TURKEY and the EU

Some WAISers have recalled that de Gaulle adopted the traditional view that Europe extended to the Urals. From Greece, Harry Papasotiriou puts Turkey in a global context: "I see nothing wrong, in principle, to the EU extending all the way to the sea of Japan, provided that the core values of Europe are not compromised. In other words, the cases of Russia - which did give us some of the greatest masterpieces of modern European civilization (Tolstoy, Dostoevsky) - and, less obviously, I admit, Turkey, should be considered in an open-minded spirit. Certainly, neither of these two countries can possibly join the EU in the foreseeable future. But should they evolve over the long run in a truly and deeply European direction, and genuinely assimilate the core values of Europe, we should not in principle close Europe's doors to them.

One important dimension of this debate concerns the issue of the EU's "deepening" versus "broadening". European federalists and other supporters of the "deepening" of European integration are particularly hostile to Turkey's accession prospects. They view Turkey as a Trojan horse, which if admitted as a member will reduce the EU to a mere customs union. Some even view the American support for Turkey's admission in the EU as a plot to derail the potential evolution of the EU into a rival superpower. Most Greeks share such concerns. It is in Greece's interest that the EU accept Turkey in principle as a potential member, but that it not actually accept Turkey in the EU until she has become thoroughly European - in secular terms: We cannot of course reasonably demand of Turks to become Christians, as a precondition to joining the EU. But we can demand a thorough separation of church and state (already imposed by Kemal Attaturk), full civil rights for all religious sects, whether Muslim (of which there are several in Turkey) or other, and a constitutionally guaranteed and genuinely flourishing civil society. This may not happen for a very long time, if ever. But if Turkey makes deep, fundamental advances in the direction of Europeanization, not only at the level of passing some laws, which is easy, but in terms of the completion of the Europeanization of her society and economy over the long run, we are hardly justified in excluding her from the EU forever and ever, in principle".

RH: Separation of Church and state does not exist in several EU countries, including the UK and Germany. The word "Europeanization" was common in Spain when it was thought that "Africa begins in the Pyrenees".

Ronald Hilton - 12/9/02