Read the below articles and blog the potential advantages to the UK if Turkey where to jo



Should the European Union include Turkey? Results so far:

Yes 63% 100 votes Total: 158 votes No 37% 58 votes
Why not?

There are a number of arguments in favor of Turkey's admission.

First of all, the Ottoman Empire-despite its negative sides- was traditionally one of the first examples of multiculturalism, because the Turks have lived there with various ethnic groups for centuries. If Turkey joins the EU, Europe will be a multicultural unit where Christians, Jews, Muslims and other religions could live together without serious conflicts. As the matter of fact, Europe is like this right now anyhow.

Secondly, if Turkey joins the European Union, it will bring us closer to the Asian continent. With Turkey joining, the EU would become a global player and could confront the USA with their own ideas on safety for example in the middle east. In addition to that, an EU membership would further push the reforms in Turkey. Otherwise, Turkey might orient itself more to the Arabic-Islamic world and cause a destabilization of the region. Things are simple: If West turns its backs on Turkey, then Turkey will have to look at the East.

The birth rate in Turkey is also decreasing comparing to the past years, therefore there isn't such fear as an over-immigration wave towards the European Countries.

Some people are arguing about that Turkey doesn't geographically belongs to European Continent, but to Asia.

So , can anyone explain to me, how Armenia which is located eastern than Turkey, belongs geographically to Europe then-all geography books of the recent years are telling that.

Finally, if Turkey is admitted to the European Union, this can help Europe to end racism itself (what is this irrational discrimination between East and West anyway? . Allowing such country entering into the EU-a country which is a highly percentage moslem country- would help proving that the EU is not a what they call it -> " a christian club".

There are many internal problems in Turkey, such as violations of the civil rights,or a weak economy, but can anyone show me where is for example-actually a REAL democracy located in any other country in the world right now.

Hiding behind the mask of a supposed privileged socialized society ,doesn't mean anything at all. We all know, that no more , no less, we are same hostages of our civilisation.

We don't have the right to forbid to the Turkish citizens, their equal right to go forward.

We should trust their intelligence and respect their rights to proceed,evolving.

Why shouldn't we open the doors to Turkey?

The question is: Do they really want us?

Learn more about this author, Maria-Lydia Kiriakidu.
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No

1 of 3 by Jamie Mascola Created on: February 06, 2008

There were cries of rejoice from every corner of the Hellenic Seas. It was in 2004 that Cyprus (among several others) was inducted into the EU. After centuries of conflict and foreign rule, the wayward island nation was a big step closer to returning to the country that had so sorely missed it. As it happens, I was living on the Greek island of Rhodes, no more than 10 km from the Turkish coast when the delegates rejected our latter-mentioned neighbor's claim. Two great factors stand adamantly pitted against Turkey's potential entry into the European Union. And they are both forms of discrimination. And one is certainly more palatable than the other.

The official reason given by the European representatives was that Turkey's government was deemed to be a theocracy. The Turkish parliament has a long-standing history towards secular rule. Despite the aims of the ruling AKP (justice and Development Party) to westernize the country's economy, their roots in the national Islamic church were not favorably viewed by the EU board. A theocracy is one of the forms of governing body that is considered unacceptable by the admission standards of the European Union. This comes from the age old adage that one should not combine the media of church and state. Given the propensity for disaster when considering the acts of past European nations governed by the church (particularly with respect to Turkey and the crusades), they might be correct in erring for the side of caution. Islamic nationalists in Turkey may view this declaration as flagrant racism. But that ugly notion may find a greater thread of truth in the following matter.

Although Greece has had a long-standing feud with Turkey, it was proven in a national poll conducted three months before the vote on Turkey's possible induction that the Greek populace was in overwhelming favor of Turkey's enfranchisement. The inclusion of Turkey under the EU banner would lift considerable financial and military demands from the government budget. A budget that was facing severe deficit encumbrance as a result of the incurred building costs for the 2004 Olympic games in Athens. In fact, it was a then-ailing Germany who protested that Turkey be denied entry at all cost. Germany has a minority of Turkish immigrants that can be counted in the millions. In a country infamous for its onus placed on nationalism and national identity, there was a great backlash from the civilian population when it was first proposed that Turkey be included. Green Party politics had depleted much of the national reserves in an attempt to remedy the environmental catastrophe that was East Germany after nearly forty years of harsh Soviet rule. By placing such emphasis on this issue in their budget, the reigning party failed to foresee the fallout from the closure of so many "unfit" factories. This resulted in an unemployment boom that then ranked the Germans, uncharacteristically , as the worst job market in the European Union. The free movement of Turkish nationals to a then depleted Germany would have resulted in an even further economic depression and perhaps even civil unrest.

Euro-centricity is a relatively new social issue for us here in North America. It is claimed to be the spawn of the biased (caucasian) elite with the goal of keeping the doctrines of the education system focussed primarily (even solely) upon "white" history. Within continental Europe, this notion exists in a similar manner of distaste, but from the reverse angle. Our sense of national identity, no matter how well ingrained, will never equal that of indigenous Europeans. Each country has it's own language(s), traditions, monarchies, social beliefs and political climate. Just because they share a currency and economic strategy (no matter how loosely) does not nullify any of the tendencies towards resistance by the Union's respective members towards the conglomeration of an impending pan-national "European" identity. And judging by the results of the last Turkish attempt(s) for entry into the union, this ideal/unideal picture does not include them. If history has in fact taught the European union an even greater lesson than that of the conflict that can arise from the mingling of church and state, then it is that it can be even more costly to underestimate the destructive potential of a Germany that is tired, poor, hungry and racially incensed.