<p>shoot . . .</p>
<p>Until they stamp out the growing highly conservative Islam in their country - no. It's not even remotely similar to the vast majority of the idealogical beliefs of the EU.</p>
<p>Even if they do put Turkey in, it's not like Turkey's going to have much say in any matters. And the other nations in the EU will look like the good guys by "attempting" to work with the conservative islamic nations. So it may not be such a bad idea, just for the sake of kind of playing around with doplomacy for the West's advantage. It's like sacraficing your pawn for a bishop in a sneaky and tactical manner.</p>
<p>"Even if they do put Turkey in, it's not like Turkey's going to have much say in any matters. "
Ummmm, if they do put Turkey in, it actually will have a say in all the matters like any other member state, which is exactly why nobody is going to put it there. They already had it with new members like Poland.</p>
<p>No way .</p>
<p>I feel so bad for all the pro-European Turks who worked hard to make Turkey more European-like :(</p>
<p>They're good at billiards, but I once beat a Turk in a seven game series at eight-ball, now that's good stuff. And then he took me to a snooker club, and that was a totally different story. So the moral of the story is, well, I don't know...but does this not relate to the original topic in anyway? None whatsoever? Oh well...</p>
<p>No. Full of Turkey love here, but they are essentially not a European country.</p>
<p>Mmm. . . turkey.</p>
<p>And KABOOM! I was waiting for that.</p>
<p>I'm going to play Devil's Advocate and say that Turkey should be admitted to the EU.</p>
<p>First off, admitting Turkey to the EU is a smart idea because out of all the other "Islamic" countries, Turkey is by far the most secular and open to Western ideas. Admitting them to the EU would be of great symbolic significance, since a lot of Western Europe/US is facing cries of Islamophobia and discrimination against muslims within their borders, and showing a vote of confidence in Turkey would mean that these societies dont harbor ill will towards Islamic nations.</p>
<p>Secondly, Turkey is HARDLY an Islamic regime; even recently, when the AK party (which is their Islamic political party there) gained power, there were outcries and protests all throughout the country, for fear of Islamic marshal law taking over the place. Hell, the Turkish Army was even considering military action against the AK party after their election, to prevent any such thing. This is no Iran; Turkey was founded on Secularist principles, and the people of Turkey are determined to maintain this. </p>
<p>To be honest, the only feasible/reasonable opposition people could have against Turkey's inclusion into the EU is because half of it is in Asia. </p>
<p>Edit: Right. So, apparenlty a lot of Turkey is in Asia, but my other 2 points still hold!</p>
<p>More than half, actually. Most of it.</p>
<p>I see your points, though.</p>
<p>Isn't only 8% of Turkey in Europe?</p>
<p>it should definitely be admitted despite the fact that its not technically in Europe and its ideology does not exactly fit in with the rest of Europe. However, there is a growing Muslim population in Europe that has been in the news lately as having problems integrating and being accepted and accepting Turkey would go a long way towards demonstrating that Europe is serious about working with its Islamic population. In the same vein, accepting even the less Islamic Turkey would go a long way to showing that the West can and is willing to accept Islamic countries and work with them in the future. Accepting Turkey needs to be the first step in mending relations between Muslims in the West and their governments as well as attempting to remove the mistrust between Islamic countries and the West.</p>
<p>^ ...that's just what I said?</p>
<p>Of course we should. It's Turkey. Everyone loves Turkey.</p>
<p>Not until they recognize the Armenian Genocide.</p>
<p>
[quote]
No. Full of Turkey love here, but they are essentially not a European country.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>What constitutes Europeanness?</p>