Deconstructing Ankara

By Costas Iordanidis

The comments at Istanbul’s military academy last week by Turkey’s top general, who called the European Union an “intermediary” of the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and warned that “we now see the kind of pressure Turkey will face in its accession negotiations,” were particularly revealing as to the hardline establishment’s stance on the issue.

The remarks by General Hilmi Ozkok, chief of the military general staff, who unlike successive governments represents the steadier, hardline establishment, underscored Ankara’s skepticism toward the bloc.
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