Opinion on Turkey’s Request for Accession to the European Union

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Opinion on Turkey’s Request for Accession to the European Union

Possibilities and Implications

“Turkey must take steps to win the Europeans' hearts”

Long before Turkey was a nation and Europe was a continent, the people of those two lands have been warring. The Middle East, meanwhile, has developed its own culture of Islamic heritage and over time the European region has developed its own western culture. Caught in a tug of war is the nation of Turkey. This large nation spans the physical divide between the two regions. With borders touching Syria and Iraq on the east and western borders reaching to Bulgaria and Greece, Turkey finds itself in an awkward place. Europe is in a state of progress and development with the enlargement of the European Union.

Meanwhile, on the other side of Turkey is a region that is constantly at war with itself. Religious wars and historically unstable governments have plagued the Middle East for centuries. Europe has joined forces to create one of the world’s most powerful economic and political forces while the Middle East seems to be content with its self-destruction. The question many in the EU and even more in Turkey are asking is: should Turkey be able to join the European Union? I will argue that neither the EU nor Turkey are economically, geographically, or politically ready for membership within the European Union.

On April 14, 1987, the Turkish government sent to the European Community its application for accession. On April 27 of that year the council took note of Turkey’s application and made several conclusions and comments. “First that Turkey is capable, at the end of a traditional transition period, of bearing all the constraints and disciplines now app...

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...vely backward society, when compared to the western European states. Turkey has a long way to go before any form of acceptance can materialize.

"It's up to Turkey to prove it is able and willing to

fulfill all those conditions for membership,"

Other Sources

- Cahen, Claude. The Formation of Turkey. Harlow: Longman, 2001.

- Celik, Yasemin. Contemporary Turkish Foreign Policy. London: Praeger, 1999.

- Dinan, Desmond, and Neill Nugent. Developments in the European Union. New York: St.

Martins P, 1999.

- Guibernau, Montserrat . Governing European Diversity. London: Sage Publications, 2001.

- Manzocchi, Stefano. The Economics of Enlargement. Rome: Palgrave, 2003.

- Nachmani, Amikam. Turkey: Facing a New Millennium. New York: Manchester UP, 2003.

- van Brabant, Josef M. Integrating Europe. Vol. 37. Boston: Kluwer Academic, 1996.

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