Turkish Challenge
In this book, Öymen explains Turkey's strength and potential in the fields of defence, economy, population and natural resources as well as the great achievements she has accomplished since the establishment of the Republic. He compares Turkey with other countries, especially those in Europe, and determines her relative position in these fields. He looks into the progress and current standing of Turkey and other Western Countries in the areas of democracy and human rights. He makes a comparative analysis of the structure of the Turkish democracy founded by Atatürk and that in other countries. He demonstrates that most of the criticism levelled against Turkey is based on inadequate information and exaggerated. Using Western sources, he proves that Turkey is more advanced than all the countries included in the enlargement process of the EU and explains the error and injustice of the decision made at the EU Luxembourg Summit of 1997 that failed to recognise Turkey as a candidate for full membership.
About the Author
Onur Öymen was born in İstanbul in 1940. He graduated from Galatasaray Lycée and the Political Sciences Faculty of Ankara University where he also received his Ph.D.
Öymen joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1964. After working in the Consular and NATO Departments, he was appointed to Strasbourg as Deputy Permanent Representative to the Turkish Delegation at the Council of Europe. He was later assigned to the Council of Europe and Policy Planning Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ankara. During the 1974 operation in Cyprus he served in the Cyprus Department. At the end of the same year, he was appointed as the Counsellor to the Turkish Embassy in Nicosia.
In 1978 he returned to Ankara as Special Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. He served as the Counsellor of Turkish Embassies in Prague in 1980 and Madrid in 1982. He turned to Ankara in 1984 and became the head of Political Analysis and Evaluation Department and later of the Policy Planning Department. He was appointed as Ambassador to Copenhagen in 1988 and then to Bonn in 1990. In 1995 he became Undersecratary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Since the end of 1997 he serves as Turkey's Permanent Representative to NATO. Onur Öymen is the member of the International Institute of Strategic Studies. His Ph.D. thesis was titled "Technological Development and Defence Policies." His translation of Oppenheimer's book "Science and Common Sense" was published by Bilgi Yayınevi. Among the awards he received are: "Bureaucrat of the Year," Nokta Review 1995; "Diplomat of the Year" Association of Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen, 1995,1996,1997; "Abdi İpekçi Special Peace Award," Milliyet newspaper 1996.
