"Make or break year for the EU and Turkey
By Hugh Pope
AN ABRUPT and unusual word buried in a European Union declaration on December 8 showed the mounting risks of a breakdown in Turkey's EU membership talks. Ankara's need to solve its problems with Cyprus, foreign ministers warned, has become 'urgent'. Thanks also to Turkey's failure to meet EU reform benchmarks since negotiations started in 2005, a showdown looks inevitable over the next year.
Failure to reform and deep political polarisation have led to a sense of lost direction in Turkey. Nationalism and human-rights violations are again on the rise. As the adoption of EU norms looks more distant, ethnic tensions between Turks and Kurds have risen. The EU anchor of Turkey's economic miracle this decade, and the great progress made in a golden era of reform from 2000 to 2004, are at risk."
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