This week marks the 50th anniversary of the treaty of Rome which has established the European Economic Community. It started with six countries: France, Belgium, West Germany, Italy, Luxemburg and The Netherlands. After 50 years they are 27 and still counting. Turkey with a population of 57 million is begging to join the club but few European conservatives are reluctant. These conservatives say that Turkey may represent a shock of cultures within the Europeans since 95% of the Turkish population are Muslims. After many years of talks, European Union leaders have recently decided to open negotiations with Turkey with one condition: Ankara must recognise the Republic of Cyprus, withdraw its forces from the island and open its ports to Cypriote ships.
Turkish authorities declined this condition. Negotiations stopped! Some political voices around the world are saying that EU is taking this opportunity to deny the entry to Turkey. According to the last opinion polls only 21% of Europeans agree with Turkey becoming part of the EU against 70% of Turkish people. Turkey has been trying to become part of the EU for many years and things evolved very slowly until 1999 when turkey was officially recognised as a candidate. In order to join the club Turkey must: Open its ports to all the EU countries, It must be a democracy, must respect the human rights and minorities; in terms of economy must be a functioning marketing economy and be able to cope with the joining the common market. Finally, in terms of legality must be able to comply with obligations of the EU membership, including the adoption of the body of the EU law. There are much more conditions to Turkey to fulfil in order to become a member. These ones are the most important ones. All together are 35. However, because Turkey declined one of them, negotiations have slowed down. In December 2006 the Turkish Prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan had told that was an injustice: “The EU decision is an injustice against Turkey."
So far Turkey is being applauded by its efforts to reach the objectives proposed by the EU leaders. In October 2004 Turkish State television had started broadcasting as well as in Kurdish, a minority language in Turkey. Over the past five years the Ankara has passed to the Turkish parliament some reform packages including the ban of death penalty and zero tolerance policy towards torture. Some political experts say that turkey would bring a quick economic growth, a young workforce and a military force to the EU. These experts claim that Turkey is a modern country and there is no space inside of it for Islamic radicals. George W Bush and Tony Blair are feverous supporters however they count with the opposition of France.
Joana Turkman a Turkish student of art and design living in Lisbon, Portugal, defends: “I reckon Turkey has a huge potential with a huge market and a quick economic growth, besides would be a excellent ally with a huge army, but I understand that turkey must first fulfil the EU proposals to join it, otherwise Turkish immigration may spread across Europe and it might bring xenophobia and other problems.”
The fact is that xenophobia is one of the biggest concerns of the EU leaders since the majority of Turkey population is Muslim and unfortunately after the September 11th western societies are now more suspicious about Islamic cultures.
Conservatives across Europe are reluctant in Turkey becoming part of the EU because they see this nation as a threat to Europe. They fear among other things the Islamic extremists. But this is not a serious threat once Turkey has to accept all the rules and guidelines of Europe. One of the biggest fears is that Turkey would be able to block crucial decisions for the European Union based in religion. But before Turkey join the EU, European leaders should set rules of religious in politics. This might include the restriction to political parties to have one religious preference. Nevertheless this novel is far to be over. The presidential candidate in France, Sarkozy stated: “Turkey has no place in the European Union (…) not all countries have vocation to become members of Europe”
As all these reluctance against Turkey increase, extreme right wing viewers join the chorus of protests and Gerard Batten, UKIP MEP representing London protest not solely about Turkey but about the EU itself: “As such, I spend all my time campaigning for Britain’s withdrawal from EU. Why any country should wish to join such a corrupt, undemocratic and incompetent organization is a mystery to me and UKIP would strongly advice Turkey to withdraw its application immediately”
The fact is that UKIP MEPs voted against Turkey becoming member of the EU in the European parliament in Brussels.
However more and more political experts are warning Europeans that Turkey is a key element in the European project. Turkey economy is growing an average of 7% a year being much above average in the EU countries. If this trend continues in few years time Turkey will overtake Romania and Poland which are already EU members. In addition, its young population represents a major dynamism and a good opportunity for the development of the EU. Furthermore, Turkey is a full member of NATO and the Turkish military force is the second biggest in the world after United States of America and it would bring more military support to the EU. These political experts expect that the joining of Turkey to the EU would bring a better relation between the west and the Muslim world and its democracy would be a good example for the rest of the middle east.
Many Europeans believe that as a consequence of Turkey being a large Muslim country with a different culture might make it very difficulty for the EU to integrate Turkey inside the EU family. Others think that the EU can not enlarge anymore because being so big and so cultural different might lead the Union to be reduced to a mere zone of economic cooperation.
Turkish authorities declined this condition. Negotiations stopped! Some political voices around the world are saying that EU is taking this opportunity to deny the entry to Turkey. According to the last opinion polls only 21% of Europeans agree with Turkey becoming part of the EU against 70% of Turkish people. Turkey has been trying to become part of the EU for many years and things evolved very slowly until 1999 when turkey was officially recognised as a candidate. In order to join the club Turkey must: Open its ports to all the EU countries, It must be a democracy, must respect the human rights and minorities; in terms of economy must be a functioning marketing economy and be able to cope with the joining the common market. Finally, in terms of legality must be able to comply with obligations of the EU membership, including the adoption of the body of the EU law. There are much more conditions to Turkey to fulfil in order to become a member. These ones are the most important ones. All together are 35. However, because Turkey declined one of them, negotiations have slowed down. In December 2006 the Turkish Prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan had told that was an injustice: “The EU decision is an injustice against Turkey."
So far Turkey is being applauded by its efforts to reach the objectives proposed by the EU leaders. In October 2004 Turkish State television had started broadcasting as well as in Kurdish, a minority language in Turkey. Over the past five years the Ankara has passed to the Turkish parliament some reform packages including the ban of death penalty and zero tolerance policy towards torture. Some political experts say that turkey would bring a quick economic growth, a young workforce and a military force to the EU. These experts claim that Turkey is a modern country and there is no space inside of it for Islamic radicals. George W Bush and Tony Blair are feverous supporters however they count with the opposition of France.
Joana Turkman a Turkish student of art and design living in Lisbon, Portugal, defends: “I reckon Turkey has a huge potential with a huge market and a quick economic growth, besides would be a excellent ally with a huge army, but I understand that turkey must first fulfil the EU proposals to join it, otherwise Turkish immigration may spread across Europe and it might bring xenophobia and other problems.”
The fact is that xenophobia is one of the biggest concerns of the EU leaders since the majority of Turkey population is Muslim and unfortunately after the September 11th western societies are now more suspicious about Islamic cultures.
Conservatives across Europe are reluctant in Turkey becoming part of the EU because they see this nation as a threat to Europe. They fear among other things the Islamic extremists. But this is not a serious threat once Turkey has to accept all the rules and guidelines of Europe. One of the biggest fears is that Turkey would be able to block crucial decisions for the European Union based in religion. But before Turkey join the EU, European leaders should set rules of religious in politics. This might include the restriction to political parties to have one religious preference. Nevertheless this novel is far to be over. The presidential candidate in France, Sarkozy stated: “Turkey has no place in the European Union (…) not all countries have vocation to become members of Europe”
As all these reluctance against Turkey increase, extreme right wing viewers join the chorus of protests and Gerard Batten, UKIP MEP representing London protest not solely about Turkey but about the EU itself: “As such, I spend all my time campaigning for Britain’s withdrawal from EU. Why any country should wish to join such a corrupt, undemocratic and incompetent organization is a mystery to me and UKIP would strongly advice Turkey to withdraw its application immediately”
The fact is that UKIP MEPs voted against Turkey becoming member of the EU in the European parliament in Brussels.
However more and more political experts are warning Europeans that Turkey is a key element in the European project. Turkey economy is growing an average of 7% a year being much above average in the EU countries. If this trend continues in few years time Turkey will overtake Romania and Poland which are already EU members. In addition, its young population represents a major dynamism and a good opportunity for the development of the EU. Furthermore, Turkey is a full member of NATO and the Turkish military force is the second biggest in the world after United States of America and it would bring more military support to the EU. These political experts expect that the joining of Turkey to the EU would bring a better relation between the west and the Muslim world and its democracy would be a good example for the rest of the middle east.
Many Europeans believe that as a consequence of Turkey being a large Muslim country with a different culture might make it very difficulty for the EU to integrate Turkey inside the EU family. Others think that the EU can not enlarge anymore because being so big and so cultural different might lead the Union to be reduced to a mere zone of economic cooperation.
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