Editorial: Turkey’s chance / The Muslim country deserves a bid to join the EU

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Pittsburgh Post Gazette
Oct 12 2004

The European Commission recommended Wednesday that talks begin next
year on whether to admit Turkey to the European Union.

A final decision on whether to hold talks won’t be made until
December when the 25 EU heads of state meet, but they are expected to
accept the commission’s recommendation unanimously.

That’s good news for Turkey, but it does not mean the country is in.
Negotiations could take as long as 15 years. That is as it should be,
given both the gravity of the decision and the reservations held by
some EU leaders and their nations’ people.

Here is why Turkey is a hard case. It has a population of 71 million
and, if admitted to the EU, would be second in size only to Germany.
It is also 99 percent Muslim, and some Europeans see the EU’s at
least nominally Christian orientation as important to its nature.
Turkey is also relatively poor, at a time when the EU is wrestling
with the economic challenges of adding 10 new countries last May —
countries whose standards of living were below EU levels.

The admission of Turkey has geopolitical ramifications as well.
Adding it will give the EU common borders with difficult countries
like Iraq, Iran, Syria, Armenia and Georgia, presenting new potential
problems for the organization.

Just the same, there are good reasons for the EU to include Turkey.
Europe needs the large, young population of Turkey to help it remain
productive; labor is short in most of Western Europe. Turkey wants
very much to join the EU and has already made important changes to
try to meet the EU’s requirements.

More importantly in global terms, adding Turkey, a democratic Muslim
country, to the EU — in effect, to Europe — could be helpful in
steering the world away from increasing polarization between
Christian and Muslim societies.

The war in Iraq, Western inattention to the problem between the
Israelis and Palestinians and friction between Muslim immigrant
groups and governments in Western Europe have opened the West to
charges of religious and racial discrimination. Turkey as a member of
the EU would help drive a stake through the heart of that old,
unwelcome ghost.

The European Commission was right to recommend the beginning of talks
and we encourage the EU heads of state to approve its recommendation
in December. At the same time, the process should unfold at a
measured pace, permitting thorough negotiation of issues that might
lead, ultimately, to a more perfect union between Turkey and the rest
of Europe.