Turkey Application into EU

clearz

Hi

I was just reading there about Turkeys application for EU membership and was thinking would that be a good or bad thing. As far as I remember German
Chancellor Schroeder said that they will never enter Europe as they are to different than the rest of Europe.

I believe that eventually letting Turkey into the EU would be a good thing. It would show the world that a predominantly muslim country can work as part of a democracy. I think its important to push Europe eastwords as much as possible so that democracy can eventually spread throughout the middle east.

halkar

EU is running out of excuses for Turkey not letting them in. This is going on for decades, unless EU comes clear and admits that its a christian club they have no reason not to let Turkey in. After all Turkey is and has been far more democratic if you compare to the countries that joined recently and will join in few years like Bulgaria and Romania. Some says about Turkey not being in Europe but these are stupid and childish alegations and one must look Cyprus and decide which coninent they are belong to.

I think they have a EU meeting at the end of this year that EU will decide if they start talks with Turkey. Outcome of this will decide the future of Turkey as No from EU will let the country down once more and can push Turkey away from EU. They have few alternatives like expand to Middle East and also there is a possibility of forming tighter alliances with other Turkic countries like Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, whom have very close ties with Turkey and most even speaks Turkish. This is a big and improving market with over 200 million people add to this closer relationships with Middle East they can be as big as or even bigger than EU. Country has its advantages and I beleive it will be a big economic player in which ever way they turn. I don't know if EU can afford to loose Turkey, I think Turkey in EU will benefit EU more than it will benefit Turkey in the long term. Before anyone jumps in to conclusions of they are muslim and not democratic and third world country bla bla should really go and visit the country and see. I am not talking about your average holiday trip either

England is in favour of Turkey joining EU for long time and situation in Germany improving too. Even Greek supports them as they are best of friends these days. Turkey's biggest challenge is France as Mösyö Chirac of France is not favour of them in the Union ( what does Mösyö Chirac agrees on anyway ) . I think most EU countries fear is about loosing seats in the parliement and by rights Turkey would have almost same amount of seats as Germany. They would become second biggest country in EU with population nearing to 80million.

mike65

Heres a previous discussion on this -

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=74205&highlight=Turkey

Mike.

halkar

Originally posted by mike65
Heres a previous discussion on this -

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=74205&highlight=Turkey

Mike.

LOL Mike65, those posts are dated back to 2002
World have changed since then. Do you know US invaded Iraq and EU has 25 countries now?

mike65

True but I bet the arguments are pretty much the same now.

Mike.

arcadegame2004

In principle I favour letting them in, but just not yet. BTW I understadn that the present Social Democrat government in Germany SUPPORT eventual Turkish EU membership, though the opposition CDU oppose it.

Before I would let them in, I would want to be CERTAIN that the reforms in the area of Kurdish human-rights is being implemented on the ground. The judicial establishment have resisted this. I also want the Turkish military to end its periodic coups of elected governments they don't like.

Celt

I was under the impression that the EU as a whole would be happy to let turkey in, IF they fixed their human rights abuse issue.

Manach

My opinion is they should be eventually entered into the EU, if only for fairness. In that they are a NATO country, whilst former Warsaw Pact countries have been already granted entry.

Duffman

I'm strongly in favour of Turkey's accession to the Union.

It seems to me that more barriers to entry are being placed in front of Turkey than any other applicant state. Turkey has quickly implemented all of the legislative reforms the EU has asked for.

As for human rights abuses, it's true to say that very worrying incidents have occured in recent years but since reforms were introduced, these have been isolated incidents carried out at the hands of corrupt police officers for example.

Comments about Turkey having no place in the EU by leaders of member states are destructive and unacceptable and serve only to strenghten the arguments of those who claim that the EU is a "Christian Club".

Of course Turkey should have to meet the relevant economic criteria etc. first, but apart from this Turkey's membership would have huge symbolic importance sending a powerful message to other Muslim countries.

The role of the Turkish government in attempting to resolve the Cyprus conflict over the past year has also been a positive one and they were led to believe that this would strengthen their case for membership. Following the rejection of the UN peace proposal by Greek cypriots, the peace process really has no future if Turkey remains outside the union.

Let Turkey in.