Turkey and the EU Follow-Up
And, following up on this post, it seems that things are getting worse in the rhetorical battle between Turkey and the rest of the European Union.
I'm not proud, and not surprised, that the one nation showing any leadership and consistency in this issue is the United Kingdom. The other EU members should really be ashamed of themselves; and Secretary Straw's statement about the Christian/Muslim divide is right on.
Though nobody seems to want to admit it, the Europeans are secondary only to the United States as targets in the War on Terrorism. You've got one, one, moderate country that rides the line between the relative civility of Europe and the chaos and barbarism of the Middle East (aside from Israel, but we're all familiar with the situation there): Turkey. Turkey is a key ally of America and Europe in the culture war between Muslim extremists, who think that Western Civilization is a Christian infidels only club, and us. And what do the European Union members do? They make a last minute attempt to block Turkey's full membership petition, for absolutely no good reason. The best lines they can come up with are that there are "popular concerns over [EU] expansion" and "concerns about he EU's ability to truly welcome new member states". Truly welcome new member states? Bullshit: they just don't like the Turks, and as usual, they don't have the balls to come out and be honest about their motives.
This is not going to end well.
EU foreign ministers are meeting in Luxembourg for emergency talks aimed at breaking the deadlock over the issue of Turkish membership.
Turkey is supposed to be starting membership talks on Monday, but member states have been unable to agree on a negotiating framework.
Sunday's talks centre on a suggestion by Austria that Turkey should be offered less than full membership.
Turkey has said it will walk away rather than accept the Austrian offer.
It says it must have the ultimate promise of full membership before it enters EU accession talks on Monday.
Ankara's position has received backing from the UK - which currently hold the EU's rotating presidency.
UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, arriving for the talks, said Turkey should be allowed to join.
"This is a crucial meeting for the future of the European Union," he said, adding that failure to start the talks on Monday "would represent a failure for the European Union."
Earlier, he said keeping Turkey out of the EU would widen the "theological-political divide" between Christian and Muslim nations.
I'm not proud, and not surprised, that the one nation showing any leadership and consistency in this issue is the United Kingdom. The other EU members should really be ashamed of themselves; and Secretary Straw's statement about the Christian/Muslim divide is right on.
Though nobody seems to want to admit it, the Europeans are secondary only to the United States as targets in the War on Terrorism. You've got one, one, moderate country that rides the line between the relative civility of Europe and the chaos and barbarism of the Middle East (aside from Israel, but we're all familiar with the situation there): Turkey. Turkey is a key ally of America and Europe in the culture war between Muslim extremists, who think that Western Civilization is a Christian infidels only club, and us. And what do the European Union members do? They make a last minute attempt to block Turkey's full membership petition, for absolutely no good reason. The best lines they can come up with are that there are "popular concerns over [EU] expansion" and "concerns about he EU's ability to truly welcome new member states". Truly welcome new member states? Bullshit: they just don't like the Turks, and as usual, they don't have the balls to come out and be honest about their motives.
This is not going to end well.
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