[Discussion] Conference - Turkey, the EU & 2004 milestone

[Gonul]

Subject:
        Conference - Turkey, the EU & 2004 milestone 14 March 2003
   Date:
        Mon, 24 Feb 2003 09:41:45 -0000
   From:
        "Academic" <academic@oriental-institute.oxford.ac.uk>
     To:
        <academic@orinst.ox.ac.uk>





THE SOUTH EAST EUROPEAN STUDIES PROGRAMME
THE EUROPEAN STUDIES CENTRE
ST ANTONY’S COLLEGE

&

THE PROGRAMME ON CONTEMPORARY TURKEY

UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

invite you to attend a Conference

on

“TURKEY, THE EU AND THE 2004 MILESTONE:
IS THIS TIME FOR REAL?”

Speakers include:

Sencer Ayata (METU University, Ankara), Alain Chenal (French Socialist
Party), Theodore Couloumbis (University of Athens), Martin Harvey
(European
Commission), Ersin Kalaycioglu (Sabanci University, Istanbul), Bahadir
Kaleagasi (TÜSIAD), Nikos Kotzias (Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs),
Kalypso Nicolaidis (Oxford University), Soli Özel (Bilgi University,
Istanbul)


Friday 14 March 2003
10:30-18:30

The Buttery, Hilda Besse Building
St Antony’s College
62 Woodstock Road
Oxford, OX2 6JF

RSVP and Registration:

Ms Ulli Parkinson
Tel: 01865 274477/70
Email: ulli.parkinson@sant.ox.ac.uk


____________________________________________________________________________





Conference
on
“Turkey, the EU and the 2004 milestone: Is this time for real?”

Friday 14 March 2003
10:30-18:30
at the Buttery, Besse Building
St Antony’s College
62 Woodstock Rd, Oxford

Co-organised by
The South East European Studies Programme, European Studies Centre,
St Antony’s College
& the Programme on Contemporary Turkey

University of Oxford



Provisional Programme

10:45-12:45: Session 1
The Essentialist Debate: Is Turkey European?

The first session will deal with the perennial issue of the
“Europeanness”
of Turkey not only by rehearsing the arguments for their own sake but
also
in order to assess how various actors and political families in the EU
use
these argument in order to support or oppose Turkish membership in the
EU.
We will ask on what grounds arguments are made and whether they are
rational
and refutable. We will also try to assess what are the different
national
perspectives on this issue if any; the different meanings and
implications
of “Europeanness” within Turkey itself; and how the debate around Turkey
in
Europe is itself a reflection of alternative conceptions of what the EU
is
all about.

•       Alain Chenal, Middle East Expert, French Socialist Party: “The
French View on the Europeanness of Turkey”
•       Sencer Ayata, Professor, METU University, Ankara: “How European
is
Turkish Civil Society”
•       Theodore Couloumbis, Professor University of Athens: “The Greek
view
on Turkish membership: a break with the past”
•       Kalypso Nicolaidis:, Lecturer, Oxford University “Turkey as
Europe’s
mirror”


12:45-14:00: Lunch

14:00-16:00: Session 2
The Functional Debate: Could Turkey be part of the EU?

This session will deal with the more technical aspects of Turkish
accession
into the EU, in other words, the “bread and butter” of the accession
process
in the years to come. Above all, we will ask what are the long-term
obstacles to Turkish accession and what are the economic, political,
social
and demographic conditions in Turkey itself that will help overcome
these
obstacles. Are some of these conditions self-fulfilling expectations,
e.g.
the impact on the Turkish economy of the prospect of accession? On what
grounds can the EU’s conditionality criteria be assessed to be fair or
not
fair? And what are the options for dealing with one of the most
sensitive
issues, e.g. Turkey’s size?

Ersin Kalaycioglu, Professor, Sabanci University, Istanbul: “The
Political
Criteria; Fair or strict conditionality?”
Bahadir Kaleagasi, Representative to the EU and UNICE, TUSIAD:
“Challenges
and Contributions of Turkish Membership for the EU: a Business
Assessment”
Speaker from FCO (name to be confirmed)


16:00-16:30 Coffee

16:30-18:30: Session 3
The 2004 Rendez-Vous: Prospects and Challenges?

This session will bring us back from the longer-term perspective of the
previous session to the medium term roadmap between now and the 2004
rendez-vous and presumably the decision on the start of negotiations.
How
does this deadline figure in current Turkish and EU priorities? Under
what
scenario can we imagine this to be another missed deadline? Issues for
discussion will also include the role of the US in facilitating or
hindering
Turkey’s accession into the EU, including in the context of the war in
Iraq.

Martin Harvey, Enlargement Directorate, European Commission: “The
Accession
Strategy for Turkey”
Nikos Kotzias, Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs: “The US role”
Soli Ozel, Professor, Bilgi University: “Turkish current external
priorities
and the EU”