SORRY, TURKEY, BUT THE EU IS FOR EUROPEANS
Irish Independent
May 21, 2007 Monday
As the Turkish army continues to struggle to maintain that country’s
increasingly fragile secular nature, it’s interesting to note just how
hostile liberal Europeans were to new French Prime Minister Nikolas
Sarkozy’s blunt refusal to consider Turkey’s membership of the EU.
It was a sign of Sarkozy’s inherent racism, squawked one French
commentator. It was an example of the growing rise of an intolerant
right wing in France, said one German politician, presumably exploding
the notion that Germans don’t do irony in one fell swoop.
Of course, as the issue of Muslim integration in mainland Europe
becomes thornier by the day, opponents of Turkey’s accession into the
EU are quick to point out the inevitable problems Europe would face
from the arrival of 70,413,958 Muslims (2006 figures) into our midst.
Anyone raising this point is invariably accused of racism, or at
the very least xenophobia, but one only has to look at the problems
caused in France, Germany, Britain and, outside the EU, Australia
to realise that regardless of where you place the blame, large-scale
Muslim immigration brings with it a wealth of problems.
And yet the irony is that no other country is doing more to combat the
growing extremism of its Muslim population. Last week, an estimated
one million Turks gathered in Izmir to protest at the conservative
Muslim Government’s move to further Islamicise the country.
"We’re here for our children because we want them to be able to live
in a democracy, not in a land with sharia rules," said one protester
who flew from his native Ankara to take part in the protest, and he
is just one of millions of people who give the lie to the notion that
all Muslims want a theocracy.
But while there’s no doubt that these protesters, and other supporters
of the secular tradition established by Ataturk in the 1920s, deserve
credit and support in the face of rising Islamism, there are still more
compelling reasons to prevent them from enjoying full Union membership.
For a start, only 3% of the actual country lies inside Europe.
Certainly, if we were to apply the Eurovision standard of geography,
which allows a Middle Eastern country like Israel to participate,
such a piffling detail could be ignored.
But while European politics are frequently as farcical and downright
bloody baffling as Eurovision’s voting system, we must be prepared
to say where Europe ends and Asia begins.
Also, there is the country’s appalling human rights record.
After seeing the insane fuss made over the Danish cartoons a while
back, are we prepared to allow a country where it is a crime to
"insult Turkey, the flag or its people" into our midst?
This level of outraged sensitivity can be seen this week inThe Journal
OfTurkish Weekly, where one of their columnists explodes in fury that
some Armenian protestors: "Last week, Armenians once more burnt the
Turkish flag in Athens, Greece. They insulted Turkey and Turks.
"In Georgia we saw the same picture; ultra nationalist Armenians
living in Javakhk insulted the Turkish flag.
"The Armenians first spread the flag on the ground, and then all of
them jumped over the Turkish flag, and finally they burnt it. Then
they went to church and held a divine service."
Ah yes, the Armenian issue. It is still a crime in Turkey to talk
openly about the Armenian Holocaust, and writers face imprisonment
and torture if they do.
It is also, lest we forget, a country where only last year the Turkish
parliament, theMeclis, debated on whether adultery should be a criminal
offence. The proposal wasn’t passed, but can you imagine any European
legislature having the same debate?
Sarkozy’s compromise of a Mediterranean Union, featuring co-operation
between countries along the Med’s rim, makes perfect sense, but has
been dismissed outright by a petulant Turkish regime.
There are many reasons why Turkey should not be allowed into the EU,
and we do both them and us a disservice to concentrate purely on
their Muslim nature, particularly when they are treating the problem
seriously.
But sorry, guys, we have to be prepared to simply state that Europe
is for Europeans.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
