The discussions that have been taking place with Turkey over the Refugee Crisis are some of the poorest I think we’ve all seen in a long time with regards to the EU. They symbolise a lot of things – the EU’s lack of ability to cooperate and forge common, European solutions to the difficult issues it faces, the weakness it demonstrates in foreign policy when acting on the international stage, and, with the situation on Monday a particular example, the lack of coherency even among its leaders. I’m referring of course to the deal that was being carefully considered and crafted by the Council President, Donald Tusk, which was completely blown out of the water by a far more ambitious and pricey deal bilaterally negotiated between German Chancellor Merkel and the Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu.

Framing these highly crucial discussions which could well determine the tone of the rest of the year when it comes to EU affairs, we have the fact that the Turkish government completely slapped the EU in the face with the raid on the Turkish opposition newspaper, Zeman. This is just the latest example of the Turkish government’s attack on the Freedom of the Press. Then we find that in fact, in the German Chancellor’s deal with Turkey, there’s concessions to Turkey to speed up the accession process to the EU, by opening new areas of discussions. Is this a topic we are really discussing? Many have focussed on the demand for an extra €3bn, or the fact that as a part of the deal, for every person returned to Turkey, Europe has to resettle one currently in Turkey. But this for me is the most outrageous – European democratic values are just going to be ridden roughshod over, because right now Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, holds the whip hand, and worse still, he knows it.

Turkey’s slide towards authoritarianism

To give a short overview of why I am so opposed to the idea of Turkish accession, and in fact, even its discussion at this moment, I will provide a short tour through the recent history of Erdoğan’s push for authoritarianism. The past weekend’s raid on Zeman, which led to the bullying of its journalists, firing of editors, use of watercannon and teargas on protesters an ultimately resulting in Erdoğan’s smiling face ending up on the front page the next morning, is far from a new experience. Paul Mason wrote in The Guardian on Monday an article completely obliterating any remaining questions over whether Erdoğan was driving for an utterly authoritarian style of government. Protests in summer 2013, put down by teargas and riot police, the army being wielded against the Kurdish minority as of 2015 ending a 3 year ceasefire, reelections called late last year to restore the majority Erdoğan’s ruling AKP lost in June, the raiding of the government-critical Cumhuriyet and now Zeman. Furthermore, since Erdoğan entered office in 2014, around 2,000 journalists have been prosecuted for insulting the President of all things. If these are not the clearest examples of a dictatorial, authoritarian government, as is the case in, say, Russia, for example, then I don’t know what are.

To summarise the Turkish views on the inherent values and meanings of democracy, we can use his quote on the matter “Democracy is like a train – when you reach your stop, you get off”. To extend the President’s metaphor, the train of democracy is something you never get off of, because by being committed to democracy, you understand it is constantly improving and must be constantly improved upon. But of course, Mr Erdoğan is far from committed to democracy. To him it is a tool for improving his standing domestically and in the international community – if he has to undermine it to get what he needs, then he of course will.

Can we even be discussing Turkish accession?

In light of the fact that Erdoğan is a complete tyrant and Turkish democracy is a hollow shell of its former self, it really begs the question as to how in the world we can be considering opening new chapters of the accession process to this country whose government so wantonly flaunts the very core principles of the European project (even if that projects institutions are not so democratic in themselves, no one can deny Europe stands for democracy in theory). It shows a complete lack of strength on we Europeans’ part, a total inability by our leaders to assert themselves and employ the fact that Turkey is negotiating here with one of the most powerful blocs on the planet.

I doubt anyone who has been following the development taking place between Europe and Turkey could even consider how Turkish accession could be acceptable. True, many xenophobic Europeans balk at the idea of allowing 75 million Muslims into what they perceive as a Christian, ethnically white bloc of nations – however this is a non-reason, and only serves to undermine our Union more. No, it is the fact that right now Turkey by no means even remotely adheres to the Copenhagen Criteria, which govern whether a nation is democratically robust enough to enter the Union. How can we look at Poland and question whether they are being all that democratic, launching investigations and criticising their leadership, whilst at the same time look at Turkey and say that they deserve a renewed look at their membership bid. It shows once again, like with the refugee problem, a complete lack of courage by European leaders in their convictions. I have seen articles which say that effectively say that whilst the solving the refugee issue should not be confused with the issue of Turkish accession, essentially there is no reason to rule it out, merely defer to a later date. This is far too timid – Turkish accession, a mere couple of days after the raiding of a newspaper for its criticism of the government, is a topic which should never have entered official conclusions. Demands to even discuss a renewed drive for Turkish accession should have been laughed out of the room. The audacity that Erdoğan has to send his Prime Minister to the heart of Europe and there demand Turkey be reconsidered for an accelerated accession process shows how far the balance of power seems tilted in his favour. And I say seems because, ultimately, the balance of power in international relations is all about belief – and Europe has lost utterly belief in itself.

Ultimately it shows how damaging the Refugee crisis has been to European solidarity and to support for the current leaders of Europe. It was Merkel herself, alongside Mark Rutte the Dutch Prime Minister, who conducted these negotiations with Turkey, and completely unbeknownst to President Tusk, who was working on admittedly a far less ambitious but also a less concessionary proposal at the same time. Merkel is desperate to get the flow of refugees under control, and at the same time not resort to the less tasteful solutions such as cutting off Greece from the rest of the continent and the refugees along with them. For the later reluctance, she is commendable, but by giving the Turks everything they demand, she has never been lower. Meanwhile, Danish, Swedish, Hungarian and Austrian leaders are all facing similar pressures from their electorates to take tough stances and enact tough measures. At least during the Sovereign debt crisis Europe was united on its policy of fiscal tightening, austerity and what the ‘right’ course would be for Europe to take. They were wrong in my opinion on the course they took, but at least Europe banded together when they needed it most. Right now, what we have is a shambles – the Greeks are totally incapable of managing the inflows and have received little to no help in this matter, Werner Faymann, Austrian Chancellor, thinks he’s been shrewd in implementing daily quotas, clearly demonstrated by his suggestion that Chancellor Merkel will follow his lead, Denmark and Sweden have both implemented further checks on their borders and recently Denmark imposed the harsh policy of requisitioning refugees’ belongings “in order to finance their living in Denmark”. Meanwhile, we have our friends in eastern Europe, the Visegrád Bloc, telling us they will close of the Western Balkans route themselves if the rest of Europe doesn’t act, meanwhile rejecting any partition of refugees amongst the member-states. And to top it all of, the first thing David Cameron says when he arrives at the summit on Monday is “We have an opt out” so tough Europe, whatever you work out amongst yourselves, we won’t be helping where it matters.

Alternatives to kowtowing to the Turks?

The main reason I have been so incensed by these recent developments is because the Turkish government thinks they have Europe by the balls, and we have just accepted that. Pretty much every newspaper I have seen online has some article about, despite not wanting to confuse the refugee issue with Turkish accession, we must accept the deal on the table, which basically confuses the two issues. New Europe wrote that “It is one thing for Europe to tolerate the suppression of human rights and quite another to make this ignorance part of a tit-for-tat diplomatic exchange. That is becoming an accomplice.” And it especially is when it is taking the easy way out, and not actually challenging the notion that Turkey is in the driving seat.

An article published in the FAZ on Tuesday highlights the fact that by merely accepting Turkish demands, we are acting against European interests. It also pointed out that ultimately we have something the Turks want – European membership. This was a key part of the deal Merkel negotiated with them and she just gave it away. For me this is the biggest mistake; Erdoğan is popular in Turkey but one of his major promises to the Turkish people has been to drive forward the process of EU accession. Now surely, considering that, this should have been used as a major bargaining chip in these negotiations, and the fact that Turkey is no where near meeting the Copenhagen Criteria should have been pressed over and over to highlight that right now, there’s no way the Turks are getting anything anywhere near entrance to the Union. If they want to change that, then they need to elect a new government and undo the hideously undemocratic policies that Erdoğan has enact, or they’re getting nothing. This is the entire point of the EU, to empower the nation states that compose it, so that we are not pushed around by aggressive neighbours who completely contradict everything we Europeans believe in, and think Europeans are a dying breed.

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter how many chapters of negotiation on accession Turkey wants open – Turkish membership would ultimately have to be approved by the parliament and the Council, as well as ratified by each of the member-states, something that doesn’t seem likely. Guy Verhofstadt came out clearly against the conclusions from Monday’s Summit, and the PES in the Socialists and Democrats Group also made it clear that Turkey is in clear breach of Human and Civil rights. The EPP seems more willing to tow Merkel’s line that we must work with the Turks at all costs, but overall I doubt if it came to it they would definitively support Turkish-accession. Ultimately, in their current state, as SPD leader Sigmar Gabriel said in the Bundestag on Tuesday “Turkey is not in a condition in which it could become an EU member.” And we must not even remotely entertain the thought that they are.

Sources: The Guardian, FT, FAZ, New Europe