THEY NEED TURKEY MORE THAN THE TURKS NEED THE EUROPE:

With or without EU, Turkey is rising: EU leaders meet this week to decide whether to freeze partially the entry bid of an increasingly self-confident Turkey. (Yigal Schleifer, 12/11/06, The Christian Science Monitor)

As EU foreign ministers meet Monday to discuss the issue, some observers - particularly in Europe - see Turkey's stance as self-defeating obstinancy. But others say it is in fact fueled by a greater sense of self-confidence, the result of a surging economy and an increased sense of its own growing strategic importance, which may dampen the effects of any rupture with the EU.

"For the first time in my career I am seeing a Turkey that is quite calm and confident of itself," says Kemal Kirisci, director of the European Studies Institute at Istanbul's Bogazici University. "There is an element of confidence that is beginning to permeate the Turkish economy, and a bit of politics as well, and I see this confidence starting to permeate the Turkish foreign ministry. This is very healthy for Turkey and for the European Union."