November 8, 2002
ACTUALLY, THE EU WOULD DESTROY TURKEY:
Turkey entry 'would destroy EU' (BBC, 8 November, 2002)The man shaping the future constitution of the European Union was quoted on Friday as saying Turkey's entry into the EU would be "the end of Europe".Former French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing told Le Monde newspaper that people who backed Turkey's accession were "the adversaries of the European Union".
But the Turkish foreign ministry hit back, saying that Turkey was unquestionably part of Europe, and describing Mr Giscard d'Estaing's "personal views" as regrettable.
Mr Giscard d'Estaing told Le Monde that Turkey's capital was not in Europe, 95% of its population lived outside Europe, and it was "not a European country". Asked what the effect of including Turkey in a future wave of European enlargement would be, he said: "In my opinion, it would be the end of Europe."
Mr. d'Estaing has things precisely backwards: Turkey has a future, while Europe does not. Now is the perfect time for the U.S. to end-run Europe and add Israel, Turkey, India, and Taiwan to NAFTA and to forge a new political/economic/military alliance of democratic states. These five countries already have interknit security ties; together (and hopefully adding places like Britain, Australia, Eritrea, Morroco, etc.) we would form a belt of democratic, capitalist, pluralist states that would serve notice to both the Islamicists and the communists that they are badly outgunned and outclassed. Posted by Orrin Judd at November 8, 2002 8:44 PM
I would love to see it, but I suspect the French vote in the UN delayed the end-run of Europe. Good to see that the new Islamic foreign minister replied so savvily.
Posted by: pj at November 8, 2002 8:18 PMThat is what I have often thought about and argued for with my friends. It's such a great idea. Sign free trade deals with all democratic nations, starting with the ones mentioned.
Posted by: Inscrutable American at November 8, 2002 9:16 PMQuite a while back, Safire suggested a bit of an Ottoman restoration in Iraq. I think he wanted to give the northern oil fields of Iraq to Turkey. Why not have them administer the whole place; back to the future.
Posted by: Tom Maguire at November 8, 2002 10:20 PMFree trade for the free world! Can we get South Africa on that list while we're at it?
Posted by: McClain at November 8, 2002 10:40 PMRacist
Posted by: JakeA at November 8, 2002 11:37 PMOrrin, your infatuation with Turkey, and more
particularly with its army, baffles me.
Here is a nation that has been more or less
constantly practicing genocide for the last
80 years, without a functioning legal system,
without a functioning economy, without a
functioning educational system, without any
political ideology that even a bare majority of
its population would accept if the army went
back into barracks, whose largest party is
a superstitious, religious foe of modernism.
I agree it has a future. It will be much like its
past, though.
> Why not have [Turkey]
> administer the whole
> place?
I doubt they want it.
Harry:
I'm pro-superstitious and anti-modernist.
Harry;
I agree with you that it would be an enormous risk. But what real choice do we have? If we are not to engage in a full scale war with Islam, we must aid in the creation of liberal Islamic states. Turkey is our best bet. It's also not the case the Turkey's future is independent of its relationship with the US. A trade relationship would do a lot to move them in the right direction.
>>>If we are not to engage in a full scale war with Islam, we must aid in the creation of liberal Islamic states. Turkey is our best bet.
Turkey is not a secular state.The ruling classes are but the vast majority of people are strongly religious,to the point of supporting fundies.Much as Hungary was officially communist,but the public largely paid little more than lip service.
Islam is already engaging in war with us, or
haven't you noticed? It's been going on for
1,400 years.
If you are going to argue that Turkey is
secular, you are almost forced into arguing
that China is communist. Same deal: cuius
regio, euis religio or however the phrase goes.
Been a long time since I studied Latin.
It is quite right to say that the bulk of the
Turkish population is as committed to Islam
as in any other part of the Koran Belt.
In "The Great Railway Bazaar," Paul Theroux
commented that the clocks stopped in Turkey
in 1937, the day Ataturk died. It would be
hard to show that the degree of secularity
(I prefer the concept modernity, though)
has evolved at all since.
As long as the legacy of Ataturk remains that vital there's hope for bringing Turkey into the West.
Posted by: oj at November 10, 2002 2:45 PM