Response article by Nick Thorpe on Turkey’s current and future relationship with the European Union.

Dear Editor,
I think that "Turkey, more self confident than ever and looking at EU accession with fresh resolve" would have been a more fitting title for Nick Thorpe’s article on Turkey in the December issue of DT – Diplomacy and Trade. Although I agree only partially with his views I am glad that developments in my country have been brought to the attention of readers in Hungary, a friend and ally of Turkey. With this in mind, I shall try to highlight a few points about the EU accession process, which should be considered in the context of Turkey’s membership in almost all other European structures.
When the Helsinki European Council confirmed Turkey’s candidacy, as was foreseen by the 1963 Ankara agreement, its customs union with the EU had already been completed, but the accession negotiations had not condensed.
After Helsinki, the priority was given to meeting the political criteria prerequisites for negotiations. In less than two years, the constitution and all the relevant legislation were overhauled to further reinforce the guarantees on civil liberties and fundamental rights. That these reforms were made in the immediate aftermath of a traumatic struggle against terrorism and at a time when the European trends were in the opposite direction, testifies to Turkeys commitment.
Although reform is a continuous process and the search for perfection, as far as the political criteria is concerned, the relevant legal framework is now in place. The political reforms have been accompanied also by impressive economic achievements.
In the international arena, Turkey has been visible with its problem-solving oriented foreign policy contribution to regional and international peace and stability, including Southeastern Europe, Eastern Mediterranean, the Trans-Caucasus and the Middle East. There is now a significant awareness in Europe that Turkey’s membership will bring a much needed strategic, economic and cultural depth to the EU, that its economic potential and human resources are assets rather than burdens, and that it is a net contributor to European defense capabilities.
Turkey is the proof that a Muslim society can be truly democratic. At the end of 2004, the European Council will have to decide on beginning accession negotiations with Turkey, and its eventual EU membership will undoubtedly contribute to global harmony. The fact that both the NATO summit and the Organization of the Islamic Conference meeting will be held in Turkey in 2004 shows how a country may transcend cultures and continents and have the best of both worlds.

HE Aydan Karahan
Ambassador of Turkey

Response to an article by Melinda Tünde Dóra on the failings
of the Visegrád Group

Dear Editor,
The Visegrád Group countries’ cooperation article presents interesting, but controversial arguments. Fortunately, Polish diplomacy has no doubt regarding this issue: Poland sees many areas in which the concurrence of pragmatic interests of our countries is obvious, and should become a natural foundation for the renewed Central European cooperation in the enlarged European Union. The same position was taken by Poland in the crucial moments of the accession negotiations, e.g., when the issues of trade in farming land and free flow of workforce were discussed. In those moments it seemed that maintaining a common position for the longest possible time could give interested candidate countries better results than individual lobbing. The outcome was different. Well, it’s high time we drew right conclusions, which may be found in some parts of Ms. Dóra’s article.
Unfortunately, the article and its pivotal argument also features important errors regarding substance and facts. When the author critically, and even ironically, describes the recent meeting in Budapest of the heads of states belonging to the Visegrád Group, she blatantly confuses two different things: the Polish-German statement of Presidents A. Kwasniewski and J. Rau (Gdansk, Oct. 29, 2003) on reconciliation and expulsions after the World War II, and the possible common statement resulting from the above-mentioned meeting of the four presidents on Nov. 3, 2003. It is obvious that Poland could not have been responsible for the task of preparing the common statement, since Poland neither presided the group, nor the meeting in Budapest – which did not concern the issue of expulsions anyway. The author’s ensuing reasoning regarding, among others, the so-called Benes decrees, and using the above-mentioned premise to substantiate the emphatic argument saying the presidents’ meeting was a failure, are inadequate. Whereas, this meeting at which, among others Czech President Vaclav Klaus was present, ended up with a strong call for a concrete and pragmatic co-operation after May 1, 2004, based on a real community of interests in particular issues. This is a strong and unequivocal indication for the state apparatus in our countries. Of course, everyone is conscious that, sometimes, a long distance separates unequivocal declarations and everyday practice, but the Budapest meeting of the presidents is not a proper example to prove the argument on how bumpy this road may be.

HE Rafal Wisniewski
Ambassador of Poland

Response to an article by Christopher Condon on how multinational investors are shifting their resource centers to the East.

Dear Editor,
As head of the communications agency of Flextronics International Kft., I wish to point out the following on behalf of our client. In “Heading eastward … or moving to the Far East?” you mention our client in a manner that does not correspond to the facts when you write: “IBM and Flextronics made similar moves in the last two years, costing Hungarian workers another 4,700 jobs.”
Flextronics announced the relocation for the manufacture of the XBox console to China over a year ago – on May 15, 2002. The company also announced that, despite the difficult decision, this does not involve a factory closing, although we temporarily released 300 of the 1,200 employees of this project.
The emphasis is important because the company saved the vast majority of jobs related to the Xbox. Moreover, by Sept. 2002, barely four months following reporting of the above, the size of the company’s staff past the original level.

Gábor Sarlós
PeppeR 21 PR Agency