IS TURKEY A EUROPEAN COUNTRY?

IS TURKEY A EUROPEAN COUNTRY? Burcu KUMBUL-GULER and Hamdi EMEC Affiliation: Kocaeli University, Dokuz Eylül University ABSTRACT The questions where Europe is? and who the European is? bear crucial discussions in the literature. With the impact of globalization, the significance of these questions has been accelerating. In fact, the ambiguity of the European borders stem from the continent s natural geographical borderlines since a continent implies a land surrounded by water. That is why; the East and North of Europe create this ambiguity in the definition. This paper presents an analysis of border drawings of Europe by Turkish university students and especially whether they perceive Turkey as a European country. According to the analysis of the map drawings, we can briefly state that Turkish students do not have a definite view about the inclusion of Turkey in Europe. STREAMS Borders, networks and fuzzy regionalization of the World KEYWORDS European, Border, Perception, Turkey INTRODUCTION Although spatial consciousness of human beings has been improved during globalization, borders are still essential for demarcation of human places for reasons of certainty, protection, sustaining control and power over a territory. In academic arena, border studies have been arising since 1990 s due to the European integration process [7]. The notion of border creates two conflicting perceptions within European countries and also between Europe and the rest of the world. While physical and symbolic borders have been disappearing for European citizens in the constitution of European-ness, borders with the rest of the world have been strengthening [2]. In the geographical literature of borders, there have been three main strands; flow approach, cross-border cooperation approach and people approach (for more information about these approaches please see Van Houtum, 2000). Giving emphasis on the mental creation, symbolic shaping and reshaping of borders by human beings [7] this study should be considered within people approach. So, having a people approach, this article is an attempt to understand the imagined geography of Turkish people. The term imagined geography refers to ways of perceiving spaces and places, and the relationships between them, as complex sets of cultural and political practices and ideas defined spatially, rather than regarding them as static, discrete territorial units [4]. In this paper, the perceived geographical position of Turkey will be analyzed whether Turkey belongs to Europe or not, from the perspective of Turkish university students not from the European perspective. When people try to think about the borders of Europe, they cannot come up with clear-cut answers because there is a great uncertainty in the physical borders. Geographically, Europe is sometimes defined as a land starting from the Ural Mountains till Atlantic Ocean and sometimes starting from Atlantic till Bosporus Strait [8]. Within the ambiguity of spatial borders of Europe, there have been many public, media and scholar debates occurring in many countries such as Germany, France, Great Britain and Italy that whether or not Turkey should be included to the European Union. On the other hand, Turkish world and Turkish Republics borders are delimited by European countries on the west [1]. For this reason, Turkey s European-ness has been questioned by referring to its geographical position, history, value system [6] and religious identity (for detailed analysis about Islam please see Kentmen, 2008: 504). In terms of geographical position, there are either inclusive or exclusive thoughts about Turkey s place in Europe. According to an analysis of German media articles, 24 % of articles state geography as an exclusive aspect while 2 % considers geography as an inclusive characteristic. These numbers reveal that geography is a factor considered more exclusive rather than inclusive. One of the 128

exclusive discourses is highly striking, emphasizing (ambiguous) borderlines of Europe as the limits of Europe: The accession of Turkey to the EU is not a purely economic or political issue, but a geographical one, as only a part of Turkey belongs to Europe. If we re not aware of our natural borders, where shall Europe end? Some people say that the EU should be opened to peoples which are similar to us in economic and political terms. But what about Australia then? The EU should be for Europeans and Europe ends where its borderlines are (From Die Welt, 21.08.2004) [6]. The visualization of maps is important since it creates awareness about the limits of the space and if it is used on public visuals like flags, banknotes, books, etc., that map becomes a mythical object on people s minds. There are many instances regarding Turkey outside of Europe maps. For example, on the maps of Euro banknotes, Turkey is either excluded or only west part of it is included; weather forecasts of Europe does not give any Turkish city or only Istanbul is shown; in European schools, Turkey is not generally mentioned in geography or history textbooks [8]. The significance of this paper stems from Turkey s unique characteristic within Europe especially because of its geographical location. Having borders with Bulgaria and Greece in the Balkans; Iran, Iraq and Syria in the Middle East; and the new republics of the former Soviet Union, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia in the Caucasus, Turkey is a peninsula surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea and the Aegean Sea. Because of its connections with the Balkans, the Caucasus and the Middle East, Turkey has always had strategic importance at international relations [3]. While having a strategic geographical position, Turkey is regarded as an Asian country because of the traditional definition which tells that most of Turkey lies east of the Bosphorus Strait [6]. That is why, whether considered as a European or Asian country has constantly created crucial debates and t with this study we try to understand the perception of Turkish students on this issue. THE STUDY: IMAGINED GEOGRAPHY OF EUROPE The findings of the study were gathered from the EuroBroadMap project data which aims to have a non-eurocentric perspective in finding out the perception of Europe while collecting its data worldwide. The first and second part of the data analysis shows the limits and extension of Europe for the Turkish students. On the third part, Turkish sample is compared with the rest of the EuroBroadMap sample. Sample The sample of this study is composed of 734 university students from the three cities of Turkey that are Istanbul, Izmir and Erzurum, located in three different regions of Turkey. Students are from the departments of Arts, Business, Engineering, Health, Politics and Social Sciences. The distribution of gender is balanced; male students (50,34 %) are slightly more than the females (49,66 %). The majority of the students declare to speak two languages (51 %). Average country visit number per student is 1,9. In terms of income, most of the students assert to belong to the Low-Medium (45%) and Medium-High (40 %) level of income. Procedure The surveys were administered to the students by having permission from the university administrators and instructors. Students filled out the questions during their courses. The instructions of how to fill out the survey were given when they received the survey. Unclear questions were explained by the survey implementers during the answering session. Results: Map analysis The first map is about Turkish students limit perceptions of Europe. The map presents an analysis of line drawings for European borders. In the map, darker colors represent higher frequency of line drawings. 129

Map 1. Turkish Students Limits of Europe From the map, we infer that Turkish students are more inclined to draw the frontiers by using countries borders not regional borders. The map shows that there is a clear image of frontiers of Europe for Turkish students. In other words, the intensity of their demarcations is very common. About the limits of Europe, Turkish students accept that Northern African countries are not part of Europe, which means that they are aware of the geographical limits. Therefore, they consider Mediterranean Sea as one of the strongest frontier of Europe. Very few students include some part of Russia in Europe. This can be attributed to the fact that Turkish students perceive eastern border of the Federation of Russia as a strong border. The reason for exclusion Russian Federation from Europe can be explained as a perception of recently established countries segregated from Soviet Union as European and the other parts of the Union as Asian. Therefore, eastern border of Europe is drawn by the students, including some of the former Soviet Union countries such as Ukraine, Belarus, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. For south-west border of Europe, Turkish students agree with the geographical border of Iberia Peninsula. Moreover, there is a common agreement regarding the geographical inclusion of all Scandinavian states in Europe, despite their different relations to European Union. Also, it is clear that some of Turkish students (nearly 10 %) do not consider United Kingdom as a part of Europe. Possible reason for this perception can be explained as the students insight about Europe as a continental Europe. For this reason, Turkish students isolate islands from the continental Europe, depending on the distance from the continent. The most striking result is about Turkey s inclusion to Europe. It is clear that there is a hesitation in this respect. Turkish students are not certain about the geographical limit of Europe (the Bosphorus straits) and the political borders of Turkey. While some of the students prefer to include all lands of Turkey to Europe, some demarcate European and Asiatic parts of Turkey by drawing straits as border line. Map 2. Extension of Europe according to the Turkish students 130

The second map above shows the level of inclusion of the countries, spaces when considering Europe. In the map, darker blue colors indicate inclusion by more students. And as the blue color gets lighter; this means fewer students include those regions within Europe. From the map, it is seen that the intensity of included countries are expanded from central Europe to the periphery around these core countries. Therefore, the most included countries are in Western Central Europe, the least included countries are in periphery. So, proximity to the center of Europe makes the country highly probable to be included in Europe. It is seen that the core countries that are always presented in the map of Europe (by 100 % of the sample) are France (except Western coast), Switzerland, Western borders of Germany and Netherlands. The number of countries that Turkish students are sure of belonging to Europe is a few. About 95 % of the students consider Italy, Germany and Belgium in the map of Europe. Spain, Portugal, Austria, Czech Republic and Denmark are the countries that are mentioned in Europe by fewer students. Countries that are drawn within Europe by nearly 50 % of the students are Balkan countries, Greece, Scandinavian countries, Eastern European Countries and United Kingdom. The level of inclusion decreases regularly in Russian Federation on the east border. Around only 10 % of students consider whole Russia totally in Europe. On the south border, on the other hand, Mediterranean Sea acts as a border between the core of Europe and countries of North Africa. The hesitation about inclusion of Turkey that is mentioned before occurs here in this map as well. While most of the students see Western land of Turkey in Europe by accepting straits as border, other parts of Turkey are excluded from Europe by fewer students. Map 3. Difference in the Perception of Europe between Turkish Students and the Whole Sample The third map above provides the difference between the Turkish sample and all the students surveyed in EuroBroadMap. Here we have the opportunity to observe Turkish students distinctive perception about the borders of Europe. In the map, reddish colors indicate that Turkish students conceive those regions more likely than the rest of the sample. On the contrary, bluish colored regions are less included in Europe by the Turkish sample. Moreover, yellow colors indicate no difference from the whole sample. According to the map, countries in yellow color in Europe like Italy, France, Belgium, Netherlands and Germany are nearly included at he same percentage as the whole EuroBroadMap sample. Iceland and northern coast of Norway are considered less in Europe by Turkish students. We can claim that at eastern and northern borderline, level of difference between Turkey and EuroBroadMap is increasing. Rareness of the number of countries in dark color indicates that Turkish students have nearly the same vision with the whole sample. Moreover, consistent with the previous maps, eastern Turkey is more often included in Europe by Turkish students than the rest of the sample. CONCLUSION In the process of globalization, national geographical positions and international relations are very much influenced. One of the strong impacts is seen on to what extent the land can be called as Europe and also to what extent Turkey can be included in Europe. In this study, we try to understand 131

Turkish students perception on this issue. We believe, being from a country that is not a member state of European Union, Turkish perception about European borders is very important since this creates an opportunity to observe whether Turkish students consider themselves or their country inside or outside Europe and also whether they accept the natural borderlines or not. Having a people approach, in this study, it was our expectation to find that Europe s frontiers and nations are viewed affectively and cognitively and borders are accepted as social constructs by our sample. However, the results of the study revealed that Turkish students stick to the natural borders of Europe and accept Mediterranean Sea on the south, Federation of Russia on the east, Iberia Peninsula on south-west borders. They tend to separate islands on the north (including UK), recognizing Europe as a continent. Within these frontiers, nearly all of the students perceive France, Switzerland, Germany and Netherlands as Europe and from center to periphery, a country s inclusion probability in Europe decreases. About the main research question of this study, students seem to hesitate whether Turkey should belong to Europe with all of its lands or not. While some of them consider the Bosphorus straits as a border, some of them regard Turkey as a European country. Moreover, different from the whole sample, eastern Turkey is included in Europe by Turkish students. So briefly, while half of the students regard Turkey as a European country, half of them perceive it as an Asian country. In addition, to perceive their country to be included in Europe or not, may also depend on having a diverse identity; however this is another study s research arena. This study has significant findings regarding the attitudes and perception of Turkish people about the inclusion of Turkey in Europe. We believe European border considerations are very important in the process of Turkey s potential EU accession since these findings give some clue for the member country s intention to be included in the Union. For a further and detailed study, it can be proposed that European border perception should also require specific attention in terms of cities because perceptions might change and it would be interesting to learn the variations of students perceptions participated from Istanbul, Izmir and Erzurum. REFERENCES 1. Alim, M. Coğrafya eğitimi öğrencilerinin Türk Dünyası algıları (Atatürk Üniversitesi örneği). Uluslararası Insan Bilimleri Dergisi (International Human Sciences Journal). 6 (2) : 574-586. 2009, http://www.insanbilimleri.com 2. Bruter, M. On what citizens mean by feeling European : Perception of news, symbols and borderless-ness. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 30(1), 21-39, 2004. 3. Gol, A. Turkey s Euro-vision. National Europe Centre Paper No. 107. Speaking notes for a presentation at the National Europe Centre, ANU (4 July 2003). 4. Hagen, J. Redrawing the imagined map of Europe: the rise and fall of the center. Political Geography 22, 489-517, 2003 5. Kentmen, Ç. Determinants of Support for EU Membership in Turkey: Islamic Attachments, Utilitarian Considerations and National Identity. European Union Politics. 9 (4): 487-510, 2008 6. Madeker, E. Turkey a part of Europe? The Construction of European Identity in the German Enlargement Debate. Paper prepared for the ECPR - Standing Group on the European Union Third Pan-European Conference on EU Politics Bilgi University, Istanbul. 21-23 September 2006. 7. Van Houtum, H. An Overview of European Geographical Research on Borders and Border Regions. Journal of Borderland Studies. 15(1): 57-83, 2000. 8. Yilmaz, H. Turkiye yi Avrupa Haritasına Sokmak (Inserting Turkey to Europe Map). In H. Yilmaz (Edi.). Avrupa Haritasında Türkiye (Turkey in Europe Map). Istanbul: Bogazici Universitesi Yayinevi. (pp: 1-20), 2005 132