3rd Italian-Turkish Forum
150th Anniversary of the Italian-Turkish Relations:
A common vision towards the EU

Welcome addresses
Dieter Rampl, Chairman of UniCredit Group
Rome, November 7, 2006

This year's Forum also celebrates an anniversary of great importance – 150 years of diplomatic relations between Italy and Turkey.
That is one hundred and fifty years of uninterrupted growth and strength in reciprocal esteem and important communal decisions in both the domestic and international arenas.
Underpinning the excellent relations between Italy and Turkey are a number of different elements.

First of all, there is a centuries-long tradition of close ties and relations. These relations have been complex, and at times conflictual, often dominated by mercantile interests, but at all times important. This above all means reciprocal awareness and understanding. Looking back over history, I am convinced that few countries can vaunt, as Italy can, such a deep and ancient understanding of Turkey and the Turkish people.

A second element of great importance lies in the fact that both nations play a key role in the Mediterranean area – Italy in its position in the centre of the Mediterranean Sea, and Turkey as a gateway to Asia and the Far East. Both countries share the same large-scale objectives in this area.
First: the breaking down of the great socio-economic divide that separates the peoples of the northern shore from those of the southern shore, which lies at the heart of the large-scale waves of immigration that we have come to powerlessly observe on a daily basis.

Second: the search for a rapid and stable solution to conflicts affecting many areas, especially the Middle East. Such conflicts destabilise not only the lands where they unfold, but also in much broader areas immediately bordering on our region.
Third: re-launching the Mediterranean as a great arena for contact and exchange between peoples, and not as a stage for political, cultural or religious hostility.

Another element which has contributed to the strength of relations between the two nations is the fact that they are both North Atlantic Treaty members and have jointly taken on responsibility for peace-keeping operations in many areas of international crisis. I would like to stress, however, that within the scope of NATO, Italy and Turkey have always been bound by a special relationship, a relationship which stands on the fact that it was Italy, back in 1952, to have pushed for Turkey's entry into this important organisation which, I might remind you, has and to this day does contribute to guaranteeing the stability, security and freedom of Europe.

However the element which more than any other explains the strength of ties between Rome and Ankara is the prospect of Turkey's entry into the European Union. The prospect is one wholeheartedly supported by Italy, which in 1978 proposed the possibility of Turkish accession to what was then the European Economic Community to the greater international community.
In 1986, this prospect became for Italy a formal commitment to negotiating within the EEC its becoming a reality.

Finally, on the 3rd of October, 2005, the prospect became concrete with the formal opening of negotiations for Turkish accession.

It has often been said that the entry of Turkey into the European Union would above all be a reconciliation of civilisations.
Personally I believe that this view, although without a doubt correct and to be shared, is perhaps somewhat limiting. Especially as the term reconciliation presupposes a rift, which in European-Turkish relations I do not believe exists.

Others have preferred to stress that Turkish entry into the EU would be indispensable for giving new stimulus for economic growth in the old continent, so as to guarantee that the European Union can continue to be a main player in global markets. Again, I do agree, but I am still convinced that Turkish accession would represent more than this.

The entry of Turkey into the European Union would first and foremost mean acquiring new "intelligence" able to provide a fresh and important contribution to addressing the fundamental values that underpin the future of our continent - living peacefully together, dialogue and co-operation between different cultures and civilisations.

It is thanks to these values that Istanbul today is filled with such an exhilarating cosmopolitan air. I believe that there are so few places today in the world where people of all walks of life can truly feel at home like in this Bosphorous city. The lesson is an important one for all Europeans to reflect on and think about.

For the European Union, Turkish entry into the EU chiefly represents:

• strengthening the stability and security of the EU;
• expanding its area of influence over new international areas of geo-strategic and geo-economic stability;
• taking steps for focusing not only on North-Eastern Europe in building the Union, as happened so far, but also on the importance that the Mediterranean area holds;
• embracing a new youthful energy and dynamism which the EU so desperately needs.

For Turkey, EU accession represents:

• completing the historical road opened at the beginning of the Twenties by Kemal Ataturk (1) to transforming Turkey into a modern state inspired by the best models Europe has to offer;
• giving unshakeable stability to the democratisation process underway, indispensable for tackling the challenges of the new millennium with greater confidence;
• continuing to benefit from extraordinary growth rates propped up by the prospect of moving closer to the European Union.

In discussions for Turkish accession, both Europe and Turkey are gambling on an important part of their future. The challenge will not be easy, but the stakes to be won go far beyond the mere entry of a nation into the most dynamic international community on the planet.
It is precisely because of the importance of these stakes that we need to maintain a realistic view on the progress currently being made.

Whilst there is no doubt that Turkey over the last few years has launched a number of important reforms in the political, economic and legal fields in order to meet EU requests, it is also true that there still exist problems to be resolved, which however should not lead us to lose sight of our objective.
They are problems for which the right solution will no doubt be found, and as such, at this stage of negotiations they must not lead us to lose faith in the accession process.

To this end, it is imperative that careful attention and effort be focused on providing unmistakably true and transparent information on the whole process.
Information is needed that suitably highlights the overriding advantages that Turkish accession will bring to both European and Turkish citizens.
Information is also needed that can definitively crush the persistent prejudices that continue to exist, and which are the exclusive result of a reciprocal ignorance.

In fact, I have no doubt that EU citizens just do not realise the extent to which Turkish people today are already European.
I am similarly convinced that Turkish citizens do not really appreciate that the European Union is not a suffocating political giant but an open stage for co-operation and partnership in which member states take part in a co-ordinated though free way, each with its own distinctive characteristics, peculiarities, history and culture.

The difficult road to closer ties can only be built and travelled to the end providing it has the full support of all citizens.