This event organised in partnership with Friends of Turkey Group in the European Parliament was kindly hosted and chaired by Catherine West, Labour MP for Hornsey and Wood Green. Geoffrey Van Orden, Conservative MEP for East England and Stephen Kinnock, Labour MP for Aberavon were the keynote speakers.
Taking place on 17 November 2016 at the House of Commons, Catherine West MP began by discussing her constituency and the large Turkish speaking community she represents. She stated that she and other MPs with similar constituent populations have been writing to the British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and calling for him to put pressure on the Turkish government on issues raised by human rights abuses. She also stated however that Turkey has a huge role in European affairs on various issues, especially on the refugee-migrant crisis.
Mr Van Orden began by discussing Turkey’s ambivalent relationship with the European Union (EU). He noted that Turkey first applied to join the European Community in 1959 and later made the 1963 Ankara Association Agreement. He discussed the opening of Turkey’s EU accession discussions in 2004 and the lack of progress surrounding this process.
He stated that in terms of Turkey’s relationship with the EU, that the most important development was when a customs union was agreed between both parties in 1995, meaning that both would not impose tariffs on each other’s goods, but also place them on external goods. He added that in the case of Turkey, this covers most non-agricultural goods, but not services. He continued, arguing that the biggest obstacle to Turkey’s EU membership however, is Turkey’s desire for the free movement of Turkish citizens within the EU, to which EU member states are generally opposed. He continued, arguing Germany’s fear that it would no longer be the most influential power in the EU with Turkish membership, losing its large sway on the council of ministers. He also added that German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French politicians and also the head of the European Commission had expressed scepticism about Turkey’s EU membership, and that these presented clear obstacles to it. He noted however, that Turkey was able to make the Refugee Readmission Deal with the EU which promised visa-liberalisation for Turkish citizens.
On discussing the UK’s future relationship with the EU, he considered the plausibility of Norway and Switzerland as models for Brexit but concluded that neither were suitable for Britain. He commented that Switzerland’s sector based relationship which does not include banking was unsuitable for the British for this reason, and added that while Norway has free movement of goods and services it also has free movement of people which Britain does not want. Discussing the option of Britain trading via the World Trade Organisation, he added that this only deals with tariffs, and does not provide the firm footing for banking that Britain would want.
The speeches were followed by a question and answer session.