Turkish attitudes to Europe have been soured by France's recognition of accusations of genocide against Armenians, while the government's drive to join the EU is mired in corruption allegations and infighting that raise the spectre of elections. Ankara is currently preparing its own programme of action, but the three government coalition parties are split over what measures Turkey should commit itself to. The things they've got to do are quite clearly laid out in black and white, but I see nothing being done here to comply with that. The government was due to publish its programme last week.
Ministers insist there is no delay but the wrangling continues.
Party head Mesut Yilmaz says political foes are using graft probes at the Energy Ministry to taint the party. The current minister, like several predecessors, is a member of Motherland. Four senior officials have been arrested on fraud charges though the minister himself, Cumhur Ersumer, is not accused of wrongdoing. Professor Hasan Unal of Ankara's Bilkent University said the government was paralysed over Europe because of widely divergent positions between the nationalist MHP and Motherland, and because of the graft allegations. The graft probes are widely believed to have been initiated by the military, raising the thorny issue of the role of the politically influential army - another bugbear for Europe.