Why Turkey Should Not Join the EU
Aby April 7th, 2009
During the recently concluded US-EU summit in Prague, a little political tussle occured when the French President Nicolas Sarkozy rebuffed Obama’s recommendation that Turkey be inducted as a member of the European Union. While I understand the American President’s attempt at endearing himself to the Muslim world, Mr. Sarkozy stance against Turkey’s immediate admission to the EU was quite valid as a European concern.
A news video showing Barack Obama’s clash with Sarkozy in the EU summit.
While Turkey might be amongst the most moderate Muslim-majority nations, it still lags miles behind the European levels of secularlism, tolerance and human rights record of the past 50 years. Despite the progresses made in the last few decades, Turkey still remains a country pretty hostile to the idea of religious tolerance and freedom of speech. Till very recently, Turkey has been bringing up objections to Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Danish Prime Minister, from becoming the next NATO Secretary-General. The Turkish argument was that Mr. Rasmussen wasn’t suitable for the post because he did not offer an apology for cartoons of the ‘Prophet’ Muhammad published in a Danish newspaper in 2005 (which is hypocritic considering that the Turkish leadership never recognised, let alone apologise, the Armenian Holocaust of the early 1900s). On a more active front, Turkey has been strifling its Kurdish minority for years. Turkish Christians are not treated on par with Muslims when it comes to rights to practicing their religion. The handful of churches that exist in Turkey today are either places of historical significance or annexes of foreign embassies.
Beside the religious concerns outlined above, Turkey’s admission to the EU could also create a clash of economic and political differences. Its political conflicts with Greece and Cyprus could become the next European headache, threatening the already strained stability of the European Union. In addition to this, as a member with the smallest economy, Turkey will also create a drag on the EU economy, far more than the effect of Poland, Lithuania and Romania’s admission to the EU. It could also become a corridor for migrants from North Africa and the Arab world to gain a backdoor entry to Europe.
Unless all the above (and additional) concerns are smoothened out between Turkey and Europe, admitting Turkey would be an extremely premature and self-destructive move for the EU. This is the part President Sarkozy and Chancellor Markel got right.
No related posts.
- Internationalism , World Politics
- Comments(30)
Loading ...
Isn’t it for Europe to decide who joins the EU? Why does Obama poke his nose where it doesn’t belong?
As much as I criticise some of Sarko’s policies, I am with him and the rest of Europe on this one. Why on earth should EU admit Turkey into its fold, when it hasn’t even met the preconditions of being a EU member state? This is just Americans trying to dump their mess on to an unwilling Europe, to make up to the Muslims for the illegal invasion of Iraq.
I am totally agree with in the sense that EU should not allow Turkey to be a member of EU. Not untill the have a separationg of State-Religion.
I think that USA does not understand the muslin mentality, how the think or view themself within or outside their religion.
As an american I see the need to democratize a muslin country(any) but we won’t see that happen any time soon, muslin live their life by muslin religion they can not separate themself from it.
I apoligize if I offend any muslin believer., but I see muslin religion like the Catholic religion of the 1st century when people were not allow to speak of God or say what they think about God without fearing of being charge with blasfemy.
I think E.U needs to Turkey to be a power in the world.Turkey has growing economy and a powerable army( 6.biggest economy in Europe and second biggest army in NATO) ,this country has been effective in the middle east ,Turks started novigations between Syria and Israel and between Pakistan and Afganistan also Turkey is an important bridge on energy ways. I think Turkey does not want to be membershio of E.U ,it is only kind of role playing , Turkey keeps to be with U.S against to E.U. If we consider, E.U was established against to U.S , E.U can not accept that TURKEY-U.S in E.U and Turkey does not want,too.
By the way, i think E.U becomes weak day by day, E.U does not behave like an Union.
We have seen it clerly in that the last financial crisis, all countries have been acting in different ways ,France and Germany think different. They declared” Every country must find a way to rid of the crisis,” instead of to find out it “together.” France wants to be with U.S ,not E.U. Morever,U.K is tottaly different then the others.
To sum up, Turkey can not join to E.U becase there is no E.U.
I think your arguments partly disagree with your statement.
Yes Turkey is Muslim country if you say rest of the Europe is Christian. This is criteria based on the belief of population. But the government in Turkey has no religion, it is secular as stated in Turkish Constitution. Turkey has been practicising liberal economy and democracy more than 70 years. Considering Balkan countries and excommunist countries this is a huge experience. It is one of the first country (even before France) to give voting right to women.
Yes, i partly agree your statement on Rasmussen incident, but Turkey has his Muslim Democrats as well EU has its Christian Democrats. Believe me, there are worst incidents created by Christian Democrats.
If you look into the history, before joining the EU Turkey-Greece-Italy_Spain were nearly at same socio economic and democratic conditions.
If you ask my view as Turkish citizen, i do not care much about joining EU. I earn well above EU standard, I am happy with my country, i like to travel and to see the world especially Europe, but i dislike Schengen visa. Other than tourist visa problem I don’t see any benefit from EU for Turkey.
Just because turkey is have more Muslim population, that’s Eu countries don’t want Turkey to join EU Union, suppose if, Turkey might be a Christian country filled with Roman catholic then, they will easily approve it. That the harsh reality. So if turkey wants to join Eu than all Muslims should convert to Christianity.
There seems to me to be a problem with muslim cultural isolationism. So if muslims are going to participate in globalization process the logical starting place would be in the secular state of Turkey. Many of the bloggers are right Turkey differs vastly from many countries if not all of the European countries in political, social, and religious areas. The fact that the state of Turkey selects priest for thier religious positions is concerning. However, this induction into the EU should not be seen as a end of a political, social, and cultural process. The induction should be seen as a begining. If there is any concern about the capacity for the muslim country to get along with other members of the the UN this should not be of a great concern. The fact is that many countires in the EU argue a lot already. I guess they would just have one more thing to argue about and possibly the inclusion of new prespecitves. Immigration is a problem for Europe, their concerns are valid. However, migration population patterns and trade along with monitary consistancy throughout the region are seperate issues.
Turkey should be permitted to enter the E.U, inspite of the rule against religion and many human rights violations. European Union, while not a labelled a federalist state, quite closely functions like one, and there are many arguments inclining to favour the existence and functions as a federalist state for all the member countries.
The legislation of the European Union in all those areas that which it has acquired jurisdiction permit EU law to override national law, such that of the European Communities Act 1972 (UK), upon any conflict.
The other important aspect is that EU legislation to take effect and precedence into the member country, and scrutiny in parliament thereof. This fostering of democratic ideals, and a majority “common sense” supervision will allow a pathway for Turkey to develop and blend into mainstream Europe. Default against implementing and following EU rules and regulations can have Turkey eliminated from membership (although this in itself is another process) but Turkey fully understands that it needs the EU more than the EU needs Turkey.
Turkey has quite a large population with alot of suffering amongst the people. Inflation is at extremes and poverty profound. In this day and age, permission need be granted, an opportunity for a country like Turkey to demonstrate itself on the international stage as an effective and disciplined participant. EU does not have anything to lose, as said earlier, Turkey can be eliminated from membership if found to neglecting the promises to effect and upkeep while a member.
“While Turkey might be amongst the most moderate Muslim-majority nations, it still lags miles behind the European levels of secularlism [sic]”
Turkey is the one of most secular countries in the world, way more secular than France.
Pretty cool post. I just stumbled upon your site and wanted to say that I have really liked reading your posts. In any case I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again soon!
hi friends!!! regarding the question of a berth in EU for turkey i feel she has done enough for the western needs (fighting US war in iraq,syria and israel negotiations,pakistan and afganistan integrity).this is of course not far more enough to grant a membership for EU .but like some of our friends mentioning “freedom of expression doesn’t exist in musilm states” this is really absurd.turkey is a modernised musilm state.its up to them whether to have a handful of churches on their soil,reject them from becoming a member of EU is a damn shit. this shows the un-secular views of European UNION leaders.ok if anyone of this blog wanna oppose my views, i would like u friends furnish the essential qualities for a country to become a member of EU. then lets continue the debate,then lets see which nation is essential and which nation should satnd at the door step.
you people are idiots turkey has been secular since 1924 , the reason why the state selects imams or priests is to avoid extremists getting to positions of social influence , the state removes licences from prechers that preach ultra conservative doctrines and select liberal imams who dont preach against the secular state etc turkey is more secular than france it has no islamic law its legal sysytem is based on swiss and german law and it gave WOMEN THE VOTE before france and britain did
KEEP OUT
I believe people should not voice their opinions on political matters if they can not spell or type a correct and complete sentence on the matter at hand.
^^^
then you must look at your name — irony ! aint it? lol
Only being 14, I’d have to say that my world view isn’t completely developed yet… but it seems to me that a moderate, secular country with a muslim majority joining the EU could have a positive impact on relations with many Middle Eastern states, as well as making the EU more representative. Of course, with most of the Eurosceptics in my country also being Islamophobic, there will be a backlash, but in the long run getting many countries to join the EU should be very beneficial.
Just my opinion. I’d be curious to know what others think (:
Hahah, too be most honest, i dont really give two shxts about the EU, I mean why should i ? i only just learnt about what the EU were 2 weeks ago ! & Now i have to right a 3 page essay on the arguments for, and against. Listen, im not intrested in this kinda stuff, political or not, but i just wanted too say thanks so much for your comments, cause now i have something to write about ! (:
I will simply say look ahead and stop showing disliking or ebven hatred to another country which has done so much for Nato.
Read the European history and who would have thought German and France could be friend and allies.
So be positive and be focused and embrace changes with happiness and open arms.
While the countries are choosing sides before the next world crissis we will witness , European countries have to realize that Turkey is not a small , insignificant country and pushing them away simply means ” if Turkey is not with you , it will be against you”.
Turkey is : the 6th biggest economy in Europe , has more than 25 million work force , 80 million population , it is one of the biggest ecomonical partners of EU already , founding memeber of the Islamic Countries Organization , in the middle of the energy routes , second biggest army in the NATO , and a huge open market for European producers. In other words Turkey can not be ignored.
On the other hand Europe , while being divided in every simple way possible and very old population and decreasing work force , needs new blood. A new identity to be able to be a world power. Only 60 years ago EU countries were trying to exterminate each other , and showed this world the biggest violences in the history. Today talking about human rights and preaching Turkey sounds a bit ironic.
By pushing away Turkey from the EU , Europeans must realize that Europe will clearly declare that they are against Islam and the actualy freedom of speech nor the freedom to practice religion do not exist in EU countries which will eventually cause extremist movements in Europe and cut the dialogue which we all need between these two big religions.
On the contrary to the European prejudice , most Turks are only after the freedom of travel between Turkey and other European countries , believing that a Turk would leave Turkey to freeze in the street of Copenhagen or Berlin , is nothing but a naive. The friendly culture in the country and the sunny weather is something Turks would never leave behind. If you believe that Oslo is a better place to live in than Antalya or Amsterdam is more beautiful than Bodrum , or Berlin has more to offer than Istanbul than I suggest you to go and visit these cities once again.
Aby, to have more open discussion your question should be WHY TURKEY SHOULD JOIN EU….
now that you made point why Turkey should not join, it clearly shows your narrow mind that you dont want a Muslim majority country with EU….
Religious BIAS
If Turkey is admitted into the EU then any action to stop the take over of Islam will be extremely hampered. France will not be able to discriminate against Islam in any way or their oppressive culture. EU is already collapsing as its GDP has dropped several trillion in just one year (and you speak of the US being in bad shape) and may even fall below that of the US in the coming years (thats one country having a higher GDP than 30 European countries, almost all of which are considered developed countries).
IF Turkey is allowed into the fold European secularism would be a thing of the past.
Well I must say GDP is calculated based on the “Nations” economic output not its living standart or its people happiness and you can not tell whether one organization is falling apart by simply looking at its GDP. Bhutan has low GDP yet their population are as happy as a rat with gold tooth. And you are implying that France are disciminating against muslims, but let me ask you, are Americans do not? Human can not stop itself from the act of discrimination since we are animals that always fight each other to survive. And I think that EU’s drop in GDP came from the US economic failure, wasn’t it? The EU central bank even have to “DONATED” several millions of Euros to liquidfy the US economy. So I think that the one who requires help shouldn’t be in the economic leading role anytime soon.
We are looking at the modern peaceful integrated Europe where the borders are fast becoming history.
Some people can not stomach another of the world’s main religion becoming part of the European culture and changing people’s ways of lives.
I will appeal to you to stop discriminating against Turkey because of their religion.
It is inevitable that Turkey will sooner or later become part of EU and I suggest the way forward is to embrace the changes positively……..
More than 80 years ago Atatürk tried to modernize Islam and make the Turkish people secular. Unfortunately he FAILED! In 1996 the Turkish people voted for Erbakan (he was OPENLY Islamist and preacher of Sharia) but the Army(the true defender of Secularity, or used to be) forced him to resign because he wanted to build SHARIA-STATE in Turkey and make it another Iran(unfortunately the Turks approved him on this). After that, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan came and he is WINING the elections since 2002. It is clear that Erdoğan is Islamist (he was imprisoned many times for CHALLENGING the Secular authorities and his FAMOUS speech: You can be either Muslim or Secular because they are INCOMPATIBLE). In early 2002 he wanted to CRIMINALIZE sex without marriage but that law could not pass (opposed by the Republican People’s Party which is a SECULAR party unlike Erdoğan’s party). Long story short, this guy(Erdoğan) has an Islamic history who insisted many times that he will bring Turkey to CORRECT ROAD OF ALLAH(the Islamic God)although, he was chosen by the Turkish people and this means one thing: THE TURKS WANT ISLAM AND NOT SECULARISM!
So Europe should be ALARMED.
Turkey is not europe it is asia minor ASIA, so go to hell obama.
I’m sick of liberalist fools intent on destroying their own culture, a culture that isnt always free and just, but is the best humanity has at the moment.
To any of you liberalists who want to dispute this, how do you think you will feel when you by your own hands or tongues i should say have ushered in a muslim majority in europe by admitting turkey, and how will you feel when christians, and other infidels in europe (pagan, hindu, buddhist, jewish etc) are the targets of brutal sectarian attacks, (look at coptic christians in egypt, or in sudan).
When your sisters are raped, and are then stoned for adultery under sharia law as opposed to recieving counselling or support, or when you find that your best friend is gay and are forced to watch him hang for something he could not control, or god forbid you steal something and you lose a hand for it.
Our terrible but less terrible system in europe isnt perfect, but its is a hell of a lot better than sharia law, and i swear to god, i would die to protect this shit system of ours, and to preserve our relatively egalitarian society from these damn neo naz’s
If anyone wants to dispute the intent of islam, then read the koran first i did and id advise you to preferably read the last bits, thatswhere the gory details are written.
PEACE to all mankind, unless they should disagree.
Well, Muraqeb is correct for some point.
Firstly, the main problem remains religion and human right. Non Muslim are still second zone citizens. If you have another belief, you can not serve the state as a teacher, as a civil servant. Your religion is printed in civil statement, ID Card. This is a real problem. Also, Police and authority looks like the Spanish Guardia civil from the seventies, kind of Midnight Express.
Secondly, Refusal of Turkey was highly motivated by economical reason rather than politics. Turkey has a huge and successful competitive agriculture due to low labor cost. Most parts of the country is rural. Poland had the same structure in the past. European agricultural subsidies have been largely given to the benefits of Poland and therefore reduced the part of France. If Turkey joins the EU, it will drain most of the subsidies. This is the raison why France and Poland made a fierce opposition to Turkey.
Last, if Turkey joins the Union, it will become the political leader in Europe regarding to the size of its population. In the present european architecture, seats are given in proportion of population.
But good news, Turkey’s economy is booming. Maybe opinion will change…
I agree. Obama definetly does not need to be poking his nose in European choices.
Turkey shouldn’t join because Turkey isn’t a traditional Euro country.
Turkey is doing GREAT on it’s own and should always be independent.
Turkey will soon economically eclipse the upper tier euro nations.
Turkey should not join the EU at all because there is no benefit whatsoever towards Turkey other than lifting visa requirements to visit Europe. As for economy gain, there’s no such gain because once Turkey joined, it will be used to the ground because it looks as if Turkey is so desperate to do and give anything the EU demand like being held on a rope. They will never see Turkey as one of them or equal because regardless to them it will always be a Muslim country. Turkey should just maintain business relations rather than being one of them. For economy gain, there are many ways for Turkey to have a stronger economy or bring more businesses into it’s contry. Turkey do not have weak currency, or going into crisis like Greece or any of the European countries.
If Turkey is able to change, why it NEEDS to join EU in order to change? Why have your country to be run by someone else or constantly having people to tell you what to do to be one of them. Turkey do not need EU, it is the other way round! Why sell yourself short? In the process of joining EU, Turkey has proof itself to the WORLD not just EU that it is not like any of the Muslim country. It is a democratic country and everyone has the right to vote including women. Being able to NOT run it’s country using religion, unlike some countries, I think that says alot about Turkey. It has full credit of being a country that sets full example to the rest of the world. I hope your government is able to re-consider this decision.
Hello.
I’m a 17 years old Turkish citizen from Ankara. From what I’ve read so far from all around the internet , I guess that European people who debate here are somewhat tricked by some kind of stereotypes. Let me clear out a few things ; Turkish Republic doesn’t have a religion , as it’s stated in the Turkish Constitution. Turkey is one of the most secular countries in the world. Myself , I don’t believe in any religion , I’ve been living in the capital for all my life and didn’t suffer a single thing because of it. I don’t know how it seems from the outside , but as a person who has visited lots of European countries ; Turkey also has no less social respectability than the rest of the Europe. Today , Turkish Government consists of the main right , Islamic wing. Again myself , I’m not a supporter of today’s government and also half of Turkey. There isn’t dictatorship in Turkey and the government will keep changing.
Secondly , let’s talk about the Cyprus issue. “Turkey can’t join the EU since it doesn’t recognise a member state and also has invaded it !” some people say. Let me ask you a simple question. Think of an empire which ruled that island for over 500 years , stationed it’s citizens there , then when it starts to collapse , some other country invades it , treats the old empire’s population bad , does massacares , what would you do ?
Lastly , I’d like to talk about the human rights issue. Today , because of the misleading of the current government , journalists , authors and many more are inside , just because they oppose the government policy. Also , violance against women is unignorable. But this situation isn’t permanent in Turkey. Turkish Constitution is one of the most libertarian and humanitarian ones in the world. Somehow , this problem will be solved in at most a few years , I guess. And also remember , Turkey gave the voting and electing right to women way before many European countries , including France.