![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rfmcdonaldSurprise! The French don't want Turkey in the European Union. Even the previously sympathetic French aren't anymore.
The question of Turkish accession to the European Union has long been a pressing one. Had Communism not failed in central Europe, Turkey might have been in a relatively better position, but as things stand Turkey is politically and economically well behind the new central European and Baltic member-states, and barely on par with relatively dysfunctional Bulgaria and Romania. The question of whether Turkey is actually a European country, between its long history of militarized authoritarianism and the Islamic religion of the vast majority of its inhabitants, is at least as much of an issue, to say nothing of the potential for large-scale immigration to western Europe by Turkish migrants. As I noted in 2007, Latveria seems somewhat more likely to join the European Union than Turkey, that despite (as![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
nwhyte observed) being very substantially detached from the various pan-European fora and its exceptionally erratic policies.
This will have implications. Will a Turkey kept outside of the European Union necessarily remained aligned with the EU and NATO? Will a rebuffed Turkey do anything to help a peaceful settlement on Cyprus? Will Turkey converge economically with Europe or not? Thoughts?
France's powerful Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner, said today that he had turned against the idea of allowing Turkey to join the European Union because of Ankara’s behaviour at last week’s Nato summit.
Mr Kouchner, who came to prominence as co-founder of Medecins sans Frontieres, made the comment as Barack Obama - speaking to a gathering of students in Istanbul on the final event of his eight-day European tour - called once again for Turkey to be granted EU membership.
President Sarkozy has long been opposed to Turkey’s EU bid and that has been official French policy, but his left-wing Foreign Minister had been more open to the idea - at least until Saturday's summit in Strasbourg.
“Turkey’s evolution in, let’s say, a more religious direction, towards a less robust secularism, worries me,” the minister told RTL radio.
Mr Kouchner said that he had been surprised when Turkey’s delegation to the Nato summit had initially refused to accept the appointment of Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Danish Prime Minister, as the alliance’s new Secretary-General. Mr Rasmussen made enemies in the Muslim world in 2005 when he defended the freedom of expression of Danish cartoonists who mocked the Prophet Muhammad.
The Turkish President, Abdullah Gul, delayed Saturday's summit by refusing to accept his nomination and only dropped his veto threat after Mr Obama brokered a compromise deal under which Mr Rasmussen will have a Turkish deputy.
“I was very shocked by the pressure that was brought on us,” Mr Kouchner said.
The question of Turkish accession to the European Union has long been a pressing one. Had Communism not failed in central Europe, Turkey might have been in a relatively better position, but as things stand Turkey is politically and economically well behind the new central European and Baltic member-states, and barely on par with relatively dysfunctional Bulgaria and Romania. The question of whether Turkey is actually a European country, between its long history of militarized authoritarianism and the Islamic religion of the vast majority of its inhabitants, is at least as much of an issue, to say nothing of the potential for large-scale immigration to western Europe by Turkish migrants. As I noted in 2007, Latveria seems somewhat more likely to join the European Union than Turkey, that despite (as
nwhyte observed) being very substantially detached from the various pan-European fora and its exceptionally erratic policies.This will have implications. Will a Turkey kept outside of the European Union necessarily remained aligned with the EU and NATO? Will a rebuffed Turkey do anything to help a peaceful settlement on Cyprus? Will Turkey converge economically with Europe or not? Thoughts?
