Italy’s motto in ties with Turkey: A friend in need is a friend indeed

Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, accompanied by Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, will pay a three-day state visit to Turkey from Nov. 17 to 19 -- around four years after a state visit by then-Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi in November 2005.

Ciampi's visit was followed by many activities both in Italy and Turkey throughout 2006 as it was the 150th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

During Napolitano's visit, the Sixth Turkish-Italian Dialogue Forum will be held in İstanbul and will be presided over by Frattini and his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoğlu. This year's presidential visit will be followed next year with activities throughout Turkey celebrating Italian culture as the year 2010 has been declared the year of “Italy in Turkey” -- the same year in which İstanbul will hold the title of European Capital of Culture as designated by the European Union.

In mid-December, Rome will host the second intergovernmental summit between the two countries. The first such summit was hosted in the Aegean city of İzmir in November 2008, with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Italian counterpart, Silvio Berlusconi, presiding.

“We have tried to further accelerate bilateral relations between Italy and Turkey throughout this year and we have done this deliberately by acting in line with the phrase ‘A friend in need is a friend indeed.' We're trying to show Turkey's importance to the EU's enlargement to our other European partners,” Marsili said in an interview with Today's Zaman ahead of Napolitano's visit.

Italy eyes further cooperation in energy, defense fields The global financial crisis has shown its negative impact on bilateral economic and commercial relations between Italy and Turkey with a considerable decrease in trade volume in the first eight months of 2009, Italian Ambassador to Turkey Carlo Marsili has said. “We have to make exerted efforts to revive commercial relations. At the moment, the number of Italian companies operating in Turkey has reached 760. We also want to see more Turkish investment in Italy as commercial relations should be based on joint interests. We are interested in all fields, but energy and defense have more fundamental importance for us,” the ambassador said in an interview with Today's Zaman. “In Brussels, everybody is talking about the Nabucco pipeline, but the ITGI [Interconnector Turkey-Greece-Italy] pipeline is usually ignored. We want the ITGI to be realized at once and we particularly want the negotiation chapter regarding energy to be opened at once,” Marsili said. “I'm not sure, but I believe that these two subjects, the ITGI and the energy chapter, may be linked to each other,” he said, without elaborating. Greek Cyprus has been blocking talks on the energy part of the accession process with Turkey, citing an oil exploration dispute with Turkey as the reason. The planned Nabucco pipeline, backed by the European Union, aims to reduce Europe's reliance on gas imports from or via Russia. The ITGI pipeline, which is expected to carry 12 billion cubic meters of Caspian gas a year from Turkey to Europe via Greece and then Italy, is also key to the efforts of the 27-member bloc to reduce its reliance on Russian gas. “The second fundamental field of cooperation for us is defense,” Marsili continued, while recalling that Turkish Defense Minister Vecdi Gönül was in Milan recently to watch the first test flight of Turkish T-129 attack helicopters, which will be co-produced by Turkey and Italy. Turkey's Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) and Italian AgustaWestland won the bid in 2007 to co-produce 51 (plus 40 optional) helicopters for the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK). The combat and reconnaissance helicopter, an enhanced version of AgustaWestland's A-129s, will be named T-129 ATAK. “In the near future, Turkey will make its decision on purchasing around 100 multifunctional army helicopters, and we have been following this process very closely. We believe that the current bilateral cooperation in the defense field should be further strengthened, and we also believe that we can do this via our Eurofighter planes,” Marsili said. The Eurofighter contract was established 25 years ago and involves Germany, Spain, Italy and Britain building more than 600 high-performance combat jets. The Eurofighter consortium comprises Britain's BAE Systems, Italy's Finmeccanica and EADS, representing Germany and Spain. “Accordingly, we, as Italy, also believe that Turkey should become a member of the European Defense Agency [EDA] in the shortest time [possible] -- if possible, even tomorrow. Keeping a country which has served as a loyal NATO ally for longer than a half century waiting in front of the door [of the EDA] is not understandable,” Marsili also said. “The game should be played by the rules,” he added, in an implicit reference to Brussels' inaction to persuade EU-member Greek Cyprus to drop its veto over Ankara's bid to become an associate member of the EDA, the body set up to nurture EU-wide defense industry policy. Ankara Today’s Zaman

Turkey is the only country to be visited by the Italian president twice in four years in the history of the Italian Republic, which was founded in 1946, Marsili stressed, adding: “We have arranged this visit [by Napolitano] to give a strong signal in favor of Turkey because Turkey will have a critical rendezvous towards the end of the year. Thus, the arrangement of this visit is not coincidental, but a deliberate act.”

The Italian ambassador was apparently referring to an upcoming EU summit in December, in which the heads of state and government -- the European Council -- must decide what to do about Turkey's failure to implement its signed obligation to open its ports to Greek Cypriot air and sea traffic.

In 2006, while blocking eight chapters of the accession negotiations with Ankara due to its refusal to open its ports and airports to Greek Cypriot traffic, the European Council said it would review the situation at the end of 2009. When asked whether he expected tension at the December summit, Marsili, instead of giving a direct answer to the question, first of all referred to the progress Turkey has made in relations with its neighbors, Iraq, Syria and Armenia.

“However, the most important thing is maintaining dialogue between the two communities in Cyprus. We welcome the ongoing negotiations in Cyprus with great pleasure and hope they reach a concrete result in the shortest time. Because, as you know, there are upcoming elections in Cyprus, and achieving a result before the elections will be useful,” he continued, referring to the presidential elections in northern Cyprus.

Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat and Greek Cypriot leader Dimitris Christofias broke a four-year stalemate on talks in March 2008 and have been engaged in face-to-face negotiations with the goal of reunifying the island. Previous reunification efforts in Cyprus collapsed in 2004 when the Greek Cypriots rejected a settlement blueprint drafted by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, while the Turkish Cypriots approved it.

Talat hopes the talks will produce a deal by the end of the year so that it can be put to a referendum on both sides of the island by early 2010, before the presidential elections in Turkish Cyprus.

Two commitments concerning Cyprus

Turkey should fulfill its commitment to implement an additional protocol to the customs union between Turkey and the EU, known as the Ankara Protocol, which would pave the way to opening Turkey's ports and airports to Greek Cypriot traffic, Marsili said.

“Yet, there is another commitment floating around, too, which is the EU's promise to allow direct trade with the northern part of the island. I'm not saying these two commitments are at the same level and are linked; however, I am saying that there are two commitments floating around and both of them need to be fulfilled, not only one of them. Of course, if negotiations yield concrete results before December, then it will be good for everybody and there won't be the need for any extra steps.”

Cyprus joined the EU as a divided island after Greek Cypriots in the south rejected a UN reunification plan in twin referendums held in 2004, even though the Turkish Cypriots in the north overwhelmingly supported it.

Turkey, which does not recognize the Greek Cypriot administration, has called on the EU to fulfill its commitment to end the isolation of the Turkish Cypriots as a condition for opening its ports and airports to traffic from Greek Cyprus. The EU unveiled a plan to ease the isolation of the Turkish Cypriots by establishing direct trade with the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) after they voted for the UN plan to reunite the island, but it was never implemented because of opposition from some members and Greek Cyprus, which joined the EU a few days after the Greek Cypriots rejected the same UN plan in April 2004 in the simultaneous referendum.

The 2006 European Council decision has been widely considered a strong motive for Greek Cyprus to postpone reaching a resolution through the ongoing UN-led negotiations between Christofias and Talat by the end of the year. Countries hoping to join the EU must complete 35 policy negotiating areas, or chapters. Ankara has so far formally opened 11 chapters. In addition to the eight chapters frozen due to the customs dispute, France has been blocking another five chapters which are directly linked to full membership.

Greek Cyprus, meanwhile, accused by Ankara of using its veto rights over Turkey's EU accession process, has clearly said it would not let talks on the energy part of the accession process start until an oil exploration dispute with Turkey was resolved.

EU's global vision

Earlier this month, when Foreign Minister Davutoğlu and his Syrian counterpart, Walid al-Moallem, officially signed an agreement to end visa requirements between the two countries, the former said Syria will eventually become an EU neighbor, while the EU would become a neighbor of the Middle East with Turkey's accession to the EU, citing this situation as an opportunity for all parties concerned.

When reminded of Davutoğlu's remarks and asked whether all EU members are aware of the possible opportunities which Turkey's eventual accession could bring to the union, Marsili said there is a significant deadline in front of the EU.

“This deadline is not about chapters to be opened or closed or decisions to be made at the December summit,” Marsili added. “In the last two years, the world has been struggling with a global financial crisis. Like every financial crisis, this one will also eventually end, hopefully with the negative impacts of the crisis being removed within a few years and with economic development restarting,” he continued. “I believe that it is not possible for the EU to assume leadership at the global level without having Turkey inside [it]...What the EU must decide in the upcoming months is whether the future Europe will be an ordinary Europe or whether it will be a Europe which is able rule the roost – that is to say, a Europe with Turkey,” Marsili said.