
Sunday, July 06, 2008

Turkish - British Relations in 2003

The most important development in Turkish-British relations in 2003 was the war in Iraq which was started under the leadership of the United States and Britain.

While British government assumed a calm attitude on international expectations, tensions and disputes that stemmed from the issue, British press wrote that Turkey was far away from extending expected support on Iraq issue to the coalition.

The possibility of war in Iraq which appeared on first days of the year and Turkey's distant attitude on the issue was included in hundreds of news stories and comments in British press. The press especially underlined Turkey's sensitivity on usage of its territories and bases in this war.

British people put forth their attitude against war with demonstrations and public surveys on first days of 2003.
Britain also continued to remain silent on Cyprus issue in 2003. Britain said that they supported solution in Cyprus and did not make any detailed explanation on its expectation for solution in 2003, either. British press was close to the view proposing solution on the ground of the European Union (EU) and under U.N. Secretary General Annan plan on the island. Some newspapers tried to present solution in Cyprus as a pre-condition of Turkey's EU membership.

British government said that they would also continue to extend support on Turkey's EU membership during AK Party government as they did earlier and stressed that they were ready for every kind of cooperation on the issue.

Bomb attacks in Istanbul led British press to change its attitude. The Guardian which earlier questioned Turkey's EU membership within the scope of its human rights practices and freedoms noted that Turkey should become a member of the EU as soon as possible following attacks in Istanbul. Conservative press organs underlined that Turkey's closeness with West that made it a target should be seen, assessed and appreciated and called on the EU to ''stop keeping Turkey waiting''.

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