As what the Economist notes as a ?welcome rise? of Turkey in the economic and international policy field becomes increasingly visible, the state of confusion within the EU about Turkey is more clearly exposed.
It is an interesting type of development. In the first half of the now ending decade, what pushed Turkey ahead in terms of substantial change was the enormous dynamic of the prospect of membership in the union, and despite the quickly fading desire in Europe to accept its progress as an indication to speed up membership talks, Turkey accelerates its normalization nevertheless.
One of the central matters in the Turkey-EU relations is obviously the question concerning the hypothetical accession of Turkey to the EU. In that respect, two of the main EU players, namely France and Germany, have expressed negative stances
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou (R) and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attend the opening of the Mediterranean Climate Change Initiative conference near Athens. AFP photo
ISTANBUL, Turkey – All during the Cold War, Turkey was the NATO country the United States took for granted, a secular Muslim state that straddled Europe and Asia and defended a long border with the Soviet Union.
Last week Germany was at the center of the Turkish media. It started when German Chancellor Angela Merkel gave a speech in which she declared that attempts to build a multicultural society in Germany had failed.
Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV) Democratization Program, published a new report analyzing the situation of minority foundations both inGreeceand Turkey. The report considers the ‘reciprocity argument’ as a policy that both government use to restrict the rights of their own citizens.
