Turkish leaders appeal for unity after deadly car bomb | Reuters

It's been a busy summer with little time to post. I am currently on a brief trip to Istanbul and just came back from an interesting meeting at TESEV, the prominent Turkish think tank. Impressed by the range and urgency of the issues they cover.

Had a lovely lunch at a rooftop restaurant in Karaköy that we stumbled upon more or less by accident: Karaköyum. Definitely recommended, great view & good food.

And, just to give you more than gossip, here's a news update: Reuters reports on a car bomb in the Southern/Southeastern city of Gaziantep.

ISTANBUL, Aug 22 (Reuters) - Turkey's leaders called for unity on Wednesday following a car bomb attack which heightened fears that Kurdish militants are exploiting chaos in neighbouring Syria and stepping up their decades-old insurgency.

Turkish leaders appeal for unity after deadly car bomb | Reuters

EurActiv on Cyprus-EU-Turkey relations

Hello readers. I am back from vacation and my first post is recommended reading. Here are links to two interesting interviews over at EurActiv:

EU-Turkey relations are as bad as they that can be at the moment, largely because of the Cyprus EU presidency. But they should not get any worse because the two sides are dependent on each other, Ayla Gürel of the Peace Research Institute in Oslo tells EurActiv Czech Republic.

Statements by Turkish leaders who say their country will boycott the Cyprus EU presidency are “insulting and provocative” to Cyprus and the EU as a whole, says Cypriot Foreign Minister Erato Kozakou-Markoulis.

And here's, for your benefit, the view that I enjoyed over the summer. Add the smell of lavender and you get the idea (now back in rainy Sweden...):

The TurkEU Blog is on vacation. It will be back in late July. Have a great summer!

Bağış: Turkey has passed visa threshold | Hürriyet

Back from a conference in Prague - lovely city!

Apparently, the June 22 meeting on visa-free travel in the EU for Turks went well. Hürriyet Daily News:

According to Bağış, visa exemptions for Turkish citizens traveling to the European Unionwill take effect in around three to four years.  

On June 22, the EU minister held meetings with European Commissioner for Home Affairs Cecilia Malmström, European Commissioner for Enlargement Stefan Füle and EUterm president Denmark’s minister of European cooperation, Nicolai Wammen, in Brussels. 

“A new process is beginning with the EU and our aim is to facilitate visa-free travel to the EU for our 75 million citizens,” Bağış said at the June 22’s meeting. 

POLITICS - Turkey has passed visa threshold: Bağış

See also the NYT: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/28/world/middleeast/turks-seek-freedom-to-travel-to-europe-without-visas.html?pagewanted=all

Turkey hopes for EU visa breakthrough this week | EUobserver.com

If it goes, a very interesting development reported on by EUobserver.com:

Turkey is aiming to tell its 75 million citizens on Thursday (21 June) they can visit the EU without visas in a couple of years' time.

For more, read the story on the EUobserver's website: EUobserver.com / Enlargement / Turkey hopes for EU visa breakthrough this week

Cyprus readies EU presidency plan (and discusses Turkey) | EurActiv

Interesting tidbit from EurActiv:

The Cypriot Ambassador to the EU, Kornelios Korneliou, provided a first insight yesterday (6 June) into the country's ambitions for its EU Presidency period, which begins in July. [...] 

The EU's enlargement negotiation process with Turkey will be a hot potato for Cyrpus as Ankara has warned it could freeze relations with the Cyprus Presidency or even with the EU, over the unsolved problem of the islands’ reunification (see background). 

Even so, the ambassador seemed confident about his country's chances of advancing talks with Turkey. Korneliou responded to a question from EurActiv, by saying that during its presidency, the Republic of Cyprus would not promote its national positions and behave as a “honest broker”. 

“What I said, I mean it. If Turkey delivers, we are going to deliver," the diplomat emphasised. "The bilateral issue we have with Turkey will not be part of our presidency. Turkey doesn't want anything to do with the Cyprus Presidency. Turkey decided this policy. It’s very unfortunate." 

He continued: “We should not forget that geography does not change. A more European Turkey will be in the interest not only of Cyprus, it will be in the interest of the European Union, it will be in the interest of Turkey. But we should play by the rules of the game. Big members such as Germany play by the rule of the game. Turkey should do the same”.

Cyprus readies EU presidency plan, and bailout bid | EurActiv

Turkey Charges Pianist Fazil Say Over Twitter Posts | NYTimes.com

Turkey Charges Pianist Fazil Say Over Twitter Posts - NYTimes.com

EU prepares for 'new stage' in economic union | EurActiv

A great public display of disagreement between the French (Eurobonds now) and German (Eurobonds only after fiscal union) positions is the result of the summit held on May 23. But while they are far apart, both France and Germany want further, deeper integration. The seem to be arguing over the chronology, not the direction.

From EurActiv.com's report of the summit:

The European Central Bank's President Mario Draghi was on the same page. Issuing jointly backed European debt would not make sense until the euro zone reaches some kind of fiscal union, he said after the EU leaders meeting. 

"Euro bonds make sense when you have a fiscal union, otherwise they don't make sense," Draghi told reporters in Brussels. 

Asked later by EurActiv if some kind of central EU finance ministry would be considered, Van Rompuy did not dismiss the idea but said it was just one among a number of options being discussed.

And the German position:

Germany’s European Central Bank executive board member, Jörg Asmussen, said ahead of the summit that the euro zone should be backed by “a fiscal union and banking union as well as a democratic legitimised political union”.

EU prepares for 'new stage' in economic union | EurActiv

For you to read while I'm grading...

Grading, grading... but here are what seems like two good reads (I literally have not had time to read them the whole way through, so you tell me if they're worth it!):

The Economist on the EU's choice: break up or move toward what will start to smell like a federation. I made a similar point last July in an interview in Metro. This is, no doubt, a massive crisis for the EU, but US media tends to underestimate the significance of the fact that European integration proceeds in this fashion. Periods of stagnation and/or intense crises, which can only be averted by further integration, are typically followed by just that: further integration.

And this perspective on the improving prospects for Turkey-EU relations.

The TurkEU Blog shall resurface once grades are turned in.

Turkey ramps up pace of EU bid after French polls | Hürriyet

From Hürriyet Daily News:

Hollande’s victory over Nicolas Sarkozy, an avowed opponent of Turkey’s EU membership bid, has led to cautious optimism in Ankara that France may now unblock several chapters in the accession talks, which have been at a standstill since 2010. EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Füle will be in Turkey tomorrow to discuss the so-called “positive agenda” between Ankara and Brussels. 

POLITICS - Turkey ramps up pace of EU bid after French polls