Posted October 31, 2006
By Pamela Harris

Published: November 14 2006 02:00 | Last updated: November 14 2006 02:00

From Dr Dennis J.D. Sandole.

Sir, Against the background of discussion about Turkey's chances of accession to the European Union slipping away, Guler Sabanci's article ("Why the European Union needs Turkey", November 7) should be taken very seriously by Brussels and individual capitals such as Athens, Nicosia, Paris and Vienna.

Ms Sabanci reminds FT readers not just of the multi-ethnic, multi-denominational, geographical, historical and other advantages of Turkey being a member of the EU, but that it was the Greek Cypriots who, at the last minute, rejected the plan of Kofi Annan, United Nations secretary-general, for a "united" Cyprus to enter the EU in May 2004(a plan Turkish Cypriots had approved), thereby consigning Cyprus to remaining a divided island with the Turkish-Cypriot part isolated from the EU and international community up to the present time.

More important, however, is what Ms Sabanci does not say. As chairman of the Sabanci Group, a Turkish conglomerate, she presides over a business empire that established Sabanci University on the Asian side of Istanbul in the 1990s. Sabanci University is a modern, state-of-the-art academic institution where most courses are taught in English by Turkish and other professors who have earned their advanced degrees in the US, Canada, and elsewhere in the west.

Among the courses taught there is the world-class master's programme in conflict analysis and resolution, probably the premier course of its kind in the region. One of its goals is to educate and train cadres of conflict resolution professionals from all over the world who can help transform the current, self-fulfilling "clash of civilisations" into a "dialogue" - something Turkey's entry to the EU is also meant to do.

Turkey, like other states recently admitted (Greek Cyprus) or waiting for entry to the EU in the near future (Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia), needs time, patience, understanding and helpful assistance. Anything that serves to undermine prospects for its entry will also probably serve the interests of the perpetrators of global terrorism and, needless to say, exacerbate the near-deterministic dynamics of the "civilisational clash".

Dennis J.D. Sandole,
Professor of Conflict Resolution and International Relations
Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution
George Mason University
Arlington, VA 22201, US