Turkey fears backlash over EU, Middle East – Gul

HESITATION over Turkish membership of the European Union and US policies in the Middle East are causing an anti-western backlash in Turkey, the country’s foreign minister was yesterday quoted as saying.

Abdullah Gul said in an interview with the Financial Times that failure to resolve the dispute over Cyprus was “poisoning” the process for negotiating Turkey’s membership of the EU.

He said US support for Israel’s actions in Lebanon would cause a backlash across the Middle East.

“Moderate liberal people (in Turkey) are becoming anti-American and anti-EU,” he said.

“If our young, dynamic, educated and economically active people become bitter, if their attitudes and feelings are changed, it is not good. Their feeling has changed towards these global policies and strategic issues. This is dangerous.”

Turkey has also warned the US and Iraqi governments that they must stop cross-border operations by Kurdish guerrillas who claimed the lives of 14 Turkish soldiers at the weekend, or Turkey will be forced to take action itself.

Gul said the PKK separatists were armed with explosives and weapons obtained in Iraq, including from the Iraqi army.

“This is very dangerous,” he said. “We cannot tolerate this. Definitely we will use all our rights under international law.

“Of course we understand the Iraqi government’s position, but if they are not able to control their land, they should not hesitate to co-operate with us.

“If they cannot stop it, we will have to take action. That is clear,” Gul told the Financial Times.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.