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December 12, 2006
Turkey Into EU? Yes, If You Think Big
[Originally published in Washington Post's Post Global]
Yes, Turkey should join the European Union. And for those who think globally, it is not hard to see why: Turkey's entry into the EU will be the testimony to the idea that West and Islam can live and even work together. It won't just transform Europe and Turkey; it will also create new hopes in the Middle East. "If Turkey did it," other Muslims will ask about modernization and democratization, "why not us."
It is true that Turkey must change to fully join the EU, as Mr. Konstandaras argues, but Turkey is already changing — towards liberalism, of course — thanks to the EU process itself. If the process is cut, Turkey will again change dramatically, but towards a direction none of us will be pleased with. The anti-EU forces in Turkey are also the enemies of freedom; the death of the EU process will bring about their triumph and thus the defeat of liberty.
It is no secret that the EU is divided into two about Turkey's fate. Those who oppose Turkey's bid seem to have two major themes: That the EU is a "Christian club," and that Turkey is too poor and too populous.
However those who wish to keep the EU as a "Christian Club" have a little problem: Much of Europe is not Christian at all anymore. Pope Benedict XVI sees this more clearly — and considerately — from the political supporters of the "Christian Club," and perhaps it is not a coincidence that, unlike them, the Holy Father's main message in the past years has been the need to re-inform post-Christian Europe with traditional theistic values. Some conservative commentators in Europe, and especially the US, see Islam as a grave threat in the face of this wishy-washy Europe, and emphasize on the "Islamic threat" to "awaken" the continent; but the Pope has given more ecumenical messages, which implies that he sees Muslims as allies in his effort to confront moral relativism. Some have considered his Regensburg speech as an initiative to confront Islam, too, but his recent trip to Turkey and the stance he took there indicates that it was militant Islamism, not Islam itself, that he wanted to take on. As for moderate Islam, such as the one in Turkey, the Pope's hope is to see it "join his project of overcoming secularism," according to Phillip Blond and Adrian Pabst (http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/11/29/opinion/edblond.php).
This ecumenism of the Pope renders the "Christian Club" argument against Turkey meaningless. The most Christian of all, the Pope, doesn't seem buy the story.
To the argument that Turkey is too poor and too populous, the answer would be, "yes, but it has a flourishing market economy." However, some Europeans are afraid of exactly that: the free market which seems to challenge their beloved welfare state. It is no accident that the fiercest opponents of Turkey in the EU — the French and the Germans — also abhor "Anglo-Saxon liberalism." They roughly constitute, to quote an American politician who is not very popular nowadays, "Old Europe." They just do not want to see a cheap and hard working class in their midst.
That's why saying yes or no to Turkey is about the size of your vision: If your main concern is "the Turkish plumber," you will say no. If your main concern is the clash of civilizations, you can't afford to say anything accept "yes."
Posted by Mustafa Akyol at December 12, 2006 12:46 PM
There are excellent reasons for not allowing Turkey to join the European Union.
First off, 95% of Turkish territory, and its population, are in Asia, not Europe.
Secondly, the human rigths record of Turkey is abysmal, to say the least. Torture, political murders and free speech curbs are rampant; there is no effective freedom of religion in Turkey and antisemitic rhetoric is rife in the publications of its islamic factions. Also, the country has a long history of army interference in politics.
More importantly, allowing Turkey to join the EU would make it virtually impossible to deny Ukaraine and Byelorus to join. Those two countries are established dictatorships; their admittance would undermine the democratic content of the Union.
But even more emphasis should be placed on the fact that once Turkey would be inside the European Union, its outer borders would be with the world’s established trouble spots: Iraq, Iran, and Syria, to name but a few. That outside border would even be more unmanageable than today’s Polish, Rumanian and Bulgarian borders, and given the fact that the Union cannot even decide on establishing a credible multinational borderpolice, would be an open invitation to anyone outside the EU to infiltrate.
In short, allowing Turkey to join the EU is a disaster scenario which should be confronted at every opportunity.
Posted by: b.roozendaal at April 5, 2007 6:47 PM
b.roozendaal , you are very ignorant as it was before.
Your lack of European vision pretend you form seeing the truths. Turkey can protect itself for many years and its boarders, what happens if they have boarders to Iraq or IRan, they are seperate countries so what? Ukraine and Byelours are too week and poor to Join Eu. Turkey is not, it is growing fater than every. Why dotn you tell that if Turkey would join Eu, it will be the biggest country so it scares you and your national emotions?
Posted by: green at September 3, 2008 11:44 AM