Stiffing Turkey

TURKEY AND THE European Union were a long way from finalizing their wedding plans, but on Sunday, Europe may have thrown back the ring. That’s bad news for both, and it’s a blow to their anxious matchmakers in Washington.

Sunday’s election of Nicolas Sarkozy as president of France may mean that Turkey’s EU accession talks are over for the moment. Sarkozy is a fierce opponent of Ankara’s membership and now forms a powerful anti-Turkey bloc with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Also on Sunday, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul withdrew his candidacy for president amid a political crisis that raises questions about the stability of Turkey’s democracy, giving further ammunition to European anti-integrationists.

Turkish public opinion had been trending against the EU long before Sarkozy’s election, but the vote might make integration a political nonstarter. That would be unfortunate for Turkey because the prospect of membership has prompted welcome reforms in human rights and the economy. Those changes are already imperiled by a domestic struggle between Islamic-leaning politicians like Gul and powerful secularists like the Turkish army, which leaned on Gul to withdraw.

An end to the affair would hurt Europe too. Turkey’s location makes it a critical route for energy supplies and a natural interlocutor between the EU and the Muslim world. A Western-looking, democratic Turkey is far better than the alternative: an alienated country whose nationalism is whipped up by perceived Western slight.

Turkey has strategic importance to Washington, both as a NATO ally in the Middle East and as a symbol to the Muslim world that secularism and partnership with the U.S. can work.

Sarkozy’s reasons for opposing Turkish accession -- it’s technically not even part of Europe, for instance -- cross the line from useful standards-setting to French fear-mongering about Muslims. Because Turkey’s bid would take well over a decade of much-needed modernization anyway, prematurely closing the door would just stall further reforms and remove a useful incentive for resolving thorny disputes, such as Cyprus. Turkey’s integration should be based on when and whether it meets key benchmarks, not the Western xenophobia of the moment.