Soultana Kalligas-swimming In A Circle
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ATHENSPLUS • FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2009
OPINION
The awkward candidate
CITYLIMITS
BY NIKI KITSANTONIS
BY HARRY VAN VERSENDAAL
The debate over Turkey’s European Union membership has acquired something of a chicken-and-egg pattern. Detractors say the numbers speak for themselves. Out of the 35 policy negotiating areas, or “chapters,” in membership talks, only one has been completed – namely that regarding science and research. Eight have been officially blocked since 2006 because of Ankara’s refusal to open its ports to ships from Cyprus, already an EU member since 2004. EU-minded reforms have ground to a near halt and any gestures, like Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s recent meeting with religious minority leaders including Greek Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios, always seem calculated to precede recurring evaluation reports from Brussels, like the forthcoming one in December. Still, Turkey’s friends protest that Ankara’s waning appetite for reform is of Europe’s doing. Why bother at all with painstaking and costly reforms, they say, while French President Nicolas Sarkozy goes around saying that Turkey will never be part of Europe? It’s like being told to buy a wedding dress for a wedding that may never happen. This week, in fact, saw more flak directed at the wedding planners – and it came from the EU capital. A report published by the Brussels-based Independent Commission on Turkey, a group of senior statesmen led by former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, blames the snail’s pace of reforms on European ambivalence – some say double-talk – on Ankara. The authors throw some pretty strong words at
Beyond the crime triangle
Members of the Turkish Air Force’s aerobatic team, the Turkish Stars, perform at a ceremony marking the 87th anniversary of Victory Day on Wednesday. Turkey, however, is yet to see its EU ambitions get off the ground. [EPA]
Not worth it It’s like being told to buy a wedding dress for a wedding that may not happen Paris and Berlin, which have backed down on previous pledges of full membership, offering some form of beefed-up partnership instead. “These negative attitudes and policies of European leaders are in clear contradiction to all previous EU decisions and commitments,” the report said. “They put into question EU credibility, reliability and the principle… that agreements are to be honored.” It could have been penned by Ahmet Davutoglu. In an op-ed for a Swedish newspaper last week, Turkey’s foreign minister said that “the negative voices that we keep hearing from some countries in the EU just spread doubt among our citizens and impede our efforts to continue reforms.” But what is this if not a confes-
sion of the predominantly Muslim country’s unwillingness to transform itself into a modern, democratic state unless it gets some sort of European reward for it? So instead of patting Ankara on the back, Turkey’s friends should rather be urging it to introduce economic and political reforms for its own good, regardless of the political mood in Berlin or Paris. “Turkey has been too discouraged by the statements of the French and German leaderships undermining the unanimous EU decision on Turkey’s right to pursue membership,” Hugh Pope, an analyst who contributed to the report, told Athens Plus. However, he warns the government in Ankara is not acting in its best interests by slowing down the adoption of the acquis communautaire. Investors in this crisisprone country would hate to see Turkey wander away from Western standards. “[Turkey] should be proving its Europeanness to Europe in every
way it can and conforming to these norms will allow its industries and its society to remain competitive in the long term,” Pope said. The independent commission’s report describes the current situation as a “vicious circle.” “Lack of faith in a positive outcome of the accession process demotivates Turkish leaders and means the population puts less pressure on them to carry out the necessary reforms, which in turn feeds the arguments of Turkeyskeptics in the EU,” the report said. Instead of arguing chickenand-egg style, the authors suggest, both sides must take steps to lift the impasse. “Let’s hope that the encouraging current round of negotiations on a Cyprus settlement makes the question of who lifts blocks on who first irrelevant,” Pope said, naming the elephant in the room. When hope hangs on a Cyprus breakthrough, it’s hard to expect much in the way of progress.
Swimming in a circle On a Saturday afternoon in early June, I found myself at the southernmost point of the Balkans. The midday trek to the lighthouse at Cape Tainaro, next to Poseidon’s Necromanteion (“death oracle”), had me desperate for a dip in the sea. As soon as an accessible patch of beach was in sight, off came the clothes and straight into the crystal-clear waters I rushed. Should I have been worried that this was where the ancient Greeks believed one of the gateways to the underworld was located? Should I have felt intimidated by the fact that Orpheus and Heracles descended into Hades through the cave right next to me? The four other swimmers – six, if one counts the two dogs that playfully carried rocks out of the sea and onto the shore – didn’t seem to feel the presence of any otherworldly beings; so
10
[Soultana Kalligas]
BY SOULTANA KALLIGAS
I took a deep breath and cooled off under the water’s surface. Worries dissolved and thoughts were muted. The muffled sound of pebbles was the sole reminder of the life flowing around me. “I have to go up for a breath of air,” I thought almost three months later while swimming off the tiny crescent-shaped beach in front of the sanctuary of the goddess Hera at the edge of Cape Heraio, west of Corinth. Among the many beach-goers, a little blond girl around 4 years old sang a song in English while digging at the ground with a plastic shovel. I considered the paradox: A carefree child digs the earth under which, according to Euripides, Medea’s children were buried. Enough to give me chills. I came out of the water, wrapped myself in a towel and lay on a rock, letting the sun warm my skin on that Saturday evening in late August.
Maybe I live in a very friendly neighborhood but all this talk of spiraling crime in the city seems rather exaggerated. With the exception of an admittedly rather dodgy triangle behind Omonia Square, Athens still feels like an overwhelmingly safe place to be. I can remember walking through many parts of my native London late at night and breaking into a cold sweat when crossing under a dark bridge or using the subway. In Berlin too, where I lived in the early 1990s – admittedly rather recklessly – there were moments when I literally felt my life might be at risk: on an empty underground train carriage, in a urine-reeking underpass. In Athens, I must say that I have never felt such fear, even in comparable situations. Perhaps this has changed a bit in the historic center where thousands of desperate people – immigrants, drug addicts, the homeless – are struggling to eke out a living and, in the process, often resorting to petty crime. This is unfortunate, chiefly for those condemned to such a miserable existence, but also for Athenians who have come to fear (and some to loathe) this reluctant subculture that has overtaken a traditional and much-loved district. Still, jittery city-dwellers should be thankful for small mercies. With a few exceptions, these pockets of crime have not spread beyond the historic center. In my neighborhood in Mets, a stone’s throw from the center, I was struck one day by a scribbled note hanging on the door of my local hardware store, announcing that the owner had popped home for lunch. He had left the bulk of his wares laid out in the street, and the door of the store ajar. Other local shopkeepers often display an equally relaxed attitude. Many is the time I’ve walked into the greengrocer’s or the convenience store and needed to wait for the owner who had popped over the road to chat with a fellow trader. This latent trust in one’s neighbor reminds me of childhood summers spent in my parents’ village in northwestern Greece when it seemed that everyone’s door was always open, even at night. There is a similar sense of community in my area in Athens, and in many other districts where friends live. There is also a pace of life reminiscent of an era when free time was plentiful enough that you could afford to “waste” some of it. How refreshing it is to be greeted by your neighbors rather than eyed with suspicion, to occasionally change your plans and sit down for a quick coffee. I am always oddly cheered when I see the butcher chatting with the hardware store owner in the street. It is a welcome contrast to the sight of hassled pedestrians in the historic center, hurrying past each other with a firm arm across their bags and a look of mistrust in their eyes.
OPINION
The awkward candidate
CITYLIMITS
BY NIKI KITSANTONIS
BY HARRY VAN VERSENDAAL
The debate over Turkey’s European Union membership has acquired something of a chicken-and-egg pattern. Detractors say the numbers speak for themselves. Out of the 35 policy negotiating areas, or “chapters,” in membership talks, only one has been completed – namely that regarding science and research. Eight have been officially blocked since 2006 because of Ankara’s refusal to open its ports to ships from Cyprus, already an EU member since 2004. EU-minded reforms have ground to a near halt and any gestures, like Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s recent meeting with religious minority leaders including Greek Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios, always seem calculated to precede recurring evaluation reports from Brussels, like the forthcoming one in December. Still, Turkey’s friends protest that Ankara’s waning appetite for reform is of Europe’s doing. Why bother at all with painstaking and costly reforms, they say, while French President Nicolas Sarkozy goes around saying that Turkey will never be part of Europe? It’s like being told to buy a wedding dress for a wedding that may never happen. This week, in fact, saw more flak directed at the wedding planners – and it came from the EU capital. A report published by the Brussels-based Independent Commission on Turkey, a group of senior statesmen led by former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, blames the snail’s pace of reforms on European ambivalence – some say double-talk – on Ankara. The authors throw some pretty strong words at
Beyond the crime triangle
Members of the Turkish Air Force’s aerobatic team, the Turkish Stars, perform at a ceremony marking the 87th anniversary of Victory Day on Wednesday. Turkey, however, is yet to see its EU ambitions get off the ground. [EPA]
Not worth it It’s like being told to buy a wedding dress for a wedding that may not happen Paris and Berlin, which have backed down on previous pledges of full membership, offering some form of beefed-up partnership instead. “These negative attitudes and policies of European leaders are in clear contradiction to all previous EU decisions and commitments,” the report said. “They put into question EU credibility, reliability and the principle… that agreements are to be honored.” It could have been penned by Ahmet Davutoglu. In an op-ed for a Swedish newspaper last week, Turkey’s foreign minister said that “the negative voices that we keep hearing from some countries in the EU just spread doubt among our citizens and impede our efforts to continue reforms.” But what is this if not a confes-
sion of the predominantly Muslim country’s unwillingness to transform itself into a modern, democratic state unless it gets some sort of European reward for it? So instead of patting Ankara on the back, Turkey’s friends should rather be urging it to introduce economic and political reforms for its own good, regardless of the political mood in Berlin or Paris. “Turkey has been too discouraged by the statements of the French and German leaderships undermining the unanimous EU decision on Turkey’s right to pursue membership,” Hugh Pope, an analyst who contributed to the report, told Athens Plus. However, he warns the government in Ankara is not acting in its best interests by slowing down the adoption of the acquis communautaire. Investors in this crisisprone country would hate to see Turkey wander away from Western standards. “[Turkey] should be proving its Europeanness to Europe in every
way it can and conforming to these norms will allow its industries and its society to remain competitive in the long term,” Pope said. The independent commission’s report describes the current situation as a “vicious circle.” “Lack of faith in a positive outcome of the accession process demotivates Turkish leaders and means the population puts less pressure on them to carry out the necessary reforms, which in turn feeds the arguments of Turkeyskeptics in the EU,” the report said. Instead of arguing chickenand-egg style, the authors suggest, both sides must take steps to lift the impasse. “Let’s hope that the encouraging current round of negotiations on a Cyprus settlement makes the question of who lifts blocks on who first irrelevant,” Pope said, naming the elephant in the room. When hope hangs on a Cyprus breakthrough, it’s hard to expect much in the way of progress.
Swimming in a circle On a Saturday afternoon in early June, I found myself at the southernmost point of the Balkans. The midday trek to the lighthouse at Cape Tainaro, next to Poseidon’s Necromanteion (“death oracle”), had me desperate for a dip in the sea. As soon as an accessible patch of beach was in sight, off came the clothes and straight into the crystal-clear waters I rushed. Should I have been worried that this was where the ancient Greeks believed one of the gateways to the underworld was located? Should I have felt intimidated by the fact that Orpheus and Heracles descended into Hades through the cave right next to me? The four other swimmers – six, if one counts the two dogs that playfully carried rocks out of the sea and onto the shore – didn’t seem to feel the presence of any otherworldly beings; so
10
[Soultana Kalligas]
BY SOULTANA KALLIGAS
I took a deep breath and cooled off under the water’s surface. Worries dissolved and thoughts were muted. The muffled sound of pebbles was the sole reminder of the life flowing around me. “I have to go up for a breath of air,” I thought almost three months later while swimming off the tiny crescent-shaped beach in front of the sanctuary of the goddess Hera at the edge of Cape Heraio, west of Corinth. Among the many beach-goers, a little blond girl around 4 years old sang a song in English while digging at the ground with a plastic shovel. I considered the paradox: A carefree child digs the earth under which, according to Euripides, Medea’s children were buried. Enough to give me chills. I came out of the water, wrapped myself in a towel and lay on a rock, letting the sun warm my skin on that Saturday evening in late August.
Maybe I live in a very friendly neighborhood but all this talk of spiraling crime in the city seems rather exaggerated. With the exception of an admittedly rather dodgy triangle behind Omonia Square, Athens still feels like an overwhelmingly safe place to be. I can remember walking through many parts of my native London late at night and breaking into a cold sweat when crossing under a dark bridge or using the subway. In Berlin too, where I lived in the early 1990s – admittedly rather recklessly – there were moments when I literally felt my life might be at risk: on an empty underground train carriage, in a urine-reeking underpass. In Athens, I must say that I have never felt such fear, even in comparable situations. Perhaps this has changed a bit in the historic center where thousands of desperate people – immigrants, drug addicts, the homeless – are struggling to eke out a living and, in the process, often resorting to petty crime. This is unfortunate, chiefly for those condemned to such a miserable existence, but also for Athenians who have come to fear (and some to loathe) this reluctant subculture that has overtaken a traditional and much-loved district. Still, jittery city-dwellers should be thankful for small mercies. With a few exceptions, these pockets of crime have not spread beyond the historic center. In my neighborhood in Mets, a stone’s throw from the center, I was struck one day by a scribbled note hanging on the door of my local hardware store, announcing that the owner had popped home for lunch. He had left the bulk of his wares laid out in the street, and the door of the store ajar. Other local shopkeepers often display an equally relaxed attitude. Many is the time I’ve walked into the greengrocer’s or the convenience store and needed to wait for the owner who had popped over the road to chat with a fellow trader. This latent trust in one’s neighbor reminds me of childhood summers spent in my parents’ village in northwestern Greece when it seemed that everyone’s door was always open, even at night. There is a similar sense of community in my area in Athens, and in many other districts where friends live. There is also a pace of life reminiscent of an era when free time was plentiful enough that you could afford to “waste” some of it. How refreshing it is to be greeted by your neighbors rather than eyed with suspicion, to occasionally change your plans and sit down for a quick coffee. I am always oddly cheered when I see the butcher chatting with the hardware store owner in the street. It is a welcome contrast to the sight of hassled pedestrians in the historic center, hurrying past each other with a firm arm across their bags and a look of mistrust in their eyes.
