: Will the “Christian” EU Ever Admit “Muslim” Turkey?

Looks like Turkey is having a hard time getting noticed these days. After years of cozying up to the EU, they got a snub this month as 10 nations, including the Greek half of Cyprus, were scheduled for membership in 2004. A commission report said Turkey continued to fail to meet political and economic membership criteria and needed to improve its human rights records. Turkey has been jumping through hoops to join the European mega-state recently by clamping down on human rights abuses and relaxing restrictions on Kurdish participation in the political process. The changes have been enough for the US and Britain and NATO allies such as Canada (where one editorial asks to “Stop kicking the stuffing out of Turkey”) to support eventual Turkish membership, although the real reasons seem to lie in the rise of Islamic parties in the wake of domestic political reform (although those parties say they won’t jeopardize EU admission). Europeans are already uncomfortable with multiculturalism, something the admission of a Muslim country to the mostly Christian EU won’t help. But despite the anger and hurdles still to overcome, the Turks are optimistic of their chances of joining by 2010. These chances will be further defined in the upcoming elections November 3rd, when Islamically-oriented parties such as the Justice and Development Party (formed out of the banned Welfare party) are expected to garner up to 30% of the vote. At that time, the EU will “see whether Turkey is going to get a stable, democratic government or whether the classical Ataturk national independence forces will gain power,” according to one analyst.

Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.