TELEGRAPH: WHY ARE WE SO AFRAID OF TURKEY?
The New Anatolian, Turkey
via ABHAber, Belgium
Feb 27 2007
The anxieties of the West about Islam must not jeopardize the
reconciliation between East and West, argued Boris Johnson, a Daily
Telegraph columnist, in his article.
"If we get it right with Turkey, we could rebuild the whole ancient
harmonious union around the Mediterranean" and "heal the rupture
created by the Muslim invasions," Boris Johnson argued in an extract
from his book "The Dream of Rome."
"What would be better for the long-term health of the planet — a
Turkey increasingly apathetic about Europe, and interested in forging
links with Iran? Or one firmly entrenched in the European Union,
reaching out to provide a stabilizing influence in what will remain,
in our lifetimes, the most dangerous region of the world? I know what
I want," Boris, himself of Turkish origin, wrote.
After presenting a historical background of the relationships between
Turkey and the Western world, especially the Roman Empire, he argues
that after the conquest of Istanbul by the Ottoman Empire, Turkey
joins Egypt and North Africa and the huge tracts of the former Empire
which our Popes and prelates and politicians think are not culturally
congruent with modern, western Europe – because they fell to Islam.
"The French object to the Turks because of the Armenian massacres, as
though France were guiltless herself. Brussels occasionally launches
another of its sermons about gender equality, though it should be
remembered that Turkey gave women the vote before Belgium," Johnson
states, evaluating the issues that constitute the basic problems
regarding Turkey’s relations with the West.
Stating that the in Turkish record on human rights is one of the
most important reasons for keeping the Turks on the tram-tracks to
EU membership, Johnson asserts that the Greek human rights record
when she was admitted to the EEC was also very far from perfect.
"We need reconciliation, not repulsion. We need reciprocity, not
rejection. Instead of intensifying the differences, by burbling on
about alien "values," we should see that we are coming to a critical
moment in our discussions with Turkey," wrote Johnson, stating that
a different way of understanding is necessary for the development of
the relations.
Johnson argued that the West and Turkey could rebuild the whole
ancient harmonious union around the Mediterranean, the rich and free
dissemination of produce described by Henri Pirenne, from the Straits
of Gibraltar to the Bosphorus; from Tunis to Lyons, if the West gets
it right with Turkey.
Johnson also suggested that the EU needs to develop a new and deeper
relationship with the Maghreb countries of North Africa, based on
the old Roman idea of tolerance over time.