By Kasim Ileri
WASHINGTON
Despite some misperceptions, Turkish-American relations can't be undermined as the two countries have a relationship based on "model partnership," said Turkey's EU Affairs Minister Volkan Bozkir.
The idea of model partnership that was introduced by President Barack Obama aims to diversify the partnership beyond the decades-long traditional strategic alliance between the two countries.
"The stability of Turkey in an unstable region convulsed in gravest problems is crucial for the U.S. to take into consideration as it significantly contributes to the U.S. interests in the region, as well as the world peace and stability," Bozkir said.
Turkey has been criticized by the West for not preventing the flow of foreign fighters through its country as well as its human rights and freedom of press records.
"A mistaken image of Turkey has been constructed out of wrong information," said Bozkir. "While spending a significant effort to deal with the crises in the region including rise of terror in Syria and Iraq as well as the conflict in Ukraine, Turkey failed to speak to the West sufficiently and share the correct information with the Western allies in order to correct the wrongly constructed image," he added.
Concerning freedom of press, an issue for which Turkey has received significant criticism from the West, Bozkir said that there are 7,000 newspapers and 258 TV channels that write or broadcast any idea either in favor or opposed to the government.
"While this is the case in Turkey, it is not fair to claim that there is no freedom of press in the country," he said.
Bozkir produced a record of jailed journalists and said all have been detained because of criminal activity, including robbery, shooting and fighting security forces.
He acknowledged there are improvements that could be made to promote press freedom and asked journalists to work with the government to improve the situation in the country.
On the issue of human rights, he offered that there has been 104,000 civil society foundations in Turkey – the highest number since the foundation of the Turkish republic.
Among those he said there are many critical to the government and they continue to operate without any pressure from the government.
As the chief negotiator for Turkey to the EU, Bozkir also touched on the process of Turkish membership to the EU.
He said, that the Turkish government has opened 28 of 35 chapters of negotiation for membership to the body, 14 of which has been completed while the rest are expected to be completed in two years.
The membership process, he said, is more valuable than opening new chapters of negotiations as it defines the contours of domestic policy in Turkey.
“Continuation of the process is more crucial than membership for Turkey," Bozkir said. "The EU process is assurance of the Turkey's future."
He also touched on the EU Strategy Document, which also pertains to EU membership, recently introduced by the EU Affairs Ministry.
Bozkir said according to the document, before any bill is drafted for any state institution in Turkey, it has to be consulted with the ministry in order determine whether it complies with EU membership criteria.
Turkey's petition for full EU membership has been a decades-long process though it has been member and party to several agreements and organizations under the umbrella of the union.
Bozkir was in Washington to attend the annual National Prayer Breakfast held since 1953 on the first Thursday of February.
It includes a series of meetings, luncheons and dinners designed to be a forum for political, social, and business elites to assemble and network.
Bozkir spoke Thursday evening to a dozen Turkish press representatives at the Turkish Embassy.
