman James Foley about U.S. support for Turkey's candidature for the European Union. Mr. Foley said: "We also believe that Turkey should become a candidate for membership in the EU. This is our view; it's not a secret".

Secret or not, U.S. support for Turkey's accession to the EU begs many questions, including whether this is really in the best U.S. interest. The immediate issue to be considered is not whether Turkish EU candidate status is appropriate. What is under debate is a point of much greater practical significance: namely, whether Turkey itself is prepared to earn this status by meeting certain standards of conduct in advance as is required of all other applicants.

The U.S. failure to highlight these necessary preconditions is bad policy. It signals to Turkey that the U.S. is again appeasing Turkey before it has taken the necessary reform steps. Ironically, by giving Turkey a free pass and reducing the incentive for Turkey to make the tough choices, the U.S. is likely to impair Turkey's ability to complete the essential transition process to democracy and a market economy.

It should be remembered that the lifting of the arms embargo in 1978 by the Carter Administration was predicated on Turkish assurances of cooperation over Cyprus, including the return of Varosha under UN administration for the immediate return of refugees. As Turkey's subsequent intransigence has shown, lifting the arms embargo without specific conditions was a bad mistake. We are still suffering the adverse consequences today.

This is why it is so important for the EU to apply the right set of conditions before accepting Turkey as a candidate. Accession would require an immense long-term process of internal reform for Turkey. Human rights, respect for its Kurdish minority, removal of military influence, ending of torture and religious discrimination, overhaul of the judicial system, restraint from military action against its neighbors: these are only some of the changes that Turkey will face. And members of the EU need U.S. support to insist on these conditions. The least appropriate action for the U.S. is to pressure the EU collectively or any of its individual members to make special concessions to Turkey.

But in the short term and before Turkey's candidacy can be accepted, Turkey needs to take two immediate steps of direct relevance to the EU to prove that it is an appropriate candidate:

1. It must commit itself to a firm and verifiable timetable for the removal of its armed forces from Cyprus and for resolving the Cyprus problem in accordance with democratic norms and international law as set out in multiple Security Council resolutions. Turkey clearly cannot become a member of the EU while it is illegally occupying part of another country, Cyprus, which is itself already far advanced along the path to EU accession. Turkey's intransigent attitude prior to the current proximity talks in New York does not provide any encouragement to believe that this is in fact Turkey's attitude; and
2. It must abandon its unilateral claims against sovereign Greek territory in the Aegean by agreeing to take any such claims to the International Court of Justice for binding arbitration. In the absence of such a commitment, it is manifestly absurd to expect that Greece, a long-standing EU member, would approve the EU candidacy of a country which maintains hostile territorial claims against it. Put in a similar position of facing claims against their sovereign territory, other EU member states would feel precisely the same reservations.

Mr. President, I am concerned that behind-the-scenes maneuvering by a handful of career officials on behalf of entrenched interests inside the U.S. bureaucracy will pressure you to intervene directly in this matter despite the fact that it is a bilateral issue between the EU and Turkey and which involves the vital interests of the EU members states. I urge you to resist this maneuvering which is profoundly against U.S. interests.

I trust that in your communications with Turkey, the U.S. in making clear to Turkey that failure to accede to these two obvious conditions would provide appropriate grounds for any EU member to oppose Turkey's candidacy. I hope that in future statements the State Department spokesman will make clear that the U.S. is not giving Turkey a blank check on this issue, but that Turkey should expect to be held to the same criteria as any other EU applicant.

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMRespectfully,

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMEugene T. Rossides

cc: Members of the Congress
Vice President Albert Gore, Jr.
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
Secretary of Defense William Cohen
Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott
Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas Pickering
Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs Marc Grossman
U.S. Ambassadors to Greece, Turkey, Cyprus and NATO
Assistant to the President on National Security Affairs Samuel Berger
Candidates for the Presidency in 2000

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