"Keeping Turkey out of Europe"
David Cronin, The Guardian | January 7, 2009
22 years after Turkey's first application, EU membership is as remote a prospects as ever, with Bulgaria presenting the latest hurdle. ++ Although Turkey should be required to improve its human rights record, the antipathy directed at Ankara is another matter entirely and has been "tantamount to racism." ++ In fact, "there is a tacit agreement among some of the most powerful leaders that the union must remain predominantly Christian." ++ They seem to forget that the EU was set up to be a club of democracies, not of Christian nations.
Sun, Jan 10th 2010, 17:48
Alexander Josef Pilic, Freelance Writer, Silver Contributor (56)
But what about those on the left who are putting Turkey's fast accession on their political banners ignoring the actual problems that a EU-membership of Turkey would cause?
It seems that nobody really likes to address those issues, so people rather keep on talking about Christian identity, Cyprus or compensations for Bulgarian refugees.
What keeps Turkey from becoming a full member of the EU even mid-term in my opinion are their negative track records and obvious deficits on Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion and overall economical development. Add to that corruption, doubts on the independence of the judicial system and the open unwillingness of the current Turkish government to ratify and implement European common law and civil right standards. Does this still count as "Christian Conservative Conspiracy" against the poor, discriminated Turks?
Obviously, the possibility of Turkey becoming a member of the EU also raises questions of European identity, which have to be discussed open-mindedly. Christianity is one very important unifying factor among current EU-members.
In this regard it does not only refer to the religion itself. Today's EU shares Christianity as a factor in developing their present civil societies coming from the Roman Empire, Absolutism and religious conflicts to Enlightenment to Nationalism, Cold War and European Integration. Turkey undoubtedly is a part of European history but it does not share the same path to a civil society with the EU 25. Although this alone should not be the motive for excluding Turkey for all times it strongly divides Turkey of today from the EU and we should not be afraid to speak out that Turkey although far more advanced than other Muslim dominated countries has still to struggle to embrace its way of enlightenment which will put religious issues more in the background.